The vizier and master builder of the pharaoh Djoser in the twenty-seventh century BC, credited in Egyptian tradition with the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the first great monument of cut stone, and the earliest architect in history whose name is recorded. Later ages deified him as a god of wisdom and medicine.
Facts
Defining ContributionThe Step Pyramid at Saqqara; the first named architect in history 1 Connections
Associated With
Imhotep, architect of the Step Pyramid of Djoser, is credited as the first named architect of Egyptian monumental stone building.
In Style
Source Imhotep (Wikipedia)
Open Questions
In the Other Atlases
Nationality
Also in Geography Atlas: the nationality of this subject.
Sources
1. Encyclopedia Britannica
Sir Banister Fletcher's A History of Architecture
Banister Fletcher, edited by Dan Cruickshank (20th edition), Architectural Press, 1996General history, Egyptian architecture chapter, on Imhotep and the Step Pyramid
Imhotep (Wikipedia)
In Style: Ancient Egyptian Architecture, Article leadQuote, In Style: Ancient Egyptian Architecture, Article lead
was an Egyptian chancellor to the King Djoser, possible architect of Djoser's step pyramid
Open Questions (1 open question)
Where is Imhotep's tomb?
Imhotep was deified by later Egyptians as a god of medicine and wisdom, and his name is recorded on statue-base inscriptions of the pharaoh Djoser, but despite extensive archaeological search at Saqqara, most notably by Walter Bryan Emery in the mid twentieth century, his own burial place has never been positively identified.
What would resolve this Discovery and secure identification of an intact or inscribed burial context naming Imhotep, most likely somewhere in the Saqqara necropolis, where later pilgrims left votive offerings and animal mummies dedicated to him without ever marking the tomb itself.
Egyptology and field archaeologyEncyclopedia Britannica
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