Imhotep ("the one who comes in peace") served as chancellor and vizier to the Djoser of the Third Dynasty around 2670 BCE. A commoner by birth, he rose to become one of the few non-royal Egyptians ever depicted alongside a . As architect, he designed the Step Pyramid of Saqqara — the first monumental stone building in human history, and the prototype for every Egyptian pyramid that followed. As physician, he wrote what later scribes attributed to him in the Edwin Smith Papyrus: clinical descriptions of forty-eight cases of trauma, with treatments grounded in observation rather than spell. By the New Kingdom, two centuries later, Imhotep had been deified — patron of architects, scribes, and healers. The Greeks identified him with their own Asclepius. He remains the earliest individual in human history known to us as a builder, a doctor, and an author all at once.
All Figures
Architect · Vizier · Healer · God of Medicine
Imhotep
c. 2,700 BCE – 2,600 BCE
The commoner who built Egypt's first stone pyramid, wrote the first medical text — and was raised to godhood by the people he served.
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