Hiero Lens

Timeline › 3rd Dynasty

Imhotep c. 2667–2648 BC

Architect of Djoser

Djoser's chancellor and architect, who designed the Step Pyramid at Saqqara, the first large building made entirely of stone. Two thousand years later Egyptians worshipped him as a god of wisdom and medicine, and the Greeks matched him with their healer god Asclepius.

Only kings and queens wrote their names in a cartouche, so Imhotep's name is written without one.

Name: Imhotep

ii-m-ḥtp: “He who comes in peace”

Sign by sign

  1. Flowering reed M17i The sound i.
  2. Walking legs D54 Determinative for movement: to go, to come.
  3. Owl G17m The sound m; also means 'in'.
  4. Bread on an offering mat R4ḥtp Offering; peace, to be content.
  5. Bread loaf X1t The sound t; also the feminine ending.
  6. Stool Q3p The sound p.

Names of gods (Ra, Amun, Ptah) are written first out of respect, even when they are read later. Dates are approximate; we follow Ian Shaw (ed.), The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000).