Imhotep

Other Names:
Imouthis

(G/R Imouthis) - "In peace" Imhotep is one example of the "personality cult" of Kemet, whereby a learned sage or otherwise especially venerated person could be deified after death and become a special intercessor for the living, much as the saints of Roman Catholicism and forms of Orthodox Christianity. Imhotep the man is recorded as having lived during the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. He is said to have been a chief lector-priest (kher-heb/hery-hebt hery-tep) as well as a famed architect and physician. The Step Pyramid complex of King Djoser at modern-day Saqqara is just one monument attributed to Imhotep's design. In the Late Period, Imhotep was identified with the Greek demigod Asklaepios and attributed with feats of miraculous healing. During this period, Imhotep was declared the son of Ptah and Sekhmet in the Triad of Mennefer (Memphis), and was sometimes identified with Their son, Nefertem.