The Architect Of The First Pyramid In The World

The intriguing nature of the ancient monuments and their history never cease to amaze us. It doesn’t matter in which part of the world we grew up, we all seem to be attracted by the mystery of other cultures’ past and how they lived; perhaps in our attempt to understand our present and to comprehend all of its complexities.

Or maybe it’s our endless desire as species to find answers to our deepest questions, like “Where did it all begin?” “Why are we here?” “Where do we come from?”. Today’s article is another milestone in trying to figure that out.

Imhotep was born in the 27th century B.C. in Memphys, Egypt. He was the personal minister of Djoser, a pharaoh who reigned from 2630 to 2611 B.C. and also was the second pharaoh of Egypt’s third dynasty. 

Besides being an architect, Imhotep was an astronomer and doctor. He is considered the first engineer in the history of humankind.

He became one of the most important figures of his time and after his death, he was considered as a God, more precisely the God of Medicine and Wisdom.

And of course, like every God, Imhotep had his own priests, who were the ones taking care of his tomb and performing the necessary rituals to honor the God.

He was the only Egyptian mortal aside from Amenhotep to be deified. Imhotep was considered the Leonardo Da Vinci of ancient Egypt by its people.

The Step Pyramid of Djoser

His most famous and most important creation is the Step Pyramid of Djoser. This pyramid is 4,700 years of antiquity.

The pyramid consists of six steps and attains a height of 200 feet (61 meters), surrounded by a paneled wall faced with fine limestone and containing a series of “mock” buildings that probably represent structures associated with the heraldic shrines of Upper and Lower Egypt.

The pyramid was constructed using 11.6 million cubic feet (330,400 cubic meters) of stone and clay. The tunnels located beneath the pyramid form a labyrinth about 3.5 miles (5.5 kilometers) long.

The pyramid is at the center of a complex of 37 acres (15 hectares) in size. This complex is surrounded by a recessed limestone wall that contains 13 fake doorways as well as the real colonnade entrance on the southeast side.

A temple lies on the north side of the pyramid along with a statue of the king. The statue is surrounded by a small stone structure known as a “serdab”; his eyes peeking out through a hole. To the south of the pyramid, there lies a great court, with an altar and stones identified as boundary markers.

It was built with stone and with the intention to portray the power and a God-like aura towards the future dynasties. Located in Saqqara, it is the most emblematic and most important monument in the south of Memphis.

It was the prototype for Giza’s Pyramids and all of the others that came after. This pyramid was meant to be the burial place of pharaoh Djoser.

As ambitious as they were, neither Himhotep nor the pharaoh Djoser were satisfied with the size of the pyramid so they decided to enlarge it by amplifying the foundation of it until it reached 155×100 meters long.

These are not always noticeable in pictures because most of them are taken from the front perspective, but there they are.

Thanks to Imhotep, not only the architecture of ancient Egypt flourished like never before, but also did the written word and manuscripts.

The hieroglyphics were perfected and started to get used to express abstract ideas and all of what was considered part of the human experience and its thoughts.

This is where the first architectural innovations happened, using stone to reproduce the forms of early wood and brick buildings. Fine reliefs of the king were built and really elaborate wall panels in glazed tiles formed part of the subterranean complexes.

Hopefully, we will all keep on appreciating our ancient roots and all of the amazing accomplishments our ancestors made thousands of years ago so that we can honor and respect our past, and pass it on to our future generations as long as we can.

Sources:

BRITANNICA | Ancient Egypt’s Architecture

LIVE SCIENCE | Step Pyramid of Djoser: Egypt’s First Pyramid