Imhotep, vizier and architect of King Djoser
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This bronze statuette portrays Imhotep, the legendary vizier and architect of King Djoser, Dynasty 3. He is depicted as a scribe, with an opulent usekh collar with delicate, intertwining rows of beads. Hieroglyphs may originally have been been inscribed on his torso, his loincloth and the base of the statue, but are now illegible. The style is suggestive of the work of craftsmen of Dynasty 23, possibly during the reign of Pami (773-767 BC). Imhotep Imhotep is the immortal Egyptian architect who, 4650 years ago, designed and managed the construction of King Djoser’s all-stone funerary complex. Its centerpiece was the first pyramid ever built (the “step pyramid”). Surrounding the pyramid, was a stone rendition of the multitude of temporary buildings traditionally used for a king’s sed festival (jubilee). It was the most monumental building project the world had ever seen. In terms of scope, logistics, innovation, and collective determination, it would be difficult to overstate the quantum leap realized under Imhotep’s stewardship. It was then, and remains today an overwhelming demonstration of the wealth and skill of the Egyptian state. And yet, this astounding development was just one of Imhotep’s many responsibilities, as he also served his country as vizier (second in command after the king) and high priest, managing much of the temporal and religious affairs of Egypt during one of its most challenging periods of technological and cultural advancement. Imhotep’s greatness was celebrated during his lifetime, with King Djoser taking the extraordinary step of having Imhotep’s name engraved next to his own on his monumental statues. After his death (circa 2630 BC), Imhotep remained one of the most popular figures of Egyptian history. He was revered as a scribe, priest, astronomer, and was later deified and worshiped until the end of the pharaonic time, throughout the Ptolemaic and the Roman periods. Around 280 BC, the Egyptian historian Manetho called him with reverence “the inventor of the art of building with hewn stone” (Baines 2001:142). Today, scholars such as Michael Rice (2002) call him “Perhaps the most original creative genius that Egypt ever produced”, and continue “The technical and logistical problems inherent in constructing a monument requiring the quarrying, transportation, dressing, decoration, and erection of nearly one million tons of limestone with no precedents which are known, are phenomenal, as was Imhotep’s response to the challenges. . . The Third Dynasty was a time of exceptionally rapid technological advances, of which Imhotep was the vanguard.” “The Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt, the First after the King of Upper Egypt, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary Lord, the High Priest of Heliopolis, Imhotep, the builder, the sculptor, the maker of stone vases” (text of a dedication on the base of a statue of Djoser, from Clayton (1994:33-34)). Bibliography (for this item)Arnold, Dorothea (editor)1999 When the Pyramids Were Built: Egyptian Art of the Old Kingdom. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. Baines, John, and Jahomir Malek 2000 Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt. 2nd edition. Checkmark Books, New York, NY. (142) Clayton, Peter A. 1994 Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson, London, UK. (33-34) Bibliography (on Imhotep)Baines, John, and Jahomir Malek2000 Cultural Atlas of Ancient Egypt. 2nd edition. Checkmark Books, New York, NY. (142) Clayton, Peter A. 1994 Chronicle of the Pharaohs: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers and Dynasties of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson, London, UK. Rice, Michael 2002 Who’s Who in Ancient Egypt. Routledge, London, United Kingdom. |
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