Imhotep - Citizendia

This article is about the ancient Egyptian official. For other uses see Imhotep (disambiguation).

Statuette of Imhotep in the Louvre

Another image of the same statue

Imhotep
in hieroglyphs

Imhotep (sometimes spelled Immutef, Im-hotep, or Ii-em-Hotep, (2650–2600 BC) Egyptian ii-m-ḥtp *jā-im-ḥatāp meaning "the one who comes in peace") was an Egyptian polymath,^[1] who served under the Third Dynasty king, Djoser, as chancellor to the pharaoh and high priest of the sun god Ra at Heliopolis. The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre located in Paris is the world's most visited art museum a historic monument and a national museum of France Egyptian hieroglyphs (ˈhaɪərəʊɡlɪf from Greek grc-Grek ἱερογλύφος " sacred carving " also hieroglyphic = grc-Grek The 27th century BC is a Century which lasted from the year 2700 BC to 2601 BC This article is about the contemporary North African ethnic group A polymath ( Greek polymathēs, πολυμαθής "having learned much" is a person whose knowledge is not restricted to one subject area Third Dynasty The Third Dynasty of Ancient Egypt is the first dynasty of the Old Kingdom. Netjerikhet or Djoser ( Turin King List "Dsr-it" Manetho "Tosarthros" is the best-known Pharaoh of the Third dynasty Chancellor or chancellour (archaic ( Latin: cancellarius) is an official Title used in countries whose civilization has arisen Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods Ra (pronounced Rah and sometimes as Rê, is an Ancient Egyptian sun god. Heliopolis (or On) ( Greek: or) meaning sun-city was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt, and capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian nome He is considered to be the first engineer^[2], architect and physician in history known by name. An engineer is a person professionally engaged in a field of Engineering. An architect is a licensed individual who leads a design team in the Planning and Design of buildings and participates in oversight of Building Construction A physician, medical practitioner or medical doctor who practices Medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human Health ^[3] The full list of his titles is:

Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt, First after the King of Upper Egypt, Administrator of the Great Palace, Hereditary nobleman, High Priest of Heliopolis, Builder, Chief Carpenter, Chief Sculptor and Maker of Vases in Chief.

Imhotep was one of very few mortals to be depicted as part of a pharaoh's statue. He was one of only a few commoners ever to be accorded divine status after death. The center of his cult was Memphis. From the First Intermediate Period onward Imhotep was also revered as a poet and philosopher. His sayings were famously referred to in poems: I have heard the words of Imhotep and Hordedef with whose discourses men speak so much. ^[4]

The knowledge of the location of Imhotep's tomb was lost in antiquity^[5] and is still unknown, despite efforts to find it. The general consensus is that it is at Saqqara. Saqqara or Sakkara, Saqqarah ( Arabic: سقارة is a vast ancient burial ground in Egypt, featuring the world's oldest standing Step

1 Attribution of achievements and inventions
- 1.1 Engineering and architecture
- 1.2 Medicine
2 Birth myths
3 Deification
4 Legacy
5 Imhotep and the Joseph of the Old Testament
6 References
7 See also

Attribution of achievements and inventions

Most "known" information about him is hear-say and conjecture. The ancient Egyptians credited him with many inventions. For example, it is claimed that he invented the papyrus scroll, being its oldest known bearer. Papyrus (/pəˈpaɪrəs/ (Rhymes -aɪrəs)is a thick paper-like material produced from the Pith of the papyrus plant Cyperus papyrus James Henry Breasted says of Imhotep:

"In priestly wisdom, in magic, in the formulation of wise proverbs; in medicine and architecture; this remarkable figure of Zoser's reign left so notable a reputation that his name was never forgotten. James Henry Breasted ( August 27 1865 &ndash December 2, 1935) was an American Archaeologist and Historian. He was the patron spirit of the later scribes, to whom they regularly poured out a libation from the water-jug of their writing outfit before beginning their work. Patronage is the support encouragement privilege and often financial aid given by a person or an organization Scribes is a programmers' text editor for GNOME with a simple design "

Engineering and architecture

One of the officials of the Pharaoh, Djosèr, he designed the Pyramid of Djoser (the Step Pyramid) at Saqqara in Egypt in 2630–2611 BC^[6]. Pharaoh is the title given in modern parlance to the ancient Egyptian kings of all periods Netjerikhet or Djoser ( Turin King List "Dsr-it" Manetho "Tosarthros" is the best-known Pharaoh of the Third dynasty The Pyramid of Djoser(Zoser, or step pyramid ( kbhw-ntrw in Egyptian) is an archeological remain in the Saqqara necropolis Egypt Step Pyramids The construction of step pyramids has been an ancient part of several cultures throughout history Saqqara or Sakkara, Saqqarah ( Arabic: سقارة is a vast ancient burial ground in Egypt, featuring the world's oldest standing Step The History of Ancient Egypt spans the period from the early predynastic settlements of the northern Nile Valley to the Roman conquest in 30 The 27th century BC is a Century which lasted from the year 2700 BC to 2601 BC The 27th century BC is a Century which lasted from the year 2700 BC to 2601 BC He may have been responsible for the first known use of columns in architecture. A column in Structural engineering is a vertical structural element that transmits through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural The term architecture (from Greek αρχιτεκτονικήarchitektoniki) can be used to mean a process a profession or documentation As an instigator of Egyptian culture, Imhotep's idealized image lasted well into the Ptolemaic period. The Egyptian historian Manetho credited him with inventing the method of a stone-dressed building during Djoser's reign, however he was not the first to actually build with stone. Manetho (or Manethon) was an Egyptian Historian and Priest from Sebennytos ( Ancient Egyptian: Tjebnutjer) who Stone walling, flooring, lintels, and jambs had appeared sporadically during the Archaic Period, though it is true that a building of the Step Pyramid's size and made entirely out of stone had never before been constructed. Step Pyramids The construction of step pyramids has been an ancient part of several cultures throughout history

Medicine

Imhotep is credited with being the founder of Egyptian medicine and with being the author of a medical treatise remarkable for being devoid of magical thinking, the so-called Edwin Smith papyrus containing anatomical observations, ailments, and cures. Ancient Egyptian Medicine refers to the practices of healing common in Ancient Egypt from Circa 3300 BC until the Persian The Edwin Smith Papyrus is the only surviving copy of part of an Ancient Egyptian Textbook on trauma Surgery. Anatomy (from the Greek anatomia, from ana separate apart from and temnein, to cut up cut open is a branch of Biology that is the consideration The surviving papyrus was probably written around 1700 BC but may be a copy of texts a thousand years older. This attribution of authorship is speculative, however. ^[7]

Birth myths

According to myth Imhotep's mother was a mortal named Kheredu-ankh, elevated later to semi-divine status by claims that she was the daughter of Banebdjedet. ^[8] Conversely, as the "Son of Ptah",^[9] his mother was sometimes claimed to be Sekhmet, the patron of Upper Egypt whose consort Ptah was often said to be. In Egyptian mythology, Sekhmet (also spelled Sachmet, Sakhet, Sekmet, Sakhmet and Sekhet; and given the Greek name Upper Egypt (صعيد مصر Sa'id Misr) is a narrow strip of land that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan to the area between

Deification

As Imhotep was considered the inventor of healing, he was also sometimes said to be the one who held up the goddess Nut (the deification of the sky), as the separation of Nut and Geb (the deification of the earth) was said to be what held back chaos. In the Ennead Mythology, Nut (alternatively spelled Nuit, Newet and Neuth was the goddess of the Sky. Geb (pronunciation as such from the Greek period onwards formerly erroneously read as Seb) or Keb (in Egyptian originally Gebeb/Kebeb meaning probably Chaos (derived from the Ancient Greek, Chaos) typically refers to Unpredictability, and is the antithesis of Cosmos. Due to the position this would have placed him in, he was also sometimes said to be Nut's son. In artwork he also is linked with the great goddess, Hathor, who eventually became identified as the wife of Ra. In Egyptian mythology, Hathor (Pronounced Hah-Thor ( Egyptian for house of Horus) was originally a personification of the Milky Way Ra (pronounced Rah and sometimes as Rê, is an Ancient Egyptian sun god. He also was associated with Maat, the goddess who personified the concept of truth, cosmic order, and justice—having created order out of chaos and being responsible for maintaining it. Maat or Mayet, thought to have been pronounced as *Muʔʕat (Muh-aht was the Ancient Egyptian concept of Truth, balance order— Law Also After Death people believed Imhotep became a god.

Two thousand years after his death, his status was raised to that of a deity. God is the principal or sole Deity in Religions and other belief systems that worship one deity. He became the god of medicine and healing. Medicine is the art and science of healing It encompasses a range of Health care practices evolved to maintain and restore Human Health by the Healing, assessed physically is the process by which the cells in the Body regenerate and repair to reduce the size of a damaged or necrotic area He later was linked to Asclepius by the Greeks. Asclepius (pronounced /æsˈkliːpiːəs/, Greek, transliterated Asklēpiós; Latin Aesculapius) is the god of Medicine The term ancient Greece refers to the period of Greek history lasting from the Greek Dark Ages ca He was associated with Amenhotep son of Hapu, who was another deified architect, in the region of Thebes where they were worshipped as "brothers". Amenhotep son of Hapu, was an Architect, a Priest, a Scribe, and a Public official, who held a number of offices under Amenhotep III Thebes ( Thēbai) was a city in Ancient Egypt located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean on the east bank of the river Nile ( ^[10]

Legacy

The Encyclopedia Britannica says, "The evidence afforded by Egyptian and Greek texts support the view that Imhotep's reputation was very respected in early times. . . His prestige increased with the lapse of centuries and his temples in Greek times were the centers of medical teachings. "

It is Imhotep, says Sir William Osler, who was the real 'Father of Medicine', "the first figure of a physician to stand out clearly from the mists of antiquity. "

In the 1999 film The Mummy and sequels, the mummy and most of his historical background are based loosely on the real-life Imhotep. The Mummy is a 1999 American Adventure film written and directed by Stephen Sommers, starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel

Imhotep was also identified with Thoth, the Egyptian god of writing, education, literacy & scribes through the Greco-Roman Period.

Imhotep and the Joseph of the Old Testament

The Upper Egyptian Famine Stela, dating from the Ptolemaic period, bears an inscription containing a legend about a famine of seven years during the reign of Djoser. The Famine Stele is an inscription located on Sehel Island in the Nile near Aswan in Egypt, which speaks of a seven year period of drought and Netjerikhet or Djoser ( Turin King List "Dsr-it" Manetho "Tosarthros" is the best-known Pharaoh of the Third dynasty Imhotep is credited with having been instrumental in ending it: one of his priests explained the connection between the god Khnum and the rise of the Nile to the king, who then had a dream in which the Nile god spoke to him, promising to end the drought. In Egyptian mythology, Khnum (also spelled Chnum, Knum, or Khnemu) was one of the earliest Egyptian deities originally the god of the source ^[11] The parallels with the biblical story of Joseph have long been commented upon. Joseph or Yosef (יוֹסֵ Standard Yosef Tiberian Yôsēp̄, يوسف Yusuf; "He ^[12] More recently, the Joseph parallels have led some alternative historians to identify Imhotep with Joseph, and to argue that the supposedly thousand years separating them are indicative of a faulty chronology. ^[13]

References

^ The Egyptian Building Mania, Acta Divrna, Vol. III, Issue IV, January, 2004.
^ What is Civil Engineering: Imhotep.
^ William Osler, The Evolution of Modern Medicine, Kessinger Publishing 2004, p. 12
^ Barry J. Kemp, Ancient Egypt Routledge 2005, p. 159
^ The Harper's Lay, ca. 2000 BCE
^ Barry J. Kemp, Ancient Egypt, Routledge 2005, p. 159
^ Leonard Francis Peltier, Fractures: A History and Iconography of Their Treatment, Norman Publishing 1990, p. 16
^ Marina Warner, Felipe Fernández-Armesto, World of Myths, University of Texas Press 2003, ISBN 0292702043, p. 296
^ Miriam Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature: A Book of Readings, University of California Press 1980, ISBN 0520040201, p. Miriam Lichtheim (born 1914 Istanbul, died 2004 Jerusalem) was a translator of ancient Egyptian texts whose translations are still widely used 106
^ M. Lichtheim, Ancient Egyptian Literature, The University of California Press 1980, vol. 3, p. 104
^ Erik Hornung, The Secret Lore of Egypt: Its Impact on the West, Cornell University Press 2001, ISBN 0801438470, p. 50
^ Vandier, La Famine dans l'Egypte ancienne
^ Emmet Sweeney, The Genesis of Israel and Egypt, London, 1997

Contents