IMHOTEP
Imhotep gains fame as the architect of the first stone pyramid, known as the Step Pyramid. He is also one of the few common people who became a legend. His achievement of the pyramid construction and as inventor of the stone building instead of mud-brick earned him renown among Egyptians for centuries.
His name and titles are found written on the base of a lost statue of Djoser. First among his many titles, Imhotep is "The Overseer of the Seers"- a unique title that connects him with the priests of the famous religious centre at On, called Heliopolis by the Greeks. He also appears as a vizier, Director of the public construction in Upper and Lower Egypt, the first for the King, recorder of the annales, keeper of the seals of Lower Egypt, and Supervisor of the great palace.
Educated Egyptians considered him a wise man and their protector. They recited his before writing their scripts. Egyptians of the Late period worshipped him as a god. Egyptianized Greeks connected him with Imouthes and Asklepios, god of wisdom and medicine. They built for him a chapel at Philae and worshipped him a the Asklepion near the Serapeum at Memphis.
Even his parents names are recorded for perpetuity: his father was Kaneferu; his mother was Ankh-kherdu. Neither a prince nor a royal relative, Imhotep was a common man whose science and culture made him the second after the king. Thus, not only pharaohs reached the peak in Egyptian society - they could be joined by the common people.
