Figure 1. The image is the cover of Historical Medical Exhibition London
Imhotep, who lived around 2650-2600 BC, was an accomplished Egyptian polymath. He served the Third Dynasty’s King Djoser as chancellor and high priest of the sun god, Ra, at Heliopolis. Regarded by some as the first architect, engineer, and physician in recorded history, Imhotep was one of the rare commoners to achieve divine status posthumously. He is credited with designing the Step Pyramid at Saqqara and possibly introducing columns in construction. Imhotep also wrote a medical text, the so-called Edwin Smith Papyrus, notable for its absence of magical elements and including anatomical details, ailments, and treatments. Imhotep was deified as a god of medicine and healing two millennia following his death.