Also called Imouthes (to the Greeks), Son of Ptah, Imhotep the Great.
Their story
Imhotep was a real official of King Djoser of the Third Dynasty, and his name and titles appear on the base of a statue of the king from Saqqara. Later tradition credited him with designing the Step Pyramid, the first great stone building. Over the centuries he was remembered as a sage and physician, and by the Late Period he was worshipped as a son of Ptah and a god of healing. The Greeks identified him with Asclepius, and sick people visited his shrines at Saqqara and at Deir el-Bahari.
Best times to give to them
- before study or writing
- times of illness
What they like being given
- water poured as a libation
- incense
- bread
- a written prayer
How to honour them
- Pour a drop of water before writing, as scribes once did for him.
- Ask him for clear thinking alongside, never instead of, proper medical care.
How they can help you
- study
- healing
- design and building
- wise counsel
Symbols
- seated scribe with an open papyrus
- skullcap
- Step Pyramid
He is one of very few non-royal Egyptians to be deified, and his fame as a physician comes from later tradition rather than his own time.
Sources
- Statue base of Djoser naming Imhotep (Egyptian Museum, Cairo JE 49889)
- Wildung, Egyptian Saints: Deification in Pharaonic Egypt
- Manetho (as preserved by later writers)
More Egyptian beings
- Amenhotep son of Hapu The wise official who became a healer saint
- The Ba The part of the self that moves freely
- The Ka The life force that receives offerings
- Ib, Ren and Sheut The heart, the name and the shadow
- The Akhekh The winged griffin of the desert
- The Set Animal The mysterious beast of Set
- The Apis Bull The sacred bull of Memphis
- The Mnevis Bull The sacred bull of Heliopolis