Stairways To Heaven
For 5,000 years builders have lifted their sights toward the gods. In Egypt, the priest Imhotep started it all when he built the first pyramid
The world's first pyramid rose toward the sun for the glory of the dead king whose remains lay deep within. But its glory reflected even more brightly on its creator, the man whose architectural vision set the course for generations of builders to come. His name was Imhotep, and in trying to secure immortality for his ruler, he ensured that his own name would survive 5,000 years. Historian Will Durant, in his book The Story of Civilization, called Imhotep "the first real person in known history."
Later Egyptians revered Imhotep as a physician with miraculous healing powers, and for centuries sculptors created images of him as a demigod. But many historians consider his true legacy to be the Step Pyramid of Saqqara, built during the reign of King Zoser around 2600 B.C., about 100 years before the more famous Great Pyramid of Giza. Two hundred feet high, finished in dazzling limestone, it must have awed the people of the day, accustomed to nothing more than squat mud houses and tombs. Imhotep, says Betsy Bryan, chair of the department of Near Eastern studies at Johns Hopkins University, "very likely was already recognized in his lifetime as someone who had made a remarkable contribution." Quite simply, he had invented pyramids, an entirely new kind of structure and mystical symbol.
According to inscriptions on statues found at the Step Pyramid, Imhotep held numerous titles in Zoser's royal court. He was first adviser to the king, high priest of the sun god, administrator of the palace, as well as "a builder, sculptor, and maker of stone vases." The inscriptions reveal that his father was also an architect, which may have influenced the course of his career. Imhotep was an educated man at a time when literacy was rare. But most scholars were priests or administrators, not builders, says Robert Ritner, associate professor of Egyptology at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. So it fell to Imhotep to design and oversee the construction of the tomb complex for King Zoser.
Archaeologists estimate the project took about 19 years and 100,000 workers to complete. Imhotep was trying to build a structure that would last for eternity, so he made a technological leap, choosing stone instead of the usual mud bricks. "There had been superstructures dating 500 to 600 years earlier," says David Silverman, curator of the Egyptian section at the University of Pennsylvania museum.
And Imhotep "could see that the bricks would break down."
In building with stone, he was entering unknown territory. The entranceway to the 37-acre pyramid complex is lined with large stone columns similar to the Doric columns found in Greek architecture 2,000 years later. But Imhotep was uncertain of the strength or stability of the stone, so he attached the columns to the walls lining the entanceway."It was a real period of discovery for the Egyptians," says Rita Freed, curator of Egyptian Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
The first stone. Imhotep also experimented with the aesthetics of the stone. He tried to imitate the look of conventional building materials of the day. In some cases, he had the stone cut to the size and shape of mud bricks. In others--the roof beams of the entrance hall, for example--carvers sought to make the stone resemble wood. And "there are doorways that look like wooden doors with hinges that are meant to look like they swing," says Silverman. "Some are even half open as if suspended in time."
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