Imhotep whose name translates to "He Who Comes in Peace" was a sage and scholar attached to the court of the ancient King Zoser whom ruled Egypt in the third millennium BC. Imhotep, a great architect, as well as an astronomer and scientist, designed and oversaw the construction of the first pyramids. Until then, rulers had been buried in underground chambers.

Imhotep's Step Pyramid in Saqqara was the first monumental stone building ever constructed. The sage was also credited with ending a seven-year famine by advising the king to make offerings to Khnum, the God who controlled the floodwaters of the Nile. Imhotep gradually came to be celebrated as a God. According to some writings, he was the son of the great God Ptah, and provided the high priest of Ptah with a son. He is usually depicted as a priest with a shaven head. He was also the patron of doctors.