Imhotep · Science
How do we know a man who left no writings actually existed? For Imhotep the answer is a single contemporary object: the base of a statue of King Djoser, on which a non-royal official’s name and titles were carved beside the king’s own - a rare, almost unheard-of honour that anchors the historical man.
You learned that Imhotep’s historicity rests chiefly on the Djoser statue base (JE 49889), where his titles - Chancellor of the King, First after the King, High Priest of Heliopolis, and more - were carved on a royal monument, and that a second, title-less mention at Sekhemkhet’s pyramid is suggestive but…
Leads to James Henry Breasted.
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