Imhotep - Death

Death

In Ancient Egypt, Imhotep was considered to be an example of "personality cult" of Kemet, the notion that a person can be deified after his death and become some sort of a special intercessor for the living. Nonetheless, the conditions of Imhotep’s death are unknown. The mystery behind his death is amplified as his disappearance coincided with the disappearance of all his medical texts and architectural manuscripts. His tomb has never been found.

In addition, despite his major impact on Ancient Egyptian architecture and field of medicine, even ancient historians failed to write about him, which adds to his mystery. What makes this mystery somewhat ironic is that the name "Imhotep" in Ancient Egyptian language translates to “He who came in peace,” underlining the way he came into the world, made his impact, and left it in peace taking all his genius work with him. However, Imhotep became even more famous with his death and was worshipped for 2,000 years afterwards. Because of the mystery behind his death, he was considered as a demi-god. In Greek mythology, Asclepius was the god of medicine, therefore, Imhotep was often associated with him. Some even believed that he was Asclepius himself. Only statues made of him remained which referred to his genius mind and served to illustrate his existence on earth. After his death, he was known to be responsible for the use of columns and monumental stone in Egyptian architecture and considered to have fully advanced ancient Egyptian medicine. Nevertheless, he slowly turned into a legend and then a myth.