Imhotep, an Egyptian statesman, architect, and physician. He lived about 2650 B.C.Imhotep was counselor to Pharaoh Djoser during the Third Dynasty of the Old Kingdom. He designed the Step Pyramid of Saqqara—the first large-scale stone pyramid—and, in the immediate vicinity, the beautiful funerary temple of Djoser. Imhotep was later worshiped as a god for his skill in medicine and priestly magic. The Greeks called him Imouthes and identified him with Asclepius, god of medicine.