Construction of the Step Pyramid at Saqqara

Around 2670 BCE, the brilliant polymath Imhotep designed a revolutionary tomb for Pharaoh Djoser: a pyramid built in six stacked layers of cut limestone. Before this, even royal tombs were flat-topped mud-brick structures. Imhotep's innovation launched the age of pyramid building and earned him near-divine status — centuries later, the Egyptians worshipped him as a god of wisdom and medicine.