When it came to choosing where he would be buried, Djoser appears to have started an unfinished tomb at Abydos. However, this tomb was abandoned and he started work on the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. Saqqara was the royal necropolis on the west bank of the Nile associated with the city of Memphis, indicating that Djoser had possibly completed the move to this more northerly capital.

The pharaohs of the first two dynasties had been buried in mastaba tombs that resembled a low platform sticking from the sand. Perhaps the first moves towards the construction of a Step Pyramid can be seen at Abusir, where there are a couple of small mastabas dating from the end of the 1st dynasty that appear to have been built with as many as three steps on top. Djoser’s famous Step Pyramid is in effect a series of mastabas placed one on top of each other. The Step Pyramid is probably the world’s first large monument built completely from stone, and as most of the major buildings in Egypt at that time would have been built of mudbrick this was an amazing leap forward.

The architect of the Step Pyramid was man called Imhotep, who was a priest, philosopher, doctor and high official at Djoser’s court. Imhotep is the first architect in history that we know by name and he was hailed as a genius by later generations. Imhotep’s fame continued to grow throughout Ancient Egypt’s history and he was actually deified during the New Kingdom. The Greeks later identified Imhotep with their god of medicine, Asclepius and many bronze statues of Imhotep were created during Egypt’s Late Period. Imhotep had a dazzling career and became both the High Priest of Heliopolis and the pharaoh’s Vizier.

He was adopted as a patron deity by Egyptian scribes and they would pour a couple of drops of water onto their palettes in his honour before they started to write. Imhotep’s own tomb has never been found, although it is believed still to be still buried under the sands of Saqqara. It is the dream of many Egyptologists to be the one who discovers the tomb of Imhotep, especially if the tomb is found to be intact and undisturbed by tomb robbers.