Djoser and the First Pyramid

Before Djoser, kings were buried under brick platforms called mastabas. His architect Imhotep sets one mastaba upon another and raises six diminishing steps of dressed stone, surrounding them with a stone enclosure of columns and false doors. So the pyramid is born — and with it the craft of great stoneworks, without which there would be no Giza. Imhotep remained in Egyptian memory as a sage and healer, and two thousand years later he was venerated as a god. From this time on, the Old Kingdom is a state of builders.