Djoser, Imhotep, Snefru, Hemiunu, is similar to Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Alexander the Great, their lives overlapped and they were in contact with one another when alive, the period they lived in would have an indelible imprint on the culture of Europe until this day.
The pharaonic era of Egypt started some 5000 years ago around 3000 BCE and lasted for nearly 3000 years, which is in itself a hallmark of stability although Egypt had its share of turbulence in this long history. What kept the culture together over this vast period of time was a shared mythology and religion which was a uniquely stylized development of shamanism, where the everyday world was ruled by magic and spirits. Animal spirits were abundant, where the Ibis, Baboon and Antelope had prominence, where Cat and Dog were deified.
So we see a veneration of the natural world and a religion studded with ritual to the gods of whom the most important are, Atum (creator of gods and people), Ptah (demiurg), Ra (sun), Thoth (wisdom, science).
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Introduction
The following is a sketch of the possible pinnacle of Egyptian culture in the pharaonic era; at least it was the first great efflorescence after the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, a conflicted union. ( Nile mountains versus -delta, south-north).
The towering historical figures at this juncture of cultural development are the pharaoh Djoser and his right-hand the polymath Imhotep, who is seen as the principal designer of the concept of the layered towering mastaba, the first step pyramid,
The gist of what I intended to write here is worked out in a letter to John Legon about the builders of the first pyramids from Djoser to Menkaure, the Saqqara- Giza era.