Word: zoser
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Step Pyramid itself is a monument to Imhotep. It was built as the tomb of Pharaoh Zoser, who reigned about 2980 B.C., but Imhotep was its architect. And because it is the oldest stone pyramid, the Egyptians have credited Imhotep with inventing the art of building with cut stone. He was also Zoser's prime minister, a magician, sage, proverb maker, and patron of the scribes who ran the Egyptian bureaucracy. Century by century through Egypt's long history his reputation grew. During the Ptolemaic dynasty (323-30 B.C.), when Greeks ruled Egypt, he was identified with Asclepius...
...only means of asserting himself in a meaningless universe. He equates sacred and profane works of art by arguing that both aim at "defeating the tyranny of Time": though Vermeer "had no intention of imparting to his Maidservant that morsel of eternity which the Egyptian sculptor imparted to his Zoser, he may well have wished his picture of this girl to enter into a world akin to that of the Pharaoh's statue...