The most famous Egyptian pyramids are those found at the city of El Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo. The Pyramid of Khufu, also known as the Great Pyramid, it the largest of the three and one of the Seven Wonders of the World. However, the colossal structures were not the first of their kind.
By the time of the Early Dynastic Period, those with sufficient means were buried in bench-like structures known as mastabas.
The earliest evidence of this can be found at Saqqara, northwest of Memphis, where the Pyramid of Djoser still stands.
Crafted in 2620BC, during the Third Dynasty, this structure, which is also known as the Step Pyramid, is the brainchild of Imhotep.
He is credited as being the first to conceive the notion of stacking mastabas on top of each other, creating the “steps” of a pyramid.
This later became popular among Pharaohs, such as Khufu, inspiring his flamboyant burial chamber.
Filmmaker and Egyptologist Curtis Ryan Woodside visited his museum during Amazon Prime’s “Egypt Through the Ages”.
He said in 2018: “This is the Imhotep Museum, which is named after the architect of the Step Pyramid for Pharaoh Djoser.
“As you walk in, it’s so amazing, you’re greeted by a little statue of Imhotep, but all we have is his feet at the bottom and his name [inscribed].
“He was a physician, an architect and an advisor to Pharaoh Djoser in the third dynasty when Djoser decided he wanted to change from the traditional mastabas tombs to have something a bit grander.
“So Imhotep came up with the first ever pyramid – the Step Pyramid.”
Mr Woodside revealed how Imhotep has been lost in history but stressed his importance to the ancient Egyptians.
He added: “He was an amazing man and invented so many healing methods that we still use today.
“This man was still celebrated up until the Ptolemaic times for being the inventor of architecture.
“It’s quite unfortunate that we only have a few statues of him remaining and we don’t even know where his tomb is.
“But he is actually one of the most important people in Egyptian history because if it wasn’t for him we wouldn’t have these pyramids we see today.”
It was revealed during the same series why some Egyptian tombs have false doors on them.
Visiting the tomb of Unas – the ninth and last ruler of the Fifth Dynasty of Egypt during the Old Kingdom, Mr Woodside said: “The Egyptians built false doors which were designed to look like real doors, but they were for the spirit to pass between this life and the afterlife.
“They believed the spirit could come in and out and Unas’ wife had a very nice false door.
“And actually with the false doors, a lot of the time, women would write down little letters if they were angry with their husbands or they wanted help on something.
“They would write it on the false door and believed the spirit would come and read it.”