Editing Imhotep (section)

===God of medicine===
{{Infobox deity
| type = Egyptian
| name = Imhotep
| cult_center = [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]]
| image = Imhotep.svg
| hiero = <hiero>ii-m-Htp:t*p</hiero>
| parents = [[Ptah]] and [[Sekhmet]] or [[Khereduankh]]
| consort = [[Renpetneferet]] (sometimes sister)
| siblings = [[Amenhotep, son of Hapu#Legacy|Amenhotep, son of Hapu]], [[Renpetneferet]] (sometimes wife)
| greek_equivalent = [[Asclepius]]
}}
{{Ancient Egyptian religion}}
Two thousand years after his death, Imhotep's status had risen to that of a god of medicine and [[healing]]. Eventually, Imhotep was equated with [[Thoth]], the god of architecture, mathematics, and medicine, and patron of [[scribes]]: Imhotep's cult was merged with that of his own former tutelary god.

He was revered in the region of [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]] as the "brother" of [[Amenhotep, son of Hapu]] – another deified architect – in the temples dedicated to Thoth.<ref>{{cite book |first=Patrick |last=Boylan |year=1922 |title=Thoth or the Hermes of Egypt: A study of some aspects of theological thought in ancient Egypt |pages=166–168 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}</ref><ref name=Lichtheim-1980>{{cite book |author-link=Miriam Lichtheim |first=M. |last=Lichtheim |year=1980 |title=Ancient Egyptian Literature |publisher=The University of California Press|isbn=0-520-04020-1}}</ref>{{rp|at=v3, p104}} Because of his association with health, the [[Ancient Greece|Greeks]] equated Imhotep with [[Asclepius|Asklepios]], their own god of health who also was a deified mortal.<ref>{{cite book |first=Geraldine |last=Pinch |year=2002 |title=Handbook of Egyptian Mythology |series=World Mythology |publisher=[[ABC-Clio]] |place=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=9781576072424 |oclc=52716451}}</ref>

According to myth, Imhotep's mother was a mortal named [[Khereduankh]], she too being eventually revered as a demi-goddess as the daughter of [[Banebdjedet]].<ref>{{cite book |first1=Marina |last1=Warner |first2=Felipe |last2=Fernández-Armesto |title=World of Myths |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-292-70204-3 |page=296}}</ref> Alternatively, since Imhotep was known as the "Son of Ptah",<ref name=Lichtheim-1980/>{{rp|at=v?, p106}}{{volume needed|date=March 2021|reason=Missing volume number for 3-volume work.}} his mother was sometimes claimed to be [[Sekhmet]], the patron of [[Upper Egypt]] whose consort was [[Ptah]].