In IMHOTEP THE AFRICAN, Egyptologist, Robert Bauval, and astrophysicist, Thomas Brophy, uncover the mystery of Imhotep, ancient Egyptian superstar, pharaonic Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Galileo and Newton all rolled into one. Based on their research at the Step Pyramid Complex at Saqqara, Bauval and Brophy delve into observational astronomy to 'decode' the alignments and other design features of the Step Pyramid Complex, to uncover the true origins and genius of Imhotep. Like a whodunit detective story they follow the clues that take them on an exhilarating magical mystery tour starting at Saqqara, leading them to temples in Upper Egypt and to the stones of Nabta Playa and the black African stargazers who placed them there. These Nabta Playa "star peoples" are intimately linked with the rise of Egyptian civilisation, both physically in time and space and culturally through ritual, astronomy and symbol. The authors show how the first Great Pyramid, monumentalises in giant stone the link to their precursor peoples and culture and the genius polymath behind the Djoser Step Pyramid : Imhotep. IMHOTEP THE AFRICAN describes how Imhotep was the ancient link to the birth of modern civilisation, restoring him to his proper place at the centre of the birthing of Egyptian, and world, civilisation. "A few kilometers outside the modern city of Cairo, on a large, flat elevation at the edge of the Sahara overlooking the Nile, is the world's very first architectural complex. Nearly 5000 years old, the centerpiece of this mindboggling complex is a huge stepped pyramid surrounded by strange temple-like structures, the lot contained inside a giant perimeter wall whose length is more than 1500 meters. Aligned conspicuously towards the four cardinal directions, the whole mood of this strange place evokes, for lack of better words, "sacred architecture" or, perhaps more aptly, "sacred astronomy". No doubt something extremely potent took place here, certainly rituals of the highest order which somehow involved the cycles of the celestial bodies as seen through the eyes of a holy man or shaman. Amazingly, when one considers the extreme antiquity of this complex, Egyptologists know for sure who conceived it: Imhotep, the High Priest of Heliopolis and Vizier of king Netjerykhet-Djoser of the 3rd Dynasty in. c. 2650 BC. " -From the Introduction