It was his reputation as a writer and administrator that started Imhotep on the road to godhood. By New Kingdom times he was considered a sage, and poets sang of his wise words. When the scribes mixed water with lampblack to make ink, they poured out the last drop as a libation in his honor. It was really much later that he began his ascent to the rank of demigod. In the 6th century the likenesses of him show a priest or learned man. He was clean shaven, the head often covered with a skullcap. he wears an apron and sandals. He sits pensively with an open scroll of papyrus on his lap.