It is a small town and former bishopric in Egypt situated on the west bank of the Nile, about 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Qena, on the opposite side of the river. It is located approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Luxor and remains a Latin Catholic titular see. It contains the Dendera Temple complex, one of the best-preserved temple sites from ancient Upper Egypt.
At a rather isolated place at the edge of the desert, about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) south-west of the modern town, lies what Dendera is famous for, a mostly Greco-Roman temple complex known in ancient Egyptian as Iunet or Tantere. The modern Arab town is built on the ancient site of Ta-ynt-netert, which means 'She of the Divine Pillar.' In the Greek era, the town was known as Tentyra. It was once the -modest- capital of the 6th Nome (Pharaonic province) of Upper Egypt, some scholars believe the name derives from the sky and fertility goddess Hathor, also associated with the Greek Aphrodite, who was especially worshiped there. The official deity of the city was a crocodile. Crocodiles were also venerated as deities in other Egyptian cities, which gave rise to many quarrels, notably with Ombos.
The town was given its present Arabic name of Denderah during the late Ottoman Empire and ruled 6000 inhabitants in Qena (Qeneh) district.
Dendera Temple complex
It is located about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) south-east of Dendera, Egypt. It is one of the best-preserved temple complexes in Egypt. The area was used as the sixth nome of Upper Egypt, south of Abydos.
It is surrounded by a hefty mudbrick enclosed wall. Dendera was inhabited in prehistory, a useful oasis on the banks of the Nile. It seems that pharaoh Pepi I (ca. 2250 BC) built on this site and evidence exists of a temple in the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca 1500 BC). The earliest extant building in the compound today is the mammisi raised by Nectanebo II – last of the native pharaohs (360–343 BC).
The features in the complex include:
- Hathor temple (the main temple)
- Temple of the birth of Isis
- Sacred Lake
- Sanatorium
- Mammisi of Nectanebo II
- Christian Basilica
- Roman Mammisi
- a Barque shrine
- Gateways of Domitian and Trajan
- the Roman Kiosk
Nearby is the Dendera necropolis, a series of mastaba tombs. The necropolis dates from the Early Dynastic Period of the Old Kingdom to the First Intermediate Period of Egypt. The necropolis runs the eastern edge of the western hill and over the northern plain.
Hathour Temple at Dendara
This temple is situated in Dendara city, north of Luxor about 28 miles from Luxor, it was one of the temples built first by the Ptolemies, Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra II and then the Roman continue the decoration.
It was built in order to show their dedication to the Egyptian Gods and Goddess, specially Goddess Hathour, Goddess of joy, music, and love.
Although it is unfinished monument, it is considered the best preserved one together with Edfu Temple. In this temple you will get through the Roman Gateway.
To the right of it there is Roman Birth House, also in this Temple you can visit its roof which is one of the few Temple which allows the visitor to visit. At the back of the temple there is a small temple honored to Isis and Hathour. There is also a palm tree which is grown in the sacred lack which unfinished.
The first division on the eastern side depicts goddess Nut, goddess of the sky, bending herself towards the earth and the sun disc is seen shining on the Temple and the mask of Hathor.
Next to this is a representation of the sun boat and star goddess and next to sun boat the western ceiling shows a divine in a perfect representation of the zodiac signs, which makes this temple one of the most famous temples.
The original zodiac is in the Louvre museum. The twelve figures of the ram, the bull, the heavenly twins, the crab, the lion, Virgo, the scales, the scorpion, the archer, the goat, the watering pots and fishes with glittering tails.
The dominant building in the complex is the Temple of Hathor. The temple has been modified on the same site starting as far back as the Middle Kingdom, and continuing right up until the time of the Roman emperor Trajan. The existing structure began construction in the late Ptolemaic period at the time of Ptolemy Auletes in July 54 BCE. And the hypostyle hall was built in the Roman period under Tiberius.
In Egypt, Trajan was quite active in constructing buildings and decorating them. He appears, together with Domitian, in offering scenes on the propylon of the Temple of Hathor. His cartouche also appears in the column shafts of the Temple of Khnum at Esna.
Layout elements of the temple are:
- Large Hypostyle Hall
- Small Hypostyle Hall
- Laboratory
- Storage magazine
- Offering entry
- Treasury
- Exit to well
- Access to stairwell
- Offering hall
- Hall of the Ennead
- Great Seat and main sanctuary
- Shrine of the Nome of Dendera
- Shrine of Isis
- Shrine of Sokar
- Shrine of Harsomtus
- Shrine of Hathor's Sistrum
- Shrine of gods of Lower Egypt
- Shrine of Hathor
- Shrine of the throne of Rê
- Shrine of Rê
- Shrine of Menat collar
- Shrine of Ihy
- The Pure Place
- Court of the First Feast
- Passage
- Staircase to roof
Depictions of Cleopatra VI which appear on temple walls are good examples of Ptolemaic Egyptian art. On the rear of the temple exterior is a carving of Cleopatra VII Philopator (the popularly well-known Cleopatra) and her son, Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar (Caesarion), who was fathered by Julius Caesar.
Dendera zodiac
The sculptured Dendera zodiac (or Denderah zodiac) is a widely known relief found in a late Greco-Roman temple, containing images of Taurus (the bull) and the Libra (the balance). A sketch was made of it during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt. In 1820 it was removed from the temple ceiling by French colonizers and replaced with a fake. There is controversy as to whether they were granted permission by Egypt's ruler, Muhammad Ali Pasha, to do so, or whether they stole it. The real one is now in the Louvre. Champollion's guess that it was Ptolemaic proved to be correct, and Egyptologists now date it to the first century BC.
Crypts
The subterranean Hathor temple tombs total twelve chambers. Some reliefs are dated to as late as the reign of Ptolemy XII Auletes. The crypts reportedly were used for storing vessels and divine iconography. An opening in the "Flame Room" floor leads to a narrow chamber with representations on the walls of the objects which were kept in them. In the second chamber, a relief depicts Pepi I offering a statuette of the god Ihy to four images of Hathor. In the crypt, reached from the "throne room", Ptolemy XII has jewelry and offerings for the gods.
The Dendera light
The Hathor Temple has a relief sometimes known as the Dendera light because of a controversial fringe thesis about its nature. The Dendera light images comprise five stone reliefs (two of which contain a pair of what fringe authors refer to as lights) in the Hathor temple at the Dendera Temple complex located in Egypt. The view of Egyptologists is that the relief is a mythological depiction of a djed pillar and a lotus flower, spawning a snake within, representing aspects of Egyptian mythology.
In contrast to this interpretation, there is a fringe science suggestion that it is actually a representation of an Ancient Egyptian lightbulb.
Ceiling cleaning
The ceiling of the Hathor Temple was cleanedin a careful way that removed hundreds of years of black soot without harming the ancient paint underneath. Spectacular ceiling painting was exposed in the main hall, and some of the most vibrant and colorful paintings dating from antiquityare now visible.
Roman mammisi
The Roman mammisi is a subsidiary building dating to the reigns of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius. Numerous reliefs of Trajan making offerings to Egyptian deities can be seen.