The
large temple complex that dominates the
site of Dendara was one of the principal
cult centers of the goddess Hathor. It
contains a large number of structures from
different periods of Egyptian history,
but most prominent today is the Greco-Roman
Hathor temple, which was largely constructed
between 54 and 29 BC. Visitors can wander
the columned halls, underground chambers,
and stairways of the intact building, which
is covered with hieroglyphic inscriptions.
The
famous Dendara Zodiac, now in the Louvre,
was found in
one of the Osiris chapels,
located on the roof of the temple; a
copy of this relief can be viewed in place
of
the original today. From the roof visitors
also have a good view of the surrounding
monuments, which include a Ptolemaic
birth house (mammisi) with a shrine of
the 30th
Dynasty king Nectanebo I, a Ptolemaic
chapel of Thoth, a bark chapel of Ptolemy
VIII
Euergetes, a small Graeco-Roman temple
of Isis, a gate from the reigns of the
Roman emperors Domitian and Trajan, a
Roman birth house, a sacred lake, a sanitarium,
Roman cisterns, and a Coptic basilica,
all situated within the temple enclosure
walls.
The
oldest monument found on the site is a
Middle Kingdom chapel of Mentuhotep
II,
which is now in the Egyptian Museum
in Cairo, However, according to inscriptions
found in the temple itself, Dendara
was important from the Predynastic period
on.
HOURS OF
OPERATION:
Daily, 9 AM - 5
PM
TICKET COST:
Egyptian:
2 LE
Foreign: 25 LE
LOCATION:
4km southwest of Qena on the West Bank
of the Nile
DIRECTIONS:
Most tourists visit Dendara in convoys from
Luxor. Trains stop in Qena, and service
taxis (under police escort) will come here
as well. Ask for “ma’abd dendara"
FACILITIES:
Visitors
can relax in the cafeteria in the newly
constructed
visitor center,
which also houses a bazaar. There is also
a tourist police office on the site.
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Façade of the
Temple of Hathor at Dendara (SCA
Archives) |
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Interior of
the Temple of Hathor at Dendara
(Julie Patenaude) |
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