Dendera temple complex

Hathor temple

The temple that dominates this complex, the structure that commands the attention of those who visit, is the Temple of Hathor. The original temple structure underwent continuous modifications throughout the Middle Kingdom and up until the beginning of the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan. The existing temple's structure began construction in 54 B.C.E, the late Ptolemaic period, under the reign of Ptolemy Auletes. 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 propylaeum 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 popular, well-known Cleopatra) and her son, Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar (Caesarion), who was fathered by Julius Caesar.

There are ten dead deities represented at Dendera, specifically on/in Hathor's temple, that can be connected to the nine dead deities at Horus's temple in Edfu. This would be due to the either parental or marital relationship between Hathor and Horus.

Dendera zodiac

The sculptured Dendera zodiac (or Denderah zodiac) is a widely known relief found in a late Greco-Roman temple, containing images of the zodiac system still recognized today (i.e. Taurus [bull] and Libra [scales]). A sketch was made during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt. In 1820 it was removed from the temple ceiling by Frenchmen and later replaced with a copy. 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. (It is also said that in 1822, an antiquities thief using the name "Claude Le Lorraine,” who should not to be confused with the French Baroque painter, removed the zodiac from Dendera, brought it back to France, and sold it to the King.) The real bas relief is now in the Louvre. Jean-François Champollion, the man who deciphered the Rosetta Stone, dated it back to the Ptolemaic period, and it has been proved that he was correct, as Egyptologists now date it back to the first century BC.

Crypts

The Hathor temple's subterranean tombs contain twelve chambers. Some reliefs seen in the tombs 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. (Hathor is understood to be Ihy's mother.) In the crypt accessible from the Throne Room, Ptolemy XII has jewelry and offerings for the gods.

"Dendera light" reliefs

The Hathor Temple has stone reliefs that depict Harsomtus, in the form of a snake, emerging from a lotus flower. Harsomtus was equated with the god Ra. Harsomtus, also known as Horus, is depicted as one of the ancient gods, a "primeval creator." Harsomtus is likely depicted at the Dendera temple complex due to the main temple being dedicated to Hathor. In Egyptian mythology, Harsomtus is referenced as either Hathor's son or lover. In six reliefs he is positioned within an oval container called a hn, which might represent the womb of Nut. The oval container was sometimes interpreted by 20th-century pseudoarchaeologists as a modern incandescent light bulb with a power cord (lotus stem) and filament (snake). (See Dendera light.)

Processional staircase

There is a processional stairway leading to the roof of the temple. Reliefs decorating the walls depict scenes from rituals that would have been performed at the temple. The staircase shows wear from millennia of use, but it also shows an apparent accretion of material, which has lent the staircase the informal name of "the melted stairs."

Restoration work

The Supreme Council of Antiquities began the project of restoration and maintenance of the temple in 2005. Efforts stopped in 2011 and then resumed in 2017, after the completion of necessary scientific and archaeological studies, along with careful experimental studies using modern techniques. As of March 2021, the second phase of the restoration has been completed, which includes cleaning the Great Pillars Hall and restoring the original colors and clarity of painted scenes on walls and ceilings. More activity continues at the temple, including a cooperative effort started in 2019 with the French Archaeological delegation to turn the temple courtyard into an open museum.

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. The presence of the Roman mammisi at the Dendera temple complex is indicative of the long and complicated history of the Romans in Egypt. As seen in the images below, Roman Emperor Trajan is depicted in the reliefs as an Egyptian pharaoh making offerings to Egyptian gods.

Recent discoveries

In March 2023, during the recent excavations at the site archaeologists uncovered a limestone sphinx. This sphinx is depicted with a slight grin and dimples and is thought to have been created in the image of the Roman emperor Claudius. On the sphinx's head sits a nemes that has a cobra-shaped tip called a uraeus.

Tourism

The Dendera complex has long been one of the most tourist-accessible ancient Egyptian places of worship. It is possible to visit virtually every part of the complex, from the crypts to the roof (at least until November 2025)