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Ancient temples
Temple of Dendera
Visitors to Luxor, who have the time, should try
and visit the famous Temple of Hathor at Dendera. In a taxi, the
trip takes about 1 hour from Luxor. The
buses, which are always accompanied by a Police convoy, that leaves
at 0800 daily . The entrance fee is LE 35.
The Temple is located about 4KM from the River Nile, on its west
bank, roughly opposite the city of Qena, the capital of the province
and governorate of Qena (population - 2,000,000), which is
inhabited by both Coptic and Muslims. This town is very famous for
the manufacture of water pots, called “gula” jars in Arabic.
The Muslim Sheik, Abdel Raheeem El-Kenawi, who
spent all of his life in this town and died in 1170 A.D, founded the
modern city. The birthday of this saint is celebrated every year,
and a great number of pilgrims come from all over
Egypt for the
festivities. The name of the city goes back to the time of the
Pharaohs , and was taken from the ancient Egyptian word Qeny, which
means, “to bend”; the River Nile has a huge (and famous) bend here.
The Temple of Hathor was built in the 1st century B.C and it is one
of the best-preserved Temples in the whole of
Egypt! Ptolemy VIII
and Queen Cleopatra II built it, and then later, Roman Emperors
continued to decorate it and honour the Goddess Hathor; the Goddess
of maternity, love and music. The Greeks identified the Goddess
Hathor as Aphrodite.
The first gateway, built by Roman Emperor Domitian in 80 A.D, leads
to the great hall of the Temple, which is decorated with Hathoric
columns (columns with the face of Hathor on them) and is in a very
good condition. The upper, front edge of the cornice is decorated
with the winged sun disc, while stone screens between the columns
and the scene, which represent the Roman Emperor Tiberius and other
Roman rulers who present votive offerings to the Goddess of the
Temple, enclose the front portion. Hathor is chiefly represented
with the horns of the sacred cow protruding from her head,
supporting the solar disc of the sun, and in her hands she is
holding an “Ankh”, the symbol of life, and a sceptre. Sometimes she
is also represented with the head of a cow.
The interior walls of the great hall have remarkable scenes that
mainly depict sacrifices being made to the Goddess of the Temple.
The amazing ceiling, with its astronomical representations, is very
interesting! The ceiling is divided into 7 divisions, and the best
remaining 3 are:
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The first division on the eastern side, which depicts the
Goddess Nut, the Goddess of the sky, who is bending herself
towards the earth, with the sun disc shining on the Temple and
the mask of Hathor.
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Secondly, and next to the first, is a representation of the sun
boat and star Goddess.
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The third one is the western ceiling, which shows a perfect
representation of the zodiac signs, which is one of the reasons
that the
Temple is so famous (the original zodiac relief is now in the
Louvre museum in Paris, France). The 12 figures of the ram, the
bull, the heavenly twins, the crab, the lion, the virgin, the
scales, the scorpion, the archer, the goat, the watering pots
and fishes with glittering tails. On the inner walls of the
screen, the hawk headed God Horus, and the Ibis headed God
Thoth, are pouring drops of holy water over the King. This scene
is called the baptism scene, symbolising life and happiness.
The second hall has 6 columns adorned
with rich capitals and granite pedestals. On both sides of this hall
are small rooms that were used as storerooms, used to store the wine
jars that came from the Island of Crete, and the fertile Fayoum and
Kharga oases.
Next is the central chapel, which has two
altars; one for the sacred boat, and the other for the sacrifices
offered to the Goddess Hathor. The beautifully sculptured relief’s
on the walls of the shrines represent Ptolemy VIII and other rules,
whose names were left blank in the oval cartouches, dancing with
offerings to the sacred boat of Hathor and her husband Horus. The
representatives of the King, the high Priests and noblemen, used to
gather in the great hall in preparation for the daily rituals. The
ceilings are covered in stars, and black soot from the fires of the
later inhabitants of the Temple. The rooms around the sanctuary were
used for scientific purposes, the storing of the sacred boat, the
sacred wreath, the golden image of the Goddess Hathor and musical
instruments.
There is a small corridor on the right, which leads to a small room
that contains the crypt, highly recommended should you visit here.
The staircases, which lead to the roof of the Temple, are decorated
with some beautiful symbols representing the 12 months of the year.
On the eastern corner, of the roof, is the chapel of the God Osiris.
The scenes on its walls represent Osiris rising from the dead and
becoming the God of the underworld. It is from this chapel that the
best representation of the zodiac was taken.
The southern exterior wall relief show Cleopatra VII and her son
Caesarian, son of Julius Caesar, making offerings to Hathor and all
the other deities of Dendera. On the same wall, near the cornice,
are some stone lion heads, serving as water spouts. Adjoining the
Temple building to the west is the sacred lake, which was used for
the priests’ ablutions. Next to the lake is a small shaft,
discovered in 1917, which contained valuable treasures of
Cleopatra’s era, which are now displayed in the Egyptian Museum.
The Karnak Temple
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Luxor Temple
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The Temple of Deir El-Bahri
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The Temple of
Abydos -
Temple of Dendera
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Temple of
Madinat Habu -
The Temple of Edfu
-The
Temple of Kom Ombo -
The Temple of Philae
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The Temple of
Isis -The
Temples of Abu Simbel -
Temple of The Ramesseum
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