Temple of Dendera

The Temple of Dendera and The Mystery of the Lamps

The Temple of Dendera is one of the most beautiful, enigmatic, and best-preserved temples in Egypt. The Dendera temple is very close to Luxor, however, although it is very easy to get to, it is not a very visited temple if we compare it with others located along the Nile, so you will find few people there.

The second time I went to Egypt I took the opportunity to visit this temple that I did not know and without hesitation, I put it in the ranking of the most beautiful in the country. In Dendera Temple, you do not have to make the effort to color the temple to imagine what it was like in the time of the pharaohs, but it retains all its colors and you can see it as they saw it.

Dendera Temple History

Dendera Temple was built in Greco-Roman times between 30 BC and 14 AD and was built on top of an ancient temple. It is dedicated to the cow goddess Hathor, one of the most important goddesses of ancient Egypt. The cow goddess was the one who represented fertility, childbirth, motherhood, and was the one that the sick came to ask for healing. It was worshiped since pre-dynastic times and also represented love, beauty, eroticism, and joy.

So that you can distinguish it in the hieroglyphs, it is represented with two horns holding the solar disk. In the capitals of the columns of the Dendera temple, it appears with the head of a woman and the ears of a cow.

If in any hieroglyph you see a cow, see if its body is full of stars, it will also be her. Dendera Temple is in a very good state of preservation. It is the only Egyptian temple that retains its original colors since it was covered by desert sands for many years.

In 1798 Napoleon and his troops occupied Egypt. They camped in the area where the temple is located. One of his soldiers left an ammunition box on the ground and it collapsed. when they went to retrieve it they would find the temple, intact, with its original colors.

What to see in Dendera Temple

The Egyptians always carefully chose the place where they built their temples. The Dendera temple was no less, its location is linked to the position of the stars.

The axis of the temple was oriented towards the north. The place where the star Alpha Draconis appeared, which we now know as the pole star, represents the principle of maternal force, that is, Hathor.

There is the main door, which served as a reference to record the movements of this star. They then placed stones in the four corners and perimeter of the temple with an outer wall 10 meters high.

The second door of the temple is oriented towards the place where the star Sirius, the symbol of Isis, ascended. Sirius after being in hiding for 120 days, on June 21 appeared, beginning the summer solstice. Her appearance marked the 40 days in which the Nile overflowed.

When Sirius disappeared, the Nile returned to its normal level. Another of Dendera’s buildings would be built there, the Iseo, the temple dedicated to the birth of Isis, which is the one that is the worst preserved. On the capital of the columns is the god Bes, the protector of women in labor, who always accompanies Hathor.

In front of the main temple, there is also a Roman birth house from the time of Augustus, dedicated to Harsomtus, the son of Hathor and Horus. Next to it is a Coptic church from the 5th century AD and next to it is another mamisi from the time of Nectaebo I.

Dendera Temple covers an area of ​​40,000 meters. It is allowed to see the entire enclosure, that is, you can explore all the corners, areas that at the time were only allowed to priests and pharaohs.

So you can see all the enigmatic and secret recesses of the temple, from the roof to the crypt. Believe me that the Dendera temple contains many mysteries that I will tell you later.

In its time, Dendera, in addition to being a holy place of pilgrimage to honor the goddess Hathor, was also the place where the sick went to seek healing. And it is that in the temple there was a part destined to hospital/sanatorium. In the ruins, you can see the part where the sick were staying, as well as the remains of a pool where the pilgrims used to bathe because its waters were considered sacred.

Going through the north gate, built by the emperors Domitian and Trajan in the 1st century AD, you come to a courtyard containing the main temple of Hathor.

The temple of Hathor

The first thing we find outside the temple of Hathor, are six columns with hathoric capitals. Once we enter the first hypostyle room, 18 huge columns 15 meters high appear, they are impressive.

There is no undecorated piece, walls, ceilings, columns all tell us a story through hieroglyphics. The capital of the columns is shaped like a sistrum, this was the instrument of Hathor, and the end of the columns crowned with the head of the goddess.

The ceiling is profusely decorated with hieroglyphics, with a turquoise blue background. The sky goddess Nut can be seen bringing the sun to the world. The hieroglyphs on the walls speak of the consecration of the temple and there are many astronomical records.

The second hypostyle room was the place where the figure of the goddess Hathor appeared when leaving her sanctuary, during the celebrations and processions that took place in the temple.

It consists of 6 columns that form the right and left limits of the corridor after the first room. On both sides, there are small rooms, the Treasure Room, various offering rooms, and storage rooms for storing the latter.

This area was able to be illuminated thanks to 4 windows on the roof. Notice because in the temple of Hathor you will see several windows, to illuminate the interior of the temple. In another of the rooms, was the boat that carried Hathor in procession up the Nile, to the temple of Horus in Edfu.

In the depths of the temple, you reached the most sacred space where the statue of Hathor was located. Only Pharaoh and the high priests could enter here. The entire perimeter was surrounded by chapels in which the entrance to the town was allowed so that they could pray to the goddess.

To access the lower part of the temple of Hathor you have to descend a staircase that leads to the crypt. Here the secret papyri of the temple were kept and stored.

There are two stairs to go up to the upper floor. A snail that symbolizes the staircase of light. The other staircase is straight and is the one used to climb the statue of Hathor to the roof at the summer solstice. On the walls, you will see in relief the figure of the priests who carry offerings to the goddess.

On the roof of the temple, you will find two chapels. That of Osiris and another in which the Zodiac of Dendera was found. Outside the temple on the south outer wall, you will see the only and last representation of the most famous pharaoh, Cleopatra VII, and her son Caesarion, making offerings to Hathor.

Dendera Temple Mysteries

Dendera Temple is shrouded in many undisclosed unknowns. The interpretation of the hieroglyphs of the temple has caused many interpretations, especially among lovers of mystery.

Dendera’s lamps

One of the biggest Egyptian mysteries that has not yet been clarified is how the Egyptians lit up inside tombs. How could they illuminate the interior of tombs, temples, and pyramids? If they had used torches or lamps, the emitted smoke would have left a mark on the walls or ceilings, however, none of the Egyptian constructions have any traces of soot been found.

The explanation for some is that they used special oils that did not emit smoke, others say that to illuminate themselves they used the reflection of the mirrors. However, the latter is very difficult to understand in many of the tombs like the ones that can be seen in the valley of the kings and that are deep or in the Dendera temple itself.

Under the floor of the temple of Hathor is a crypt, to get there you have to go down an intricate staircase. Once you get to the bottom, some passages lead to one of the most mysterious bas-reliefs, and that have given many reasons for speculation to mystery lovers, I am talking about the Dendera lamps.

In one of the corridors of the crypt, two figures are holding an object similar to a light bulb, it even seems that a large electric coil is represented.

This was why many speculated that the Egyptians already knew about electricity. Of course, this theory has been rejected by Egyptologists who consider that these hieroglyphs are an Egyptian mythological representation of a djed pillar and a lotus flower, which represents Upper Egypt.

Dendera’s zodiac

The Dendera zodiac is found on the ceiling of one of the chapels representing the resurrection of Osiris. The zodiac was ripped off by one of the Napoleonic soldiers and was brought to France. The original is in the Louvre. The one here is a replica.

This is the first time that a zodiac was represented in a circular shape since until then the zodiacs were made in a pyramidal or square shape. The vault of heaven is held by four women aided by cow-headed spirits.

In it, all the signs of the zodiac appear. For the Egyptians, each sign corresponded to a season of the year, the 360 ​​days of the Egyptian year. Of course, the star Sirius also appears.

As a curiosity, the Dendera zodiac shows the oldest known date of the year. Two eclipses are also described. The mystery of the Dendera zodiac is that when they studied how the position of the constellations should be at that time, it did not correspond to the date that appeared in the hieroglyph. The zodiac shows a map of the previous sky, no less than 650 years before the construction of the zodiac.

So everyone who has studied it wonders if the calculations were real or were it just a symbolic representation. In any case, the Dendera zodiac is a sample of the great astronomical knowledge that the Egyptians had.

The sculptures of Hathor and Bes

I leave you the last curious fact about this temple. All the Egyptian gods and pharaohs were represented in the paintings and the profile sculptures, both in the bas-reliefs and in the frescoes. However, both Hathor and the dwarf god Bes who always accompanies her, here were sculpted head-on.

In the Dendera temple, you can see a sculpture of Bes. This was the satyr-like dwarf god, who protected children and women. It was associated with love and sexual pleasure. That is why his sculpture must have been located in the house of birth.

How to get to Dendera Temple

The temple is about 82 km north of Luxor, next to the city of Qena. The best option to get to Dendera is by taxi, another option is to look for an organized excursion from Luxor.

In an hour and a half, you will reach one of the best-preserved and most mysterious temples in Egypt.

Another alternative to get there from Luxor is to take the train that goes to Qena, it takes about 45 minutes to arrive and from there take a taxi to the temple.

Best time to visit Dendera Temple

The summer months in Egypt are quite hot. And the desert region is particularly hot in June, July, August, and September. So run away from these months and also try to escape the holidays at the end of the year and Easter, when the country is invaded by Europeans. [ what is the best time to travel to Egypt? ]

The months of March, October, and November are ideal for visiting, as the weather is pleasant and there are not many tourists.