Dendera Temple
The Dendera Temple is located in Dendera, the capital of Egypt’s sixth Upper Egypt region. With its distinctive style and layout, it is a magnificent example of the beauty and grandeur of Egyptian temples during the Greek and Roman periods.
Dendera Temple
The temple is specifically dedicated to Hathor, the goddess associated with birth, beauty, and music. It was built in 54 BC and resembles the Temple of Edfu in design and structure, but is larger. The size and area of the corridors and staircases leading to the roof, the huts constructed on the temple roof, the huge mudbrick wall surrounding the temple, the sacred lake attached to the temple, and the Mamisi (birth house) are all notable features.
The foundation stone was laid by Ptolemy III using sandstone and was later enhanced by many Roman emperors. The temple’s length is approximately 79 meters, covering an area of about 83,600 square meters. Its square façade is one of the most magnificent ancient temple facades, measuring 12.5 meters high and 35 meters wide.
It features a system of wall curtains—walls that reach halfway up the column shafts—and contains six massive columns with capitals shaped like Hathor’s head. The entrance leads to a hypostyle hall with 32 columns, followed by a smaller columned hall with 18 columns topped with capitals.
The ceiling of this hall is decorated with the Sistrum instrument symbolizing Hathor’s head, adorned with splendid astronomical scenes in vivid colors.
The temple is most famous for the Dendera Zodiac, the first known zodiac representation, discovered in 1799 in a special niche for Osiris on the temple roof. The western half of this sandstone ceiling panel measures 255 cm by 253 cm and depicts the movement of stars, including constellations such as Scorpio, Sagittarius, Gemini, Taurus, Aries, and others.
In 1827, Muhammad Ali Pasha gifted this zodiac to France, and it is now exhibited in the Louvre Museum in Paris.
In 2020, Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities launched a restoration project for the temple. Three of the twelve crypts, where festivals were celebrated, have been opened to visitors following restoration. Additionally, a panoramic view from the roof of the Dendera Temple, which is a popular tourist attraction, has been made accessible.
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