Dendera Temple

Q: Who built the Temple of Hathor?

The Temple of Hathor was built primarily during the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which was a period of Greek rule in Egypt. However, the construction of the temple was completed under the Roman Emperor Trajan, who is depicted on the walls of the complex making offerings to Hathor.

Q: What Ancient Egyptian object was called lamps of Dendera?

The "Dendera Lamps" is the name given in pseudoscientific circles to several reliefs located in the Temple of Hathor at Dendera, located in Egypt, because of their similar appearance.

Q: Who is the Egyptian god Hathor?

In ancient Egypt, Hathor was one of the most revered deities. Goddess of music, love, but also possessed of a terrible side, according to the myth she had seven "manifestations" that attended the births and could prophesy the time of death of a person.

Q: What powers does the goddess Hathor have?

Goddess of fertility: Hathor had power over the fertility of the earth and living beings, which linked her with agriculture and abundance. Goddess of the sky: She was sometimes considered a celestial deity and was attributed with control over the sky and the stars.

The Temple of Dendera, also known as the Temple of Hathor, was built to worship the Egyptian goddess Hathor - the goddess of joy, music, and love. Although it was never finished, the temple is considered one of the best preserved in all of Egypt, just like the Temple of Edfu.

What is the reason for its construction?

In addition, Part of a complex of over 40,000 square meters, this was a place of chapels and small shrines from the beginning of Egyptian civilization, although today the oldest temple we can see corresponds to the pharaoh Nectanebo I, who ruled between 381 and 364 BC.

Dendera Temple Complex

Accordingly, The Temple of Hathor underwent successive renovations throughout its history, but its current state corresponds to the Hellenistic period. It is dedicated, as its name indicates, to the goddess Hathor, who was the goddess of love, joy, dance and music. Her name means "The Temple of Horus" or "The Abode of Horus", which identifies her as the mother of this god or occasionally as his wife.

Dendera Temple To Hathor

It is considered one of the best-preserved monuments in Egypt and is unique for its reliefs that represent one of the best examples of Egyptian Ptolemaic decorative art. This temple has a unique feature for tourists, as it is allowed to climb to its roof and admire the whole from that privileged position.

Zodiac of Dendera

Also, The main entrance of the temple leads to a large hypostyle hall which in turn communicates with a second smaller room around which are the administrative rooms of the temple. Continuing the tour towards the interior, one arrives to the room of the offerings and finally to the main sanctuary, a room surrounded by a corridor that communicates with a series of smaller sanctuaries dedicated to other deities.

Egyptian Light Bulb

At the back of the temple, there is a small temple dedicated to Hathour and Isis. And from there you can see the wonderful ceiling with its astronomical representations; this is divided into seven parts. The first of them you can see the goddess Nut, celestial goddess, representation of the sky, bent over the earth, covering it with her
mantle of stars.

Dendera Temple Facts

finelly On the other side we can see a representation of the solar boat and the god of the stars. Next to the solar boat, the ceiling shows a representation of the zodiacal signs. The original zodiac is in the Louvre museum in Paris. The eleven figures of the ram, the bull, the twin of the sky, the crab, the lion, the Virgo, the scale, the scorpion, the archer, the goat, the pots of water and fish with flashing tails that we all know are represented, although they present some variations.