Dendera Temple complex

The Dendera temple complex, called Iunet or Tantere in Ancient Egyptian and Tentyra in 19th-century English, is located about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 miles) south-east of Dendera, Egypt. It is one of the best-preserved temple complexes of ancient Egypt. The area was used as the sixth nome of Upper Egypt, south of Abydos, and the entire complex is surrounded by a sizable mudbrick wall.

Because of its size, the structures were constructed over many eras, including the Middle Kingdom, the Ptolemaic Era, and the period of Roman provincial rule. There is evidence of an even earlier building on this site, circa 2250 B.C.E., which could have begun during the reign of Pepi I and been completed during the reign of his son, Merenre Nemtyemsaf I. Evidence also exists of a temple in the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 1500 BC). The earliest extant building in the compound today is the mammisi raised by Nectanebo II, last of the native pharaohs (360–343 BC).

The complex includes the Hathor temple, the main temple; the Temple of the birth of Isis; a Sacred Lake; a sanatorium, used for bathing and an overnight stay to bring healing dreams; the mammisi of Nectanebo II; a basilica; a Roman mammisi; a barque shrine where statues of the gods rested during festivals; the gateways of Domitian and Trajan; and a Roman kiosk. It is not to be confused with the Dendera Necropolis, a series of tombs of earlier date.

The existing Temple of Hathor began construction in 54 B.C.E, in the late Ptolemaic period, under Ptolemy Auletes, and the hypostyle hall was built in the Roman period under Tiberius. Depictions of Cleopatra VI appear on the temple walls, and the rear exterior carries a carving of Cleopatra VII Philopator and her son Caesarion. The temple's subterranean crypts contain twelve chambers and reportedly were used for storing vessels and divine iconography.

The Dendera zodiac is a widely known relief from a late Greco-Roman temple, containing zodiac images still recognized today. In 1820 it was removed from the temple ceiling by Frenchmen and later replaced with a copy, and there is controversy over whether they had permission from Egypt's ruler, Muhammad Ali Pasha. The real relief is now in the Louvre. Jean-François Champollion dated it to the Ptolemaic period, and Egyptologists now date it to the first century BC.

The entirety of the complex is surrounded by a sizable mudbrick wall. Dendera, an oasis on the banks of the Nile, was inhabited by thousands at its peak. Due to its massive size, the structures throughout the complex were constructed over many eras, such as the Middle Kingdom, the Ptolemaic Era, and the period characterized by Roman provincial rule. There is evidence that there was an even earlier building on this site, circa 2250 B.C.E., which could have begun during the reign of Pepi I and completed during the reign of his son, Merenre Nemtyemsaf I. Evidence also exists of a temple in the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 1500 BC). The earliest extant (surviving) building in the compound today is the mammisi raised by Nectanebo II – last of the native pharaohs (360–343 BC).

The features in the complex include:

Hathor temple (the main temple)

Temple of the birth of Isis

Sacred Lake (source of water for sacred rituals and for everyday use)

Sanatorium

This would have functioned similarly to a Roman bathhouse, but strictly for bathing and an overnight stay to manifest healing dreams. The waters at Dendera were sacred and were often used to bless the inscriptions on statues so that they could cure diseases.

Mammisi of Nectanebo II

Basilica

Roman Mammisi

a Barque shrine

(Def.: Boat; French, “barque”/ Late Latin “barca”)

Used as a resting place for the statues of the gods when outside of the temple during festivals

Gateways of Domitian and Trajan

the Roman Kiosk

The Dendera Temple is not to be confused with the Dendera Necropolis, which consists of a series of tombs. The Dendera Necropolis dates back to the Early Dynastic Period and up to the First Intermediate Period, which pre-dates the Middle Kingdom construction of the Temple of Hathor. The necropolis runs across the eastern edge of the western hill and over the northern plain.