Dendera Temple Complex
Site, Abydos to Abu Simbel · also called Temple of Hathor at Dendera, Dendera Temple, Tentyris, Iunet
Dendera's Temple of Hathor is one of the most complete temples in Egypt, covered inside and out with late hieroglyphs. Here you can find Cleopatra VII's cartouche, an astronomical ceiling and texts in hidden crypts.
Dendera lies on the west bank of the Nile opposite Qena, about 60 km north of Luxor. The goddess Hathor was worshipped here for millennia, but the temple you see was begun in the late Ptolemaic period, around 54 BC under Ptolemy XII, and decorated into Roman times.
Because the temple is so late, its hieroglyphs are written in the Ptolemaic style: many more signs than in earlier periods, new sound values and playful spellings, packed into dense columns. Many cartouches name Roman emperors, written in hieroglyphs as if they were pharaohs.
The ceilings of the great hypostyle hall were cleaned of soot in recent years, bringing back their blue and gold. They show the sky goddess Nut, the hours, the decans and the zodiac. The faces of Hathor on the column capitals were deliberately damaged in later centuries.
What to see and read
Hypostyle hall ceiling
Bands of astronomical scenes with Nut swallowing and giving birth to the sun. The texts name stars, hours and gods; binoculars help.
Zodiac chapel
A roof chapel of Osiris held the round Dendera zodiac. The original was taken to Paris in the 1820s and is in the Louvre; a cast sits in its place.
Crypts
Narrow rooms in the walls, carved with lists of sacred objects. The 'Dendera light' relief is a lotus giving birth to a snake, a creation image, not a lamp.
Rear wall
Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarion offer to the gods, one of the few large images of her. Read her cartouche here.
Roof
Stairways carved with priests carrying offerings up to the roof chapels of Osiris, whose walls tell his resurrection.
Names you can find here
Signs to look for
- Sky N1pt The sky sign is everywhere on the astronomical ceilings, as Nut's body and in her name.
- Star N14sbꜣ Stars cover the ceiling bands and write the names of hours and decans.
- Gold collar S12nbw The gold collar writes 'the Golden One', Hathor's favourite title here.
- Cartouche V10 Cartouches of Ptolemies, Cleopatra VII and Roman emperors fill the outer walls.
- Ankh S34ꜥnḫ The ankh is held out by Hathor and the other gods in nearly every offering scene.
Reading the hieroglyphs here
- Ask whether the crypts and the roof are open when you visit; a torch helps in the crypts.
- Look up in the hypostyle hall, then step back to the walls to photograph whole columns of text.
- Late hieroglyphs are small and dense: frame a few signs at a time with the Hiero Lens camera.
Point your camera at a wall Hiero Lens boxes the signs and names them, on your phone; nothing is uploaded. On worn stone, trace a sign over the photo.
Questions
Is the Dendera zodiac original?
No. The original round zodiac was removed in the 1820s and is now in the Louvre in Paris. The one in the roof chapel is a cast.
Is Cleopatra at Dendera?
Yes. Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarion are carved on the outer rear wall of the temple, with their names in cartouches.
What is the Dendera light?
A relief in a crypt showing a snake rising from a lotus flower, an image of creation. Some claim it shows an electric lamp; the texts beside it say nothing of the kind.
Where it is
Open in OpenStreetMap · Written from published sources and not yet checked on site by our team: displays and open tombs change.