Visitors to Luxor, who have the time, should try and visit the famous
Temple of Hathor at Dendera. In a taxi, the trip takes about 1
hour from Luxor. The buses, which are always accompanied by a Police
convoy, that leaves at 0800 daily . The entrance fee is LE 35.
The Temple is located about 4KM from the River Nile, on its west
bank, roughly opposite the city of Qena, the capital of the province and
governorate of Qena (population - 2,000,000), which is inhabited by
both Coptic and Muslims. This town is very famous for the manufacture of
water pots, called "gula" jars in Arabic.
The Muslim Sheik, Abdel Raheeem El-Kenawi, who spent
all of his life in this town and died in 1170 A.D, founded the modern
city. The birthday of this saint is celebrated every year, and a great
number of pilgrims come from all over Egypt for the festivities. The
name of the city goes back to the time of the Pharaohs , and was taken
from the ancient Egyptian word Qeny, which means, "to bend"; the River
Nile has a huge (and famous) bend here.
The Temple of Hathor was built in the 1st century B.C
and it is one of the best-preserved Temples in the whole of Egypt!
Ptolemy VIII and Queen Cleopatra II built it, and then later, Roman
Emperors continued to decorate it and honour the Goddess Hathor; the
Goddess of maternity, love and music. The Greeks identified the Goddess
Hathor as Aphrodite.
The first gateway, built by Roman Emperor Domitian in
80 A.D, leads to the great hall of the Temple, which is decorated with
Hathoric columns (columns with the face of Hathor on them) and is in a
very good condition. The upper, front edge of the cornice is decorated
with the winged sun disc, while stone screens between the columns and
the scene, which represent the Roman Emperor Tiberius and other Roman
rulers who present votive offerings to the Goddess of the Temple,
enclose the front portion. Hathor is chiefly represented with the horns
of the sacred cow protruding from her head, supporting the solar disc of
the sun, and in her hands she is holding an "Ankh", the symbol of life,
and a sceptre. Sometimes she is also represented with the head of a
cow.
The interior walls of the great hall have remarkable
scenes that mainly depict sacrifices being made to the Goddess of the
Temple. The amazing ceiling, with its astronomical representations, is
very interesting! The ceiling is divided into 7 divisions, and the best
remaining 3 are:
The first division on the eastern side, which depicts
the Goddess Nut, the Goddess of the sky, who is bending herself towards
the earth, with the sun disc shining on the Temple and the mask of
Hathor.
Secondly, and next to the first, is a representation of the sun boat and star Goddess.
The third one is the western ceiling, which shows a
perfect representation of the zodiac signs, which is one of the reasons
that the Temple is so famous (the original zodiac relief is now in the
Louvre museum in Paris, France). The 12 figures of the ram, the bull,
the heavenly twins, the crab, the lion, the virgin, the scales, the
scorpion, the archer, the goat, the watering pots and fishes with
glittering tails. On the inner walls of the screen, the hawk headed God
Horus, and the Ibis headed God Thoth, are pouring drops of holy water
over the King. This scene is called the baptism scene, symbolising life
and happiness.
The second hall has 6 columns adorned with rich
capitals and granite pedestals. On both sides of this hall are small
rooms that were used as storerooms, used to store the wine jars that
came from the Island of Crete, and the fertile Fayoum and Kharga oases.
Next is the central chapel, which has two altars; one
for the sacred boat, and the other for the sacrifices offered to the
Goddess Hathor. The beautifully sculptured relief's on the walls of the
shrines represent Ptolemy VIII and other rules, whose names were left
blank in the oval cartouches, dancing with offerings to the sacred boat
of Hathor and her husband Horus. The representatives of the King, the
high Priests and noblemen, used to gather in the great hall in
preparation for the daily rituals. The ceilings are covered in stars,
and black soot from the fires of the later inhabitants of the Temple.The
rooms around the sanctuary were used for scientific purposes, the
storing of the sacred boat, the sacred wreath, the golden image of the
Goddess Hathor and musical instruments
There is a small corridor on the right, which leads to a
small room that contains the crypt, highly recommended should you visit
here.
The staircases, which lead to the roof of the Temple,
are decorated with some beautiful symbols representing the 12 months of
the year. On the eastern corner, of the roof, is the chapel of the God
Osiris. The scenes on its walls represent Osiris rising from the dead
and becoming the God of the underworld. It is from this chapel that the
best representation of the zodiac was taken.
The southern exterior wall relief show Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarian, son of JuliusCaesar,
making offerings to Hathor and allthe other deities of Dendera. On the
same wall, near the cornice, are some stone lion heads, serving as water
spouts. Adjoining the Temple building to the west is the sacred lake,
which was used for the priests' ablutions. Next to the lake is a small
shaft, discovered in 1917, which contained valuable treasures of
Cleopatra's era, which are now displayed in the Egyptian Museum
Around the Temple are the remains of the mud brick wall, which
surrounded the whole Temple, as well as the ruins of Coptic houses and
churches, including a large number of Coptic crosses, which were
chiseled into the stones. To the north lies the Mamisi, the birth house
of Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, which was erected by the Roman
Emperor Trajan in 90 A.D. This little Temple is surrounded by a row of
columns, with different capitals embellished with relief images of the
God Bes, the chief God of childhood who drove evil spirits away from the
babies. Bes is a hideous dwarf, with a big stomach and long whiskers..
تعليقات