The Dendara Temple or Hathor Temple is considered one of the most important temples of the ancient Egyptians, which is located in Qena Governorate.Dendera is located about 55 kilometers north of Luxor on the shore of the Nile, almost opposite the city of Qena on the other bank of the Nile. There are traces of the ancient Egyptian city close to the new city in the mountainous desert region. Dendara dates back to the pre-dynastic era in Egypt.
This is evidenced by the ancient tombs near the wall of the Hathor Temple. The system of the Temple of Hatur dates back to the reign of Khufu, and it was also restored by Pepi I afterwards. At the time of excavation, the temple was covered with sand .the upper rooms of the temple were inhabited, people lived in it for a long time, and they used to make fires for their food and warmth. Therefore, even today we find traces of dust on the interior ceilings of the temple, so the restoration process is difficult. There were originally three walls around Hathorregoin. The wall is about 290 meters long and about 280 meters wide .
The wall's base is between 10 and 12 meters thick, and its height reaches about 10 metres. The Temple of Hathor, built in this place during the ancient Sixth Dynasty. Its construction was developed during the era of the Greeks. It was built on Nile beach. The foundation of its structure, which was built during the Ptolemaic era, dates back to the ancient temple. Where they began building parts of the temple that can be visited now during the Ptolemaic era, and the Romans completed it. Dendara Temple was built by King Ptolemy III of sandstone, and many Roman modifications were added to it,the construction process lasted about 200 years.
Itis distinguished by its unique architecture, rich in paintings and inscriptions. There are also hieroglyphic manuscripts on its walls, and the walls columns are covered with extremely beautiful engraved statues. The inscriptions on the inner walls of the temple show the Romans offering sacrifices to the gods, which is one of the customs of the ancient Egyptians. The light of Dendera was engraved on the wall of the temple and was named after him. Which is told about a lot of legends, one of those stories is that the Egyptians had the technology of lights and discovered electricity. It is known that its astronomical scenes that adorn its ceilings are considered a creative masterpiece, as it is one of the most prominent architectural masterpieces in the history of ancient Egypt.
The upper ceiling of the temple can be reached via decorated stairs. They are ascending the stairs carrying statues of Hathor in Pharaonic inscriptions. The temple includes 12 crypts, which are the place designated for holiday celebrations in ancient Egypt.The temple witnessed restoration work, where the rooms of silver and holy water were restored, then the room leading to the stairs, and also the room on the other hand of fats and incense. Also, The Temple of Dendera is known to archaeologists as the Temple of the Goddess Hathor, the goddess of love, beauty, and motherhood among the ancient Egyptians.
It consists of several temples and religious buildings close to the banks of the Nile. It in itself is considered a legend in the art of architectural architecture because of its wonderful Paranoiac inscriptions, its magnificent roof, and its luxurious columns, so it perfectly expresses ancient Paranoiac architecture. The Temple of Dendera connects the Greek and Roman eras, as it was called in ancient Egypt “Aeont Ta Netar”, and in the Ptolemaic era it was called “Tentera” or “Tenteris”, then the name was changed in Arabic to Dandara.
The god Hathor, who is the most important centre of worship, appeared in the temple, where he appeared in different forms :of a woman with cow ears, or in the form of a woman with the sun disk in the middle between two horns on her head, or in the form of a whole cow. The Dendera Temple contains drawings, including a drawing of the galaxy and planets in the ceiling of the hall, which refers to the stars and planets in our solar galaxy, the Zodiac, or the astronomical constellations of the ancient Egyptians.
The Egyptian zodiac includes about 36 star groups, which are currently known to us as constellations, and some spheres whose presence in the sky can be determined from stars, planets, and asteroids. This Zodiac was originally the ceiling of the Dendera Temple and was located in one of the private rooms of the temple. It is also one of the most wonderful Egyptian archaeological temples, which is evident in the genius of its engravings, its unique drawings of the astronomical constellations, its bright colors, and its distinctive geometric character. The temple’s facilities include a boat cabin, a birth house, and a temple of Isis, a group of wells, a sacred lake, and about 12 underground crypts.
Dendera Temple There is several drawings that when they begin to explain its details, it looks like an electric lamp. The strangest thing is that this inscription is often repeated in the inscriptions on the walls, which truly raises amazement and confusion.
On the walls of the Temple of Hahor stared a series of various Newtonian inscriptions, which little interpreted as conclusive evidence of the use of electrical technology in ancient Egypt.However, most of scientists said that they are just inscriptions like any ancient Egyptian inscriptions and its mean not necessitythe shape of a light bulb. The ceiling of the Temple of Hahtor was recently carefully cleaned, removing soot that had accumulated over hundreds of years without damaging the ancient paint underneath. As a result of the cleaning processHere, the dramatic ceiling painting in the main hall has been unveiled, and some of the most vibrant and colorful paintings from the ancient era are now visible.