Dendera Temple complex

The Temple of Dendera is an ancient Egyptian temple in Dendera, 55 km north of Luxor in Upper Egypt. It is one of the most important temple sites in Egypt and was dedicated to the goddess Hathor. The facility is located in the district of the ancient provincial capital Tentyris which was an important religious center during some periods of Egyptian history. The current temple complex is one of the best preserved Egyptian temples that time.

Architectural History

The present temple dates back to Greco- Roman times, but based on previous buildings, which date back to the Old Kingdom. In Dendera can be cults of Hathor reference to some sources and finds traced back to prehistoric times. According to texts in the crypts of the Memorandum was written in prädynastischer time and dipped allegedly at the time of Cheops in a box in the royal palace of Memphis again. The early temple was built during the reign of Pepi I, the title " son of Hathor, the mistress of Dendera " was the first to Pharaoh, suggesting a special position Denderas in the 6th Dynasty.

The earliest architectural remains date from the Middle Kingdom and find yourself in the Ka - chapel of Mentuhotep II A decree of Amenemhat I., for the first time in Dendera temple festivals celebrated mentioned. Some re-used blocks testify construction activities of Mentuhotep II during the Middle Kingdom to Schebitko in the 25th Dynasty. In the 18th Dynasty was a reconstruction under Thutmose III. and the decoration by various rulers of the New Kingdom, including of Amenhotep III. , Ramses II and Ramses III.

In spätptolemäischer time it came to removing old predecessors and a complete rebuilding of the main temple, which took place in three stages. The first stage began on 16 July 54 BC with the creation of the core building under Ptolemy XII. Neos Dionysos. 29 BC, the temple was so far completed that the priests could take up their temple services. Tiberius began the pronaos with the famous Hathor capitals columns, in which are found the names of Caligula, Claudius and Nero.

The third stage began under Nero, with the construction of the inner Steinumwallung one that should go into a colonnaded front and an entrance gate, but remained unfinished. When laying foundations of the wall the Ptolemaic birthplace was intersected, which replaced Nero by a magnificent new building directly behind the gate. The Roman birth house bears the cartouches of Trajan and Antoninus Pius and was enlarged and embellished until the time of Marcus Aurelius. In the reign of Domitian and Trajan goal came at the northern entrance. In later times, followed by the Holy See, the sanatorium and the Roman cisterns. Last building was the Coptic basilica of the fifth century.

Visitors and research history

The temple was buried up to the nineteenth century and was thus able to remain well preserved. The temple grounds were used by the Ptolemaic again and settled, so that east of the walls a huge mound ( Kom ) was formed, the approach presented unto the temple roof and this einbezog as a settlement area. The settlement layers on the other three sides were less strong, however, the sacred lake was completely buried and overlaid and the Mammisi covered and settled down to the roof.

The oldest representations of the temple date from the Danish officer Frederic Louis North from 1737, which, however, never visited during his visit to Egypt Dendera to country. His descriptions of the landscape, the place and the ruins are, among others, Richard Pocock and James Bruce. Other historical accounts found in the Description de l' Égypte (1800 ) and David Roberts ( 1838). From the descriptions of Giovanni Battista Belzoni shows that the temple in 1816 was still covered with rubble and piles of rubble and that an uninhabited Arab village was located on the roof of dilapidated huts, which was noticed in 1826 by Edward William Lane. 1845 prompted Mohammed Ali, a partial excavation of the main temple at this from medieval and modern layers to free. The temple front was excavated to the level of Hypostylschranken and secured access with a wall street. The new state was documented by numerous historical photographs.

Another excavation was carried out in 1859 by Auguste Mariette. His 1869 published research findings is a new topographical plan that is not taken account of the southern terrain like in the description, but shows parts of the eastern temple. The removal of the rubble mound was continued into the twentieth century by grave robbers who ransacked the temple district in search of antiques. The inscriptions in the temple were examined from 1865 to 1875 by John Dümichen, 1879 by Mariette and 1880 by Heinrich Brugsch. A complete, systematic publication was carried out by the French Émile Gaston Chassinat, François Daumas and Sylvie Cauville. 1897-1898 found archaeological investigations held by Flinders Petrie and Charles Rosher. Petrie first discovered the city of Dendera including cemetery and began research in the burial ground. 1915 to 1918 were carried out systematic excavations of the University Museum of Philadelphia under the direction of Clarence Fisher.

• Historic photographs of the temple front
• Maxime Du Camp ( 1850)
• Francis Frith ( 1857)
• Pascal Sébah (1875 )
• H. W. Dunning (1905 )

In the 1920s, Ludwig Borchardt and Ricke Herbert paid a visit. At this time, the soil loss was almost complete. On the east side of the debris was to deeply dug into the ground and only in the rear area ranged some rubble until the temple roof zoom. A study and publication of the Mammisi followed in 1959 by Daumas. Barry J. Kemp found within the Hathor District on the east side of the temple shards from the Old Kingdom. During the installation of electric light in the fall of 1978, an intact layer remains also were found from the Old Kingdom. End of the twentieth century were published inscriptions of the temple to Isis, the northern entrance and monuments outside of the enclosure. In addition, studies of the Hathor temple architecture and the Basilica were performed.

Temple

The Temple of Dendera offers a wide range of typical late Egyptian temple features. The system is similar to other Egyptian temples, aligned to the Nile towards, but not in east-west, but in the south-north direction, as the Nile makes a bend at this point. On the banks of the Nile is a tribune from which passes an old processional at the Temples of Shai and the Thermuthis. Several kiosks from Roman times and a Propylontor are from the time of Domitian and Trajan, which is centrally embedded in the massive enclosure wall of mud brick on the northern front of the Dendera temple. The enclosure is 280 by 280 meters wide, ten feet thick, and comes either from the time of Shabaka or from Roman times. Behind the gate, the procession road continues up to the main temple and is flanked by two birth houses and a sanatorium.

Temple of Hathor

The main temple is 35 times 81 meters and is considered the last completely preserved temple in Egypt home. Only the painting, which was partially visible even to the nineteenth century, has disappeared. The Temple House is an excellent example of the temple architecture spätptolemäische Egypt and has great similarities with the Edfu Temple.

Atrium and large hypostyle

The atrium is surrounded with an unfinished stone wall. Noticeable difference to the other temples of this period is that at the entrance portico and pylons are missing. The Court ends at the large hypostyle hall ( pronaos ), lead to the left and right side doors by the surrounding wall.

The great hypostyle hall was built in the first century of Tiberius, and has a unique façade with unusual proportions and embedded sistrenförmigen columns. In contrast to earlier temples, the facade of the hypostyle hall with a half-wall and about standing columns was constructed. The pronaos is equipped with a total of 24 Hathorsäulen. The four-sided capitals are decorated with the face of kuhohrigen Hathor and were partially destroyed during ancient times. The Hathorsäulen are the symbol of the temple and were badly damaged by early Christians to make the images of the pagan goddess unrecognizable. The hall ceiling where the paint is still visible, bears a complex and finely crafted map of the sky with zodiac signs and pictures of the sky goddess Nut, the night swallows the sun disc and the morning brings again to the world.

Inner Temple

Behind the pronaos follows the small hypostyle ( appearance Hall), where religious ceremonies and processions the fetched from her sanctuary statue of the goddess was demonstrated. The murals show the king in the founding ceremony of the temple building. There are three chambers, which served as preparation rooms for daily rituals, and for storage of cult objects on the sides. The opening on the east side served as access for offerings, while the opening on the west side led to the fountain. From here, the inner temple, which was built by several late Ptolemaic kings begins. On the walls there are many unlabeled cartridges that indicate troubled reigns. From the appearance hall a small ramp leading to the offering table room where the offerings were stored for the goddess. Next comes the Hall of the Enneads (or Hall of the Ennead ), where in procession statues of the gods were assembled.

Sanctuary

The central part of the inner temple is occupied by barqueshrine in which a portable bark and a stone shrine of Hathor statue stood. The wall decorations show that during religious festivals the bark of Horus of Edfu was visiting. The room contained the barks of Harsomtus and Isis from Denderah. The barqueshrine is surrounded by a corridor with eleven sacred chapels, which were intended for associated with Hathor deities. These sometimes include the sacred sistrum and menat - necklace. The average Chapel in the temple back wall contained the sacred cult images and symbols of the Goddess, one of which was stowed holiest up in a wall niche. To the west of Enneadensaals a passage leads to a halo and the Wabet where the coronation and clothing ceremonies were held for the Hathor Statue. The room has a two-column front and is closed by barrier walls. The ceiling is decorated with the birth of the sun. Previously located on the same level a small courtyard, which was intended for the dedication of the hard sacrifice.

• Inner Temple
• Empty barqueshrine
• Southern Corridor
• Wabet
• Crypts

Crypts

In the outer walls of the temple is a house in Egyptian architecture unique Kryptensystem. In the walls and under the floors in the rear part of the temple there are numerous crypts which served for keeping the temple treasures. Access is via a small, covered by plates entrances into the floor or the walls. The crypts contained cult objects and cult images and extend into the temple foundations down. Of significance was the statue of the ba of Hathor, which was brought to the temple roof during the Egyptian New Year from the hiding place. In some crypts mummy remains sacred cows were found.

Temple roof

West of the victim performs a room just long stairs to the temple roof. The wall illustrations show figures of the king and the priest in the procession with the shrine of the goddess. On the roof is located in the southwest corner of a well-preserved 12 -column stand. The statue of the goddess was placed overnight in the chapel roof. The next morning the goddess should look at the rising sun in a symbolic connection with the solar disk. The eastern staircase served for the return of the processions.

On the roof of the inner temple are located in the north-west and north-east three-roomed places of worship, in which the death and resurrection of Osiris were celebrated. In the chapels of the goddess Nut, and various chthonic deities are shown. The decorations originated 50-48 BC and BC ( 26 Choiak ) was inaugurated on December 28, 47. The date had a special astronomical significance, since the day a zenithal full moon could be observed, which occurs only once every 1480 years.

In the central area of ​​northeastern complex is a copy of the famous zodiac. The original was taken during the campaign of Napoleon in 1823 and is now in the Louvre. The Zodiak shows astrological signs and symbols and helped to tie the death and resurrection of Osiris to cosmic processes. He witnessed an amazing astronomical knowledge of the Egyptian priests, was astronomical studies show that 50 designed BC. Another staircase leads from the roof of the inner temple to the roof of the hypostyle hall, are shown on the various gods on the walls. During the ancient times, the roof was occupied by pious pilgrims, who were waiting for signs or miracles of the gods and distributed their time with chiseled in stone blocks board games.

Outside

On the outer wall is a shrine of the "listening ear " is exactly at the point of the sanctuary, in the form of a large false door. The sacred rock was scraped over the centuries of pilgrims who had no access to the temple and the place sought out to direct prayers to the goddess. The back wall of the rearmost temple area contains apotropaic, lion-headed gargoyles that were used to line the rainwater from the roof. The wall exhibits enormous representations of Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarion.

Mammisi

The Temple of Dendera has two birth houses. The Ptolemaic birth house dates from the 30th Dynasty, and was built by Nectanebo I.. It is located west of the entrance gate and was ordained for Harsiese. The building was under Ptolemy VI. extended by a hypostyle hall and in the reign of Ptolemy X surrounded by colonnades. Emperor Augustus equipped it with a new sanctuary for Hathor Isis. The birthplace was later cut by the Roman enclosure, which led to the construction of the Roman birth house. The Roman construction was built by Augustus immediately after his conquest of Egypt. The murals show Augustus 's successor Trajan in the sacrificial ceremony for Hathor and are among the most beautiful in Egypt. The birthplace was dedicated to Hathor and her child Ihi. On the abacus on the column capitals, there are depictions of Bes as protective god of the birth.

Outbuilding

To the west of the sanatorium was the Ka - band for the cult of Mentuhotep II, who was probably an annexe of the main temple of the Middle Kingdom. The chapel has since been removed and is now in the atrium of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. There is also a Thot Chapel, which was built by a scribe in the time of Ptolemy I and a bark chapel, to 116 BC under Ptolemy VIII was of 122.

One of the major side building is the birth of the Temple of Isis ( Iseum ) on the south side of the main temple, with an unusual floor plan. While the main building and the Hypostyle are oriented to the east, the sanctuary at ninety degrees to the north is rotated to the main temple. The back wall of the sanctuary contained a now destroyed Osirisstatue which was based on the arms of Isis and Nephthys.

The enclosure comes from the time of Nectanebo I, Ptolemy VI. and Ptolemy X and contains re-used blocks of Amenemhet I and Ramses II in the portal you will find the name of Augustus.

In the southwestern corner of the temple grounds lies the holy lake, which contained water for the ablutions of the priests. The lake is 25 times 31 meters tall and has a succinct in stone ritual basin, leading down to the lake at each corner of the stairs and one of the best preserved. Between the birth houses are the remains of a unique in Egyptian temples sanatorium, built of mud brick. Visitors were able to bathe in the sacred waters or spend the night in the building to receive a healing dream of the goddess. There are also Roman cisterns and the remains of a Christian basilica of the fifth century. 400 meters east of the temple is a 135 times 135 meters large unexplored sanctuary of Ihi, who was the son of Hathor and Horus, in between the city was Tentyris.

• Outbuilding of the Dendera temple
• Birthing centers and Coptic Basilica
• Birth Temple of Isis
• Roman Mammisi
• Sacred Lake

Hathorsäulen

The Hathorsäule as column type characteristic of the temple of Dendera and get there before several times. Most striking is in the north facade of the main temple, which is made up of 24 columns in four rows. The columns are made of sandstone, have a diameter of 220 cm and were built in the reign of Emperor Tiberius. The first six columns in the front row are connected by a barrier wall that extends to half the height of the great hypostyle hall. Behind this are a further three rows of six columns, each of which contains a four-page Hathor capitals topped by a set Naos form.

The second Hypostyle Hall has six smaller columns with a shaft diameter of 160 cm and composite capitals. The column base and the two lower column drums are made of granite, the rest of the shaft and the Hathor capitals of sandstone. All other columns of the temple consist entirely of sandstone. More Hathor capitals can be found in the Wabet Chapel west of Barkensanktuars and on the roof of the kiosk. Some Hathor capitals of the roof chapel still wear the full face of the goddess, while most others were destroyed in the temple of the early Christians.

Cults

From representations and inscriptions show that in the temple 162 different cult images were worshiped, of which some 1918 were found again on the sacred lake. The characters had a height from 22.5 to 210 centimeters. One of the most important celebrations in the temple was the Egyptian New Year, when the priest over the western staircase with the Hathorstatue the roof covered, equipped with state of species cult symbols, figures of gods and mysterious equipment. On the new moon of the month Epiphi the journey of the goddess found to Edfu to union with the Horus of Edfu instead. Nine months after the marriage of Hathor of Dendera and Horus of Edfu, the divine birth was celebrated in Mammisi. The bark chapel next to the sacred lake was the scene of the ship celebration in which the return of Hathor from Nubia was celebrated. In the Osiriskapellen on the roof of the main temple in the month Choiak the Osiris Mysteries were held in which the resurrection of Osiris was the focus.

Mythology

The principal gods of the Dendera temple can be summarized in two triads, one of which consists of Hathor Horus Harsomtus and the other from Isis - Osiris - Harsiesis. From the inscriptions show that a total of four different forms of Hathor and three of Harsomtus were worshiped. Bastet, Sekhmet, Tefnut courage and form another group of gods and internalize aspects of Hathor as revenge and protective goddess. In the remaining deities are the deities Delta ( Wadjet, Hathor Nebethetepet, Iousaas ) as well as deities of Memphis and Heliopolis. Re - Harachte considered the father of Hathor. According to legend, he is said to have created Dendera as a substitute for Heliopolis, whose name IWnet represents the feminine form of Heliopolis ( Iwnw ).