The Hathor Temple is worth a visit
The Temple for Goddess Hathor of music, love and dancing.
Hathor Temple in Denderra is one of Egypt’s best preserved temples and it gives you a unique insight into the Egyptian architecture of temples and the rituals, which were caried out in the temples for more than 2000 years ago.
The sun has just sent its first rays on the sky when vi are traveling towards Hathor Temple in Denderra. First we have to drive ca. 70 km. north of Luxor. Through the windows in our ride we can see the locals beginning their day. Their houses build of sundried clay with palm leaves as roof in the small villages we drive through. We also spot a big Nile lizard in the water canal off the Nile. One of our co-travelers – a small boy – counts 8 of them before we reach the temple. The lizards are 1 meter and 50 cm. long, so they are indeed visible for all. Time flies and suddenly we have arrived at this charming temple. 35 meters wide and 12,5 meter tall and 85 meters long.
Denderra was originally called Tantera, and the Hathor Temple, dates back to the Greek-roman era and in year 125 B.C. Ptolemaeus VIIII began to build the temple.
The temple is devoted to Hathor, the goddess of love, fertility, music, dancing and motherhood and she is often pictured with a head of a cow. Hathor was loved and still is by Egyptians even by the very strict Cleopatra VII who personally ordered the completing of the temple. Hence you can also see an unique relief in the temple with Cleopatra VIII and Cesar’s son, Cesarion, performing a ritual.
Hathor Temple is an example of a more rare and more feminine part of Egyptian temple architecture. The more classic impressive and masculine first pylon you see in many other temples are missing in the Hathor Temple and therefore you have the full view of the temple, which columns bears the significant cow head for Hathor.
The temple is a fantastic marvel to explore. Each of the rooms is as intricately decorated as the Great Vestibule, the front room at the main entrance fronted by 24 columns. The ceiling in the Great Vestibule is a tribute to Nut, Goddess of the Sky. Beyond are chambers with crypts, chapel rooms, and a sanctuary. There is a corridor on each side of the second chamber. The corridor to climb to the top of the temple is a spiral, just as a bird would ascend, while the corridor to leave the roof is a straight path down, just as a bird would dive. This is a tribute to Horus.
On the columns you can also see a Bes, which is a funny, small god often depictured together with Hathor. The columns are made like massive sistras which is a sort of instrument used to contact Hathor and the other gods and goddesses. The first hall of columns have 24 columns and all of them are restored so you can see the wonderful, original colors.
A sight made for Gods
In recent years the antiquities authorities also have restored the beautiful ceiling in the big hall so the colors of the zodiac appears as they were when painted and the sight is stunning.
The reason they had to restore and clean up the temple is due to the fact that many hundred years ago before the ancient Egypt became of an interest for both Egypt and archeologists around the world, local people used to live in the temples and they of course lit small bonfires and the smoke form these have through the years covered the originally painting with black soot so you couldn’t see them anymore.
But now the decorations in the ceiling a are clear and visible and you can see the symbolic description of both of the half years with the zodiac signs, the 12 hours of the night. In fact the temple is a reproduction of the world and the universe as seen in those days.
The columns are shaped as plants and in the ceiling you see the sky.
The Gods come alive
At the top of the structure, there is a tiny temple used for rituals to greet the rising sun, as well as another chamber, called the Chapel of Osiris. Inside this chapel, one of the rooms holds a unique ceiling relief, called the Dendera Zodiac. It is considered the only complete “map” of the ancient Egyptian sky.
The zodiac you see in the Hathor Temple is a replica hence the originally currently is at the Louvre in Paris.
Holy Water
When the temple was alive it also attracted a lot of pilgrims hoping to receive a miracle from the holy waters from a statue of Hathor. The water was pouring over the statue and hopeful pilgrims would bath themselves in the water in the chase of a long and healthy life. Some even stayed the night in the temple and was hoping for curing dreams to occur.
Down in the crypts
Besides the vestibules and halls in the temple you can also visit the temples hidden corridors and mysterious crypts – one of them bares beautiful reliefs in the walls.
On one of the walls ypu can see the famed Dendera light bulb, which some suggests are a sign, that ancient Egyptians had electricity.
Even though the depicted object could look like a light bulb, Tine Bagh, Egyptologist, believes it is in fact a lotus flower. The Lotus Flower symbols rebirth and this is what she translates the object to be. But who knows what the true story is?