Dendera Temple complex ( Part 2 )

1 - The whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick enclosed wall , while its original space is amounts to 81m × 38m , and it includes many temples and religious buildings . 

2 - The temple of Hathor dates to the Graeco-Roman Period , and is one of the best preserved temples of this period in Egypt , surviving despite the destruction of the temples of Hathor's consort Horus and their child Ihy-Harsomptus which originally stood close by .

3 - Like most Egyptian temples , Dendera is oriented towards the Nile , but because the Nile bends here , the structure actually faces north , rather than east-west as would normally be the case . 

4 - The temple area is fronted by several Roman period kiosks and a " propylon " monumental gateway , built during The reigns of Domitian and Trajan , which was set into the massive mud-brick walls which surround the enclosure .

5 - Although the site lacks a colonnade and the two pylons which ought to precede the inner temple , an unfinished inner enclosure wall of stone surrounds a courtyard with side entrances which open before the large hypostyle hall added in the 1^st century AD by the emperor Tiberius .

6 - Unlike those of earlier temples , the façade of this hypostyle is constructed as a low screen with intercolumnar walls exposing the hall's ceiling and the Hathor - featured sistrum - capitals of its 24 columns . And each column bears a four-sided capital carved with the face of the cow-eared goddess , though every one of the faces was vandalized in antiquity ( probably during the early Christian Period ) .

7 - Although the ceiling of the hypostyle hall retains much of its original colour , it is decorated as a complex and carefully aligned symbolic chart of the heavens , including signs of the zodiac ( introduced by the Romans ) and images of the sky-goddess Nut who swallows the sun disc each evening in order to give birth to it at dawn .

 

 

 

8 - The great hall leads to a smaller , inner six-column hypostyle called " the hall of appearances " , as it was here that the statue of the goddess appeared from her sanctuary for religious ceremonies and processions .

9 - Scenes on the walls of this hall depict the king participating in the foundation ceremonies for the construction of the temple , and on either side doors open into three chambers which were used as preparation areas for various aspects of the daily ritual .

10 - An opening through the outer eastern wall allowed offering goods to be brought into this area , and a parallel passage from one of the western chambers led to a well .

11 - The temple's inner core was constructed by several later Ptolemaic kings , the inscribed cartouches of its walls reflecting the often uncertain nature of their reigns .

12 - The area includes an offering hall , in which sacrifices were dedicated , and a " Hall of the Ennead " also known as the " hall of the cycle of the gods " where statues of other deities assembled with Hathor before processions began , as well as the sanctuary of the goddess herself .

13 - Although empty , decorations on the sanctuary walls suggest it once contained a stone shrine for the statue of Hathor as well as her portable barque ( and possibly during ‛ visiting festivals ’ the barque of her consort , Horus Edfu ) .

14 - The plan of this building was uniquely split , with the main part of the structure and its hypostyle hall facing east , but the sanctuary rotated to face north towards the main temple of Hathor .

 

 

 

15 - Around the central sanctuary are eleven chapels of the other deities who associated with Hathor at this site , including ones for Hathor's chief attributes , the sacred sistrum and the MENAT necklace ( A necklace that has several rows of beads that gather into a counterweight at the back of the neck . It was worn by the goddess Hathor and symbolized the divine powers of healing ) .

16 - A niche in the wall of the chapel directly behind the main sanctuary is sunk into the temple wall at the point where a shrine of the ‛ hearing ear ’ is located on its outside surface , allowing the goddess to hear the prayers directed to her .

17 - A number of crypts where temple treasures were stored are located in the walls and beneath the floors of the chambers in the rear part of the temple .

18 - The most important object of these crypts was retention of the Ba ( the soul ) of Hathor , which was taken from its hiding place to the roof of the temple in the important New Year's festival celebrated .

 

To be continuous ...............

Part ( 3 ) Coming Sooooooon ......