Temple of Hathor, Dendera

Dendera Temple complex (Ancient Egyptian: Iunet or Tantere; the 19th-century English spelling in most sources, including Belzoni, was Tentyra; also spelled Denderah) is located about 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) south-east of Dendera, Egypt.

It is one of the best-preserved temple complexes in Egypt. The whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters (430,556 sq ft) and is surrounded by a hefty mudbrick enclosed wall.

Dendera was inhabited in prehistory, a useful oasis on the banks of the Nile.

It seems that pharaoh Pepi I (ca. 2250 BCE) built on this site and evidence exists of a temple in the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca 1500 BCE). The earliest extant building in the compound today is the Mammisi raised by Nectanebo II – last of the native pharaohs (360–343 BCE).

The dominant building in the complex is the Temple of Hathor. The temple has been modified on the same site starting as far back as the Middle Kingdom, and continuing right up until the time of the Roman emperor Trajan. The existing structure began construction in the late Ptolemaic period, and the hypostyle hall was built in the Roman period under Tiberius.

Depictions of Cleopatra VI which appear on temple walls are good examples of Ptolemaic Egyptian art. On the rear of the temple exterior is a carving of Cleopatra VII Philopator (the popularly well known Cleopatra) and her son, Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar (Caesarion), who was fathered by Julius Caesar.

The sculptured Dendera zodiac (or Denderah zodiac) is a widely known relief found in a late Greco-Roman temple, containing images of Taurus (the bull) and the Libra (the balance). A sketch was made of it during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt. In 1820 it was removed from the temple ceiling and is now in the Louvre. Champollion's guess that it was Ptolemaic proved to be correct, and Egyptologists now date it to the first century BCE.

The ceiling of the Hathor Temple was cleaned in a careful way that removed hundreds of years of black soot without harming the ancient paint underneath. Spectacular ceiling painting was exposed in the main hall, and some of the most vibrant and colourful paintings dating from antiquity are now visible.

Temple of Hathor seen from the harbor The Nile River port of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera is northeast of the temple.

Roman colonnaded street The colonnaded Roman road runs from the port on the Nile River to the temple from northeast to southwest. A dromos connected the temple to the canal that led to the Nile. The landing stage of this canal included a kiosk still in place during Napoleon's Egyptian Expedition.

Remains of the port installation

Temple of Hathor Plan Plan Legend: Roman Fountains Domitian and Trajan Monumental Gate Mammisi of Trajan Coptic Church Mammisi of Nectanebo Sanatorium Wells Shrine of the Barque Sacred Lake Temple of Isis Great Courtyard Large Hypostyle Hall / Pronaos Small Hypostyle Hall / Hall of Offerings Laboratory Storage Magazine Offering Entry Treasury Exit to Well Access to Stairwell First Antechamber / Offering Hall Second Antechamber / Hall of the Ennead / Vestibule Holy of Holies / Great Seat (Central Shrine) / Main Sanctuary Shrine of the Nome of Dendera Shrine of Isis Shrine of Sokar Shrine of Harsomtus Shrine of Hathor's Sistrum Shrine of Water (Jug) - Per-Nu Shrine of Hathor Shrine of Fire - Per-Neser Shrine of the Throne of Ra Shrine of Menat Collar Shrine of Ihy The Pure Place Court of the First Feast Passage West Staircase to the roof East Straircase to the roof

Domitian and Trajan Monumental Gate (center) and Roman Fountains (left and right) The first thing we come across are the Roman Fountains (Plan No. A), on the left and right, and the Domitian and Trajan Monumental Gate (Plan No. B) in front.

Roman Fountain (Plan No. A) on the left side It was not until the Roman era (probably between the 2nd and 4th centuries) that fountains were built in front of the entrance gate. A sacred way flanked by columns probably replaced the avenue of sphinxes. These fountains supplied the villagers with water and allowed them to purify themselves before entering the divine domain. The small basins placed between the fountains and the entrance gate were used for this purpose.

Roman Fountain (Plan No. A) on the right side The water brought by pipes flowed into reservoirs located behind and above the niches. Mouths equipped with taps opened onto a rectangular tank. Directly above these mouths, we can see the wear marks made by the containers that the villagers held, upright on a plinth-sidewalk. It seems that they were able to contribute to the costs incurred by these water supply works. A stele dated to the year 1 of Trajan (98 CE) thus tells us that Isidora «built a well and its enclosure and that she saw to the maintenance of the sanctuary.»

Roman fountains (Plan No. A) seen from the southwest Four columns with Corinthian capitals determined three niches for each fountain, a large one framed by two small ones. Divine statues were placed here, perhaps those of the local triads, on one side Hathor framed by Horus and Harsomtus, on the other Isis with Osiris and Harsiesis or Ihy.

Domitian and Trajan Monumental Gate (Plan No. B) Built in the Graeco-Roman Period (332 BCE - 395 CE) by King Ptolemy VIII and Queen Cleopatra II, it was later added to by various Roman Emperors. The north gate, through which we enter the sacred space, is engraved with the names of Domitian (81-96 CE) and Trajan (98-117 CE).

Temple precinct wall on the left side of the Monumental Gate (Plan No. B) On the left side of the photo we can see a column of the left Roman Fountain (Plan No. A).

Temple precinct wall on the right side of the Monumental Gate (Plan No. B)

Monumental Gate (Plan No. B) seen from the south

Great Courtyard (Plan No. K) After passing through the Monumental Gate (Plan No. B), we enter the Great Courtyard (Plan No. K), and in front of us is the facade of the Large Hypostyle Hall (Plan No. 1) of the Temple of Hathor.

East wall of the Great Courtyard (Plan No. K)

Mammisi of Trajan (right) and Coptic Church (left)

Mammisi of Trajan (Plan No. C) The Roman mammisi is designed as a divine temple (courtyard and hypostyle hall - destroyed -, offering room, vestibule and sanctuary); it also includes a peristyle. Its decoration being very often similar to that of the temple of Hathor and the mammisi of Nectanebo. In the sanctuary, which is larger than that of the older mammisi, we find scenes of the divine conception (north wall, third register), of the child modelled on the potter's wheel (north and south walls, third register) or of Anubis pushing the moon (south wall, third register). The decoration follows the following order: registers of the north wall (from bottom to top) then registers of the south wall (from bottom to top). On the base, numerous goddesses hold a sistrum on one side (north), a tambourine on the other (south): they come from all over Egypt to attend the birth of the child. Above, on the right (north), the Theban ennead, framed by Amun and Thoth, is placed in the same place as in the other mammisi. In the second register, Hathor breastfeeds the child that her father Horus of Edfu, in the neighboring scene, holds in his arms. The seven Hathors who occupy the eastern half of this second register are the good fairies who ensure the child's destiny. The third register presents a series of scenes similar to those of the other mammisi: conception of the child by Amun and Hathor (western half), modeling of the divine child, announcement made to Hathor who is led to the birthing bed by the frog-headed goddess. The story continues on the other wall with the presentation of the child to Ra (first register), the divine birth and the breastfeeding by the cow-headed goddesses (second register). The back wall, certainly covered with gilded plaster in Antiquity, has a false door enhanced with a double cornice. On the uprights, the small goddesses who symbolize the twelve hours of the day and the twelve hours of the night protect the divine mystery (a wooden naos must have contained a statue of Hathor breastfeeding the child). Above the false door, the axis of the temple is marked by a statuette of the child surmounted by a Hathoric sistrum. On each side, the paintings illustrate breastfeeding. On the way out, one will notice on the interior uprights of the door the thirty lion-headed urreus which protect each of the days of the month. A staircase decorated with genies carrying various foods provides access to the roof; it starts from a small room to the north of the offering room, at the entrance to what remains of the temple. From the top of this staircase, on the other side of the door (south upright) we can see two crypts that are now destroyed; they were closed by a system of ball bearings on mortises. The floral columns of the peristyle, connected by sideboard walls, were topped with dice bearing the effigy of Bes. This dwarf god of African origin was responsible for protecting Hathor at the time she gave birth to the divine heir. Dancer, musician and jester, he is supposed to ward off evil spirits. The western and northern exterior sections remained unfinished; it seems that the work was abruptly stopped, thus revealing to the modern visitor a successive state of various construction and decoration operations. Thus, one can still distinguish on the exterior wall (to the west) the preparatory drawing in red of the floral corollas of the base. Some motifs are completely finished; capitals are barely unraveled; in the ambulatory, some columns of text are prepared but not engraved, and it even happens that a cartouche is only incompletely inscribed. The magnificent paintings that adorn the southern exterior wall have, for their part, been completed; the sunlight allows one to appreciate the detail of the royal loincloth, the child's cape or the dress of the breastfeeding goddess.

Coptic Church (Plan No. D) Christianity, by driving out the pagan gods, settled in their holy places. Thus, in the courtyard of the mammisi, there remain the remains of the apse of a basilica (plan drawn on the ground) which, too small, had to be quickly abandoned in favor of another building whose material was largely "borrowed" from pharaonic buildings, notably the mammisis and especially the front part of Trajan's mammisi. This second basilica was probably built in the second half of the 5th century. The side doors placed to the north and south provide access to the narthex via a chicane arrangement. The back of the basilica is divided into three rooms. The staircase that provided access to the wooden floor occupied the northern one. The baptistery was probably in the southern room, the niche of which is decorated with an eagle. It is difficult to determine with certainty the purpose of the central shrine. Note, in the southern niche of the narthex, the use by the first Christians of the Pharaonic cross of life. A nave of five bays delimited by red granite columns supported the wooden framework; the side walls are pierced with niches. The back of the basilica, facing east, includes three apses; many reused blocks are still visible.

Mammisi of Nectanebo (Plan No. E) The mammisi of Nectanebo is accessible from the Sanatorium (Plan No. F) through a door in the brick enclosure which once demarcated the independent sacred domain of the sanctuary of Hathor. "Mammisi" is a modern word created by Champollion from Coptic and which literally means "house of birth". In this place the child of the local triad was born. In Dendera, this child is Harsomtus or Ihy, a form of Harpocrates, archetype of the child-god, whose name means "Horus the child". The mammisi is the theatre of the divine birth which must be repeated every year to ensure the sustainability of the divine cycle and the order of the world. The antiquity of this theme is great; we already find representations of it in the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari or in that of Amenhotep III at Luxor: Amun takes the form of the pharaoh to unite with the queen, and the child who is to be born is thus of divine essence. In the small temples, the drama takes place only in the divine sphere, unlike the large sanctuaries where the assimilation of the royal family to the divine triad seems to have occurred very early. If the theological doctrine of the birth of a divine child is ancient, on the other hand the place of the mystery, the mammisi, does not go back before the reign of Nectanebo (at least no remains have been found prior to this period) to whom we owe, at Dendera, the first building of this kind. Subsequently, this type of construction enjoyed almost uninterrupted popularity until the Roman period. The second, and largest, mammisi of Dendera is decorated with the name of Trajan (98-117 CE). Originally, the mammisi of Nectanebo consisted of a sandstone sanctuary flanked by two shrines made of mud bricks; a staircase leads from the southern shrine. In addition to the door opening onto the Sanatorium (Plan No. F), another opening had been made in the axis of the sanctuary. Subsequently, the rooms were covered with sandstone and the eastern front part of the temple was developed. While cleaning this site, which now corresponds to the offering room, a potter's kiln was once found. The decoration of the mammisi is more elegant than that of the great temple; it is also easier to understand. The art, archaic under Nectanebo, is more graceful, the design more pure and airy than under the Ptolemies. In the sanctuary, the walls coated with fine plaster were very probably covered with gold dust stuck with a coating. The scenes, few in number, show the protagonists of the divine birth, Amun the progenitor, Hathor the mother, Thoth the organizer of the ceremonies and Khnum the potter; the cow-headed nourishing divinities present all sorts of offerings. Once a year, the mystery was played by priests in the midst of rejoicing; but a daily ritual animated the temple like that of Hathor. The story begins on the northern half of the sanctuary. In the first register, on the back (west) wall, Amun welcomes the divine ennead. Montu leads the way followed by Atum; the procession continues on the north wall with Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Horus, Nephthys, Horus of Edfu, Hathor, Harsomtus, Tanenet, Iunet and finally Thoth, the master of destiny. The action continues on the second register, from left to right (west to east). Amun and Hathor, on a bed, proceed with the symbolic conception of the divine child (the god holds out the sign of life to his companion). Khnum shapes it on his lathe while Thoth announces the future birth to Hathor; she is then led to the birthing bed by a goddess with a frog's head. The story continues in the first register of the opposite wall. The child is born on a large bed protected by various benevolent entities, then he is suckled by sacred cows and wet nurses placed on a bed (eastern half of the southern wall); finally, in the upper register (western half of the southern wall), the child is fed by divinities attached to his person and that of the king (the cartouches alternately bear the royal name and that of the divine child, Ihy or Harsomtus). In the last scene (eastern half of the south wall), the child is assimilated to the royal person who is presented to the god of magic. Previously, Anubis rolled a large disk, both a tambourine of rejoicing and a full moon, which symbolizes for the child periodic regeneration. On the first register of the back wall, Thoth announces the end of the mystery to the divine ennead; in the upper register, the goddess Hathor breastfeeds the divine child. The Hall of Offerings, destroyed in its northern part, is from the Ptolemaic period; it has the same function, and therefore the same decoration, as that of the great temple. It is later than the propylaea of the esplanade which are connected to the temple by square-section pillars. The enclosure wall, built later, separated these elements from the mammisi itself. A hieroglyph shows the appearance of the propylaea which are preceded by a courtyard with an access ramp; the latter was later filled in to widen the courtyard. The pavilion is decorated in the name of Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II, the sovereign to whom we owe the shrine of the barque next to the sacred lake; according to the titularies, the decoration of the propylaea would be prior to the year 122 BCE. The scenes on the walls show on one side (south) the king receiving the double crown from the hands of Nekhbet and Wadjyt in the presence of Isis and Harsomtus; symmetrically, to the north, Ihy receives a crown in front of a table on which other adornments are placed. As in the mammisi itself, the king is assimilated to the divine child. The propylaea were also probably a reception pavilion for the sovereign or his substitute, the high priest. This is what can be inferred from a text mentioning the arrival of the king during various festivals. Before the construction of the great monumental gate (erected in the Roman era), the mammisi of Trajan and the great temple, this kiosk must have been the first building of the sacred domain. Designated by the expression "porch where Maat is given", it was both the place where complainants came to seek justice and, above all it seems, the place where the king received the regalia, symbols of the earthly and cosmic order, before beginning a liturgical action. At the end of the first century CE, the ground level had risen by about two meters since the foundation of the mammisi of Nectanebo; the propylaea were therefore buried in the ground, trampled as are very probably other remains in the sacred enclosure.

Sanatorium (Plan No. F) Ancient travellers have abundantly described this type of monument which very probably existed within the enclosure of many sanctuaries; in this place the science of priest-doctors renowned as far as Greece and Asia Minor was practiced. The profane destination of the building undoubtedly explains why brick replaced stone, reserved for divine dwellings. A system of adduction from the sacred lake brought water to basins of different sizes. The already consecrated liquid saw its virtues reinforced by the healing statues on which it was made to flow; these, covered with magic formulas, were placed on pillar-bases; one of them is still in place (next to the western rooms). Rooms opened onto the corridor; they were used for incubation and it is possible that the patients were plunged into a cataleptic sleep. Niches in the back wall housed statues whose presence made the treatment of the priest-doctors effective. They probably represented Imhotep and Amenhotep son of Hapu, the wise advisors of Djoser and Amenhotep III who were considered the physicians who held the sacred and magical science of Ancient Egypt. In the various chambers or cells of the Dendera sanatorium, the sick would stay and rest, waiting for dreams that would provide them with divine prescriptions for their recovery. Proximity to the goddess was a guarantee of effective treatment/improvement, if not a complete cure. The priest-doctors poured water over statues inscribed with magical texts (healing statues) so that the healing power of the formulas would pass onto the waters, which would then become sacred and be used for bathing and drinking by the sick. The magical formulas were most effective when recited orally out loud, but they were equally effective when they were simply written down. In the context of ancient Egypt, the term sanatorium therefore applies to the enclosures/buildings where patients could be fully or partially immersed in sacred water and/or practice incubation, and “incubation” is the term that describes the practice, methods, rituals, techniques and efforts of spending one or more nights in the sanatorium with the deliberate intention of experiencing a healing dream and obtaining divine guidance and answer to a health problem. François Daumas translated the magical texts inscribed on the side faces of the plinths supporting these statues: «Come to me, you whose name is hidden from the gods, who made the sky, created the earth, brought all beings into the world. When your son Horus comes, his enemies are nonexistent; their evil does not occur, namely any evil act on the part of the companions of the Evil One. He who created beings opens his mouth each time in the midst of fear: O goddess Isis, no harm comes to your son Horus; I have found what has been done against him. I have surrounded him with saliva from my mouth, from the flow of my lips. No harm comes to him. I give life to the one who loves me. I am water, I am the sky, I am the earth, I am the air. I am Ta-tjenen living from Maat: this is the destiny prescribed for each man who gives the breath of life to the one he loves. I am Iouny, the venerable, residing in the horizon, illuminating every eye when it shines. I am the low of the low, the prestigious of the prestigious, great in power among the gods, I am He-whose-name-is-hidden but whose statue is brilliant among the gods of the earth. He is Horus, son of Isis, son of Osiris, he is the child born of me. Here is also Isis standing on his right while Thoth stands on his left. Then they place their hands on each of his members in the opening of the mouth so that you open it while he says: the two sisters are with (?) him; the two uraeus raise his protection. Your head is that of Atum, the divine god in the abode-of-Hehenet. Your eyebrows are those of serpents. Your eyes are those of Hormerty, [he who opens sight]. They are Sekhmet and Bastet there on your head. Your nose is that of Horus, the triumphant (?), bull of bulls, who engendered the gods. Your ears are those of Sight and Hearing. Your frontal is that of Amun-Ra in the sacred barque Nechmet. Your neck is that of the Mistress of the divine bodies. Your mouth is full of Maat. Your lips are those of Ptah. Your tongue is that of Thoth, Hu and Sia. Your neck is that of Montu. Your throat is that of Thoth, Hu and Sia. Your neck is that of Montu. Your throat is that of Uraeus, the first of Ra. Your shoulders are those of the living falcon, Horus himself. Your arms are the oars of the barque of Ra. Your thumbs (?) are the four pillars of Nut. Your fingers are the golden sand of the eye of Ra; your heart is that of Ra-Horakhty. Your chest is that of Neith. Your back is that of Nut. Your entrails are those of the Master of the Universe. Your lower abdomen is that of Nephthys. Your phallus is that of Min. Your testicles are the fruits of the calotrope (?). Your behind is that of Montu. Your legs are… Your calves are those of Heket and Selkit. Your toes are those of the gods of the sky. Come to… make the protection that is in every member of this living raptor, this eternally living falcon.» At the end of the northern corridor, the sandstone threshold still shows signs of wear caused by the friction of the door; in front of this threshold, a circular block was placed under the floor covering. Carved from a lintel, it represents the first king of the 18th dynasty, Amosis, making an offering to Hathor of Dendera (the block is currently stored in the stores of the Antiquities Department): it is a new example of the reuse of a vestige of the past.

Western outer wall of the Temple of Hathor The influence of the temple extends over the whole of Egypt through the different territories represented on the base of the outer wall: the departments, or nomes, of Upper Egypt are present in the east and the Delta occupies the western part, according to the usual distribution of the temple. The nomes are characterized by four elements represented by goddesses or genies of the Nile; the names of the nome and the canal, of the cultivable territory and of the marshy borders provide many indications on the Egyptian regions, in particular those for which no vestiges remain. The beautiful hieroglyphs on the base band (above the procession of nomes) detail the temple room by room; those to the east are described by the eastern band and those to the west are grouped on the accidental band. The text begins at the southeast corner and ends on both sides with the wall of the Large Hypostile Hall / Pronaos (Plan No. 1). It is said, among other things, that Augustus «built the temple of Hathor in beautiful sandstone» and that «its length is 112 cubits while its width is 67 cubits.» The various shrines are located in relation to the axial shrine of Hathor. The dimensions and function of each room are described. The four registers of the side walls take up some of the major theological themes of Dendera. On the eastern wall, an inscription in Greek is engraved on the base of two divinities (second register, second scene). Dating from April 3, 42 CE, it commemorates the tour of the region of the prefect Lucius Aemilius Rectus. He addresses a dedication to the divinities of the temple for the peace and concord of Claudius.

Shrine of the Barque (Plan No. H) The shrine of the barque, next to the lake, is located exactly in line with the vault in the large brick enclosure. Older than the temple itself, it bears the cartouches of Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II, whose titles even allow us to date the decoration to the years 122-116 BCE. A barque of Hathor is depicted on each of the doorposts. The paintings inside again show the skiff with a text that mentions «the day of Hathor's sailing». It can be assumed that the shrine served as a resting place for the sacred barque during the temple's greatest festival, which took place on the first day of the month of Hathor and during which the goddess went out in procession to sail on the sacred lake. Between this shrine and the sanatorium, we notice a masonry well (Plan No. G) which also served as a nilometer.

Sacred Lake (Plan No. I) Each great sanctuary had its sacred lake. The largest currently known is that of Karnak. Symbol of the primordial waters from which the sun appeared at dawn on the first day, the lake also allows various mythical events to be staged such as the quest of Isis or the navigation of sacred barques during the mysteries of Osiris on the 22nd of the month of Khoiak. The walls of the basin are 3 m (10 ft) thick and it measures 31 m (102 ft) by 25 m (82 ft). At each corner, a staircase allows to reach the water level. In the thickness of the masonry walls have been arranged rooms of unknown function. Small staircases also allow access to pedestals perhaps reserved for statues.

Temple of Isis (Plan No. J) The sanctuary of Isis forms a religious complex independent of the great temple with its own brick enclosure, its well and its monumental gate to the east. On the latter is engraved an inscription in Greek which dates from September 23 of the year 1 of our era, thirty-first year of the reign of Augustus in whose name the small temple is decorated. This one is not in the axis of the monumental gate - which passes a little further south - but in that, north-south, of the great temple. It also seems unfinished: its exterior walls are engraved in relief, a process usually reserved for interior walls. Various cartouches still visible allow us to glimpse the existence of several structures. In front of the false door, we can discern the foundations of a temple placed 2 m (6.5 ft) below the level of the current building. The part attached to the temple of Isis is in the name of Nectanebo the First (381-364 BCE). We also notice, to the west, in the base of the latter, a block reused upside down bearing the cartouches of Nectanebo the First from whose reign dates the oldest mammisi. The temple of this sovereign was enlarged in the Ptolemaic period by columned rooms; the surviving cartouches are those of Ptolemy X Alexander who died in 88 BCE. However, the first cartouches found in the temple of Hathor are in the name of Ptolemy XII Auletes who began to reign in 80 BCE. The building of Nectanebo, built at a level two meters lower than that of the great temple, was, it seems, razed shortly after the improvements of Ptolemy X Alexander and replaced by the temple of Isis. In doing so, the original east-west axis was not respected and only the false door perpetuates the memory of it. The temple itself consists of a vestibule opening onto three shrines which bear the same archaic-sounding designations as the three shrines of the temple of Hathor and, like them, face north. The vestibule serves as both an offering room and a wabet. In fact, it contains the thirty uraeus - leontocephalic entities - which adorn the exterior doorposts of the axial shrine and protect the worship service during the thirty days of the month. Generally speaking, the temple of Isis is a "condensation" of that of Hathor. The inscriptions say that the goddess Isis was given birth here; her birth is also represented on the back (south) wall of the sanctuary, whose reliefs in poor condition still show a woman sitting on a birthing chair and supported by two cow-headed goddesses. On either side, Amun and Shu are holding out the breath of life to her. On the ground, the female statuette represents Isis whom Nut has just given birth to; the texts say that her skin is pink and her hair black. It is probably because the goddess is supposed to have been born in Dendera that the great temple is not solely dedicated to Hathor.

South exterior wall of the Temple of Hathor The rear wall of the temple (south) has in the center a monumental head of Hathor placed on the sign of gold which marks the axis of the temple. All around it one can still see the holes which perhaps allowed the fixing of the gilded wooden casing which hid it from the profane outside the major festivals; the holes closest to the head served as attachment points for the gold leaves which covered it. The Tentyrite priests had insisted that the image of the universal goddess "with four faces" (as the inscription on the right says) should radiate extra muros with all the divine power accumulated, on the other side of the wall, in the sanctuary and the crypts. The pantheon of Dendera is distributed on either side of the axis: Hathor, Horus, Harsomtus, Ihy and again Hathor on the eastern half, Isis, Harsomtus, Osiris, Horus and again Isis on the western half. The king who, on each side, holds a censer is Ptolemy Caesar - called Caesarion - followed by his mother Cleopatra wearing the menat necklace and a sistrum. Ptolemy Caesarion, son in all probability of Caesar, was born in July 47 BCE; very early associated with the throne, he was assassinated at the age of 17, probably on the orders of the same Augustus who appears in the upper register of this wall. The little Caesarion, represented as a king in the prime of life according to Egyptian custom, is the last sovereign with his mother of independent Egypt. Between the king and the little god Ihy who shakes a sistrum, are accumulated in a harmonious composition numerous offerings. On the lower row we can see the sacred objects of the goddess, sistra, menat necklace, vases, electrum crown and other accessories whose symbolic role is not perfectly known. These objects, which were kept in the temple, are represented in several places.

Facade of the Large Hypostyle Hall (Plan No. 1) The four magnificent heads of Hathor adorning the capitals of each of the columns proclaim the universal character of the goddess who reigns over the four cardinal points. The heavy wig reveals the cow's ears, the only reminder of the original appearance of the mistress of the place. The columns have somewhat the appearance of a sistrum, and the upper part of the capital evokes the strictly musical element of the specific emblem of the goddess who gave her name to the temple, "castle of the sistrum". The columns are connected to each other by side walls that are high enough to hide the sacred space from the layman, but which allow direct lighting of the interior. The other parts of the temple are lit indirectly by prismatic openings made either in the ceilings or at the top of the walls. The sun, which is low at certain times of the day, allows one to admire on the architrave of the Large Hypostile Hall / Pronaos (Plan No. 1) the head of Hathor placed on the very axis of the temple. All the other parts of the building located on this axis are decorated in the same way. From the corners, various divinities advance towards this head, bringing it adornments and crowns. The façade of the Large Hypostile Hall / Pronaos (Plan No. 1) presents the local pantheon composed of Hathor, her husband, Horus of Edfu, and their son Harsomtus. The temple is also dedicated, although in a secondary way, to Isis who is seen represented with her husband Osiris. The pharaoh presents them with offerings. The scenes that frame the entrance are the most important, they present the queen of the temple and her husband; in this choice location, only the sistra, emblems of the goddess and the city, could be represented. In the side paintings, the child of the triad, Harsomtus, is offered the lotus (partly destroyed), cradle of the sun when it was born by emerging from the liquid element. It is to Horus, the king par excellence, that the vase of frankincense is presented, placed between the legs of a sphinx; frankincense was used to anoint the king during his enthronement. Finally, in the corners is Maat, a small statuette that symbolizes the cosmic and terrestrial balance dear to the Egyptian spirit, and the two couples of the temple are placed in opposition while being complementary.

Entering the Large Hypostyle Hall (Plan No. 1)

Columns and walls of the Large Hypostyle Hall (Plan No. 1) The blue granite of the door's entablature contrasts with the beige sandstone in which the temple is built. Granite was the only material strong enough for the toads (the location of which can still be seen on the ground) which had to withstand the weight and pressure of the heavy door leaves. The eighteen columns are distributed on each side of the axis of the temple; they are decorated with Hathor heads with colours still existing. Each shaft is decorated with two paintings placed on either side of the north-south axis. According to a principle already seen on the façade, the scenes complement and correspond from one side to the other. The two columns closest to the entrance give a very clear example of the complementarity existing within a scene, between the two scenes of a column and, finally, from an east column to a west column. The king goes towards the divinities who are preceded by the child god Ihy. This network of correspondences extends throughout the hall. On the eastern diagonal, the two goddesses complement each other, each accompanied by Harsomtus; the western diagonal, on the other hand, opposes the two couples: Hathor of Dendera and her husband Horus of Edfu, Isis and Osiris on the other half of the shaft of the column. Like the pages of a book that close, the diagonals present the essential divinities of the temple with a play of associations, Hathor and Isis, the two couples or the father (Horus) opposed to the son (Harsomtus). Finally, wherever one stands, one can observe in a row on several columns the same character or characters. The decoration of the base of the columns is no less clever. The names of the deities are inscribed there and, on the side of the central aisle, scenes depict musical entertainments which seem to welcome the visitor with joy and rejoicing. Four registers decorate the walls. The first (those at the bottom) are devoted, according to custom, to scenes of a royal nature. In the western part, on the right as you enter, we see the king of Lower Egypt leaving his palace wearing the red crown; this is Nero as indicated by the cartouches. In the following paintings, the sovereign first receives the ritual purification, then the double crown which makes him the earthly leader of all of Egypt. This adornment is given to him by Wadjet, the tutelary goddess of Lower Egypt, and by Nekhbet of Upper Egypt. The king is then presented to Hathor on the side wall. We see that the king moves from the outside to the inside to meet the divinity. He plays the role of high priest in the temple and offers adornments, purifications, fabrics, etc. The divinities that adorn these walls are for the most part those that the exterior façade presented to us. Each of the side walls is pierced by a door that allowed the officiants to enter the Large Hypostile Hall / Pronaos (Plan No. 1) without having to open the large axial door. The backs of the uprights of these doors are covered with hieroglyphs developing a real morality for the use of the priests. After a brief description of the essential moments of the cult, these pious men are advised to observe the regulations recorded in the ancient writings: that they do not divert supplies, do not harm the weak for the benefit of the strong and above all that they set an example to their inferiors! The passage of the door itself is decorated with various motifs on the side where the leaf was folded (we can still see the preparatory drawing in red); on the other side there is a text which, as for the eastern door, has been well preserved. Eleven columns of beautiful hieroglyphics list the various names of the city. The inscription begins at the top left with the words: «Names of this city.» These are the names of the deities of Dendera which are recorded in the passage of the western gate, the inscriptions of which have unfortunately been largely destroyed. To the left of this door, an opening at the level of the base reveals a recess; it is a crypt where we can see the sliding system which allowed the closing block to slide; the latter (still visible in the north-west crypt of the Large Hypostile Hall / Pronaos) was decorated with the same motifs as the rest of the base, which made it impossible to suspect the existence of these secret rooms.

Astronomical Representations of the Ceiling of the Large Hypostyle Hall (Plan No. 1) Egyptian astronomers never reached a level of knowledge comparable, for example, to that of the Mesopotamian peoples from whom they borrowed a good number of elements from around the 6th century BCE. In this area as in others, their science was essentially practical: the observation of the stars allowed them to fix the time and establish a calendar. The priests had books dealing with the "order of the fixed stars", the "movement of the moon and the five planets" or even the "meeting of the moon and the sun". The sky, according to various traditions, is a cow, a river or, most often, the body of the goddess Nut who is constantly depicted lying down or in the shape of an arch. The decans (groups of fixed stars), which number thirty-six and share the celestial circle and each remain visible for ten days, are personified or, at least, represented in human forms. The Egyptians recognized a large number of constellations. The most recognizable in the northern hemisphere is the Big Dipper. The one in the southern hemisphere that is most often represented is Orion, a rather distant image of a warrior brandishing a staff, who was equated with Osiris; for this reason, he is often called "ruler of the stars". Sirius-Sothis appears in the sky in mid-July, the date on which the Nile began to flood; this star, the brightest in the sky, was assimilated to the goddess of the Aswan cataract, Satis. She was depicted as a cow from the Greco-Roman era. There are about twenty representations of the zodiac in Egypt; the most famous is undoubtedly that of Dendera. Five planets are known to the Egyptians: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Mars, the red-orange planet, is called "Horus the red", Jupiter is "Horus who lights the earth". There were planetary tables which gave for several years the position of the planets in the twelve signs of the zodiac. The "two luminaries" are the sun, which is Ra, and the moon, the "small sun" or star of the night that lights the world of the dead, Osiris. According to legend, the latter was cut into fourteen pieces, a number comparable to that of the days of the two lunar phases. The Egyptians imagined that the sun traveled the twelve hours of the day in a barque (an almost obligatory means of transport in the Nile Valley), in the form of a child the first hour, a four-headed ram at noon and an old man the twelfth hour. The hours of the day and night are symbolized by goddesses with different names (the first is "the one who rises", the sixth "the zenithal"). The day goddesses wear a sun on their heads, the nocturnal goddesses a star. The course of the two stars is characterized by their most important moments: rising, apogee, setting for the sun; new moon, full moon, waning moon for the nocturnal disk. Astronomical scenes are depicted mainly in royal tombs, funerary temples, some private tombs, on sarcophagus lids and in Ptolemaic and Roman temples; in the latter, they are found in spaces exposed to daylight (Large Hypostile Hall / Pronaos (Plan No. 1) and ouâbet) and in rooms of a funerary nature (Osirian shrines located on the roof of Dendera.

Temple of Hathor Cealing Plan Plan Legend: Central Panel Journey of the Sun Twelve Barques Waning Moon Crescent moon Full moon First Decans Second Decans The Twelve Hours of the Day in Twelve barques Venus, Orion, Sirius, Moon, Sun The Twelve Hours of the Night Moon Zodiac: Aquarius… Planets The Twelve Hours of the Night The Twelve Hours of the Night Planets Zodiac: Capricorn. First Decans Second Decans The ceiling of the Large Hypostile Hall / Pronaos (Plan No. 1) of Dendera constitutes an almost exhaustive inventory of Egyptian astronomical knowledge as it has just been briefly described. The central part is decorated with vultures and cobras; the three bays on either side are covered with astronomical scenes. In the diagram above, the ceiling is described as if it were projected onto the floor (remember that the door leading outside is located to the north). It is obvious that only the drawings that will be reproduced in the publication of the Large Hypostile Hall / Pronaos (Plan No. 1) will be able to give an exact account of the teeming ornamentation. The eastern bay A is divided into three compartments; in the center twelve barques describe the diurnal path of the sun, protected by the gods distributed on both sides. The western bay A' describes, from the entrance to the Large Hypostile Hall / Pronaos (Plan No. 1), the cycle of the moon. The star, initially waning, is represented by the udjat-eye placed in the lunar disk which also has fourteen characters, symbols of the fourteen days of the phase. In the center of the bay, the moon placed on a small column is accompanied by fourteen gods, standing on the steps of a staircase, who illustrate the ascending progress of the star. Finally, we see the latter, at the apogee of the fifteenth day, assimilated to Osiris who is enthroned in a barque. The halves closest to the axis of the bays B and B' are dedicated to the decans, the first to the east, the last to the west. On the other halves, we see in the east B the twelve hours of the day followed by four barques carrying Venus, Orion, Sirius-Sothis and the moon. Finally, the solar star appears, also in a barque, near the outside. In the west B', we can see the twelve hours of the night and two barques carrying the moon. On panels C and C', framing the ceiling on each side, the body of the goddess Nut symbolizes the sky; the chevrons of her dress reproduce the waves of the celestial ocean. Her feet are placed near the outside of the temple, her body runs along the east and west walls of the Large Hypostile Hall / Pronaos (Plan No. 1) and her head is turned towards the center of the temple. She swallows the nocturnal sun and gives birth to the morning sun which illuminates with its rays a head of Hathor symbolizing the temple. The outer halves of the panels are decorated with the decans, the others are devoted to the zodiac. Between the signs of the latter, one can discern various figures: the small goddesses of the night, some constellations and the five planets; the latter are arranged according to the position they occupy in relation to the sun: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. The zodiac begins with the sign of Aquarius (east panel C, to the south), followed by Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini (Cancer has not been represented). On the west half C', the zodiac resumes in the north (near the outside of the temple) with Leo followed by Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius and finally Capricorn. The ceiling is read from east to west (passing through the north, as indicated by the direction of the arrows in the diagram) following the annual movement of the constellations.

Entering the Naos In Egyptological usage, the term naos designates the habitation of the god; as such, it is understood either as a simple receptacle made of stone or wood, or as an entire temple. In the latter case, it is a theological and liturgical ensemble; at Dendera, it is composed of the Small Hypostyle Hall (Plan No. 2), a hall served by six smaller rooms (Plan No. 3-8), the Offering Hall (Plan No. 9) where the food offerings intended for the divinity were deposited, a Vestibule (Plan No. 10) and finally the Sanctuary (Plan No. 11) and its radiating shrines (Plan No. 12-24). The Pronaos (Plan No. 1) precedes, as its name indicates, the Naos, a situation reflected in its Egyptian name "the front part of the Great See (the naos)". It was built later and in some way fits into the façade of the Small Hypostyle Hall (Plan No. 2). The exterior part of this façade is engraved in hollow - and not in relief like the rest of the pronaos - as is appropriate for a wall facing the open air. The Egyptian name of the hypostyle hall is generally translated as "hall of apparition", because it is here that Hathor, surrounded by her court, appears in her festive barque before leaving in procession. The doorways of the door (provided in antiquity with two heavy leaves) bear only purely decorative motifs, because, according to an intangible principle, a divine scene cannot be concealed even temporarily (as the folded leaves would have done). The inner doorposts are each covered with fourteen columns of hieroglyphs. On the left as you enter (that is, on the right - the place of honor - for the divinity who looks toward the entrance to the room) is engraved a real papyrus on stone; more than three hundred names of the goddess appear on it. To the west, the signs are more tightly packed, because it was necessary to record on this single post what, in the same place, occupies the two doorposts at Edfu. These are, in fact, on the one hand the names of Horus of Edfu and, on the other hand, those of the divinities of the city of Horus. Contrary to the classification of the list of Dendera, the gods are here distributed according to the shrine they inhabit in the temple of Edfu. Thus, at the bottom of the fifth column from the door, we see the following heading: «to the gods of the shrine of fabrics.» The text, which begins with the words «litanic offering,» is addressed to all the gods of the temple, each divine name being preceded by the preposition «to.»

Small Hypostyle Hall / Hall of Offering (Plan No. 2) The first register of the walls (the lower one) shows the foundation ceremonies, scenes usual in this part of the temple. Beginning with the east side, we see the king coming out of his palace, bringing the building bricks, purifying the building by throwing incense seeds and, finally, handing over to Hathor her "house". The decoration of the other registers is more complex; one can observe an originality: the right half of the room (therefore oriental from the Egyptian point of view) is dedicated to Hathor and Isis but, in each painting, between the king and the divinity, a third character, walking in the same direction as the king, also offers a symbol to the goddess: these are gods or genies who thus pay homage to the queens of the temple; for example, we see on the painting placed in the second register, between the laboratory and the second shrine, a woman who stretches fabrics: it is Tayt, an entity specialized in the manufacture of fabrics. The base and the first drum of the six massive columns are made of Aswan granite and not of sandstone like the rest of the temple. Like those of the pronaos, the columns of the hypostyle are decorated with two paintings distributed along the axis of the temple. The scenes of the eastern columns (place of honor) are dedicated to Hathor; those of the western columns, to Hathor (eastern half) and to Isis (western half). The most interesting paintings are located on the eastern half of the eastern columns; from the southeast corner, three birds can be seen: Hathor, a bird with a human head, attends demonstrations of joy (expressed by the music of the sistrums), Harsomtus (a bird with a falcon's head) receives the double crown from the hands of Nekhbet and Wadjet, the tutelary goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt, finally, Hathor, again, listens to the song of the harps.

First Antechamber / Offering Hall (Plan No. 9) From the shrines of the hypostyle, the priests brought the various offerings and placed them on dressers in the offering room. Thus, when the doors of the sanctuary were opened, the divinity would smell the scent of the food. To perform this ritual, divine intercessors were created by the theologians: on the south wall, between the king and the goddess, zoomorphic gods officiate, their hands placed on the dressers: they originate from the cities of Egypt where they were venerated: Memphis, Heliopolis, Mendes in the Delta and, finally, Hermonthis near Thebes. On the inner doorpost, in the first register, the king enters to do his service; on the other side, he comes out, his head turned towards the divinity and holding in his hand a broom that will be used to wipe away his steps. The text inscribed on the base band summarizes the task of the high priest, substitute for the royal person: «the priest in his month - with in his hand the gold and silver tablet on which the precepts of Thoth are engraved - enters the room three times a day: he brings to the divinity his offerings according to the rule; the purifier is with him who carries the censer and the ewer for Hathor.» The deities benefiting from the ritual who are represented on the walls all belong to the restricted circle of the Dendera pantheon: Hathor, Horus and Harsomtus facing the second triad composed of Isis, Osiris and Harsiesis. The offering room serves as a crossroads for accessing the stairs during, for example, the New Year celebrations. This arrangement, common to all temples, explains the presence of the various entities responsible for protecting the place: the thirty lion-headed uraeus are assigned to the protection of each day of the month; they are placed on the doorposts of the shrine located in the south-east corner of the room; 365 uraeus of the same type but with different names are distributed on the friezes of the room, at the place where air and light penetrate. These entities are avatars of the goddess Hathor-Sekhmet, the mistress of the year, who can spare or inflict torments. Eye of Ra, she represents the burning and destructive aspect of the sun. On the doorposts leading to the right staircase, a new inventory text gives, in an abbreviated version, the names of the city, then those of the shrines, the gods, the priests and priestesses, the sacred mounds, the orchards, the canals, the barques, the festivals, in a word, everything that allows one to characterize the religious and administrative domain of the goddess.

Second Antechamber / Hall of the Ennead / Vestibule (Plan No. 10) The Egyptian term for the Vestibule (Plan No. 10) is also used to designate two rooms opening onto the Small Hypostyle Hall (Plan No. 2). The place bears its name well; without a precise function, it serves essentially as a passage, towards the Room of Offerings (Plan No. 10), the Sanctuary (Plan No. 11), the Ouâbet (Plan No. 23) and the Room of Fabrics. This "airlock" accommodated the tabernacles containing the statues of the various divinities at the start of the great festivals. As its name indicates, the Room of Fabrics contained the various garments and fabrics used during ceremonies. There, represented on the walls, are the genies in charge of the fabrics and, on the bases, carriers of these same fabrics. The decoration of the third register, the most interesting, is difficult to discern: priests carry chests of fabrics and ointments, some of which originate from holy localities of the country, Abydos, Heliopolis, Memphis or Thebes.

Holy of Holies / Great Seat (Central Shrine) / Main Sanctuary (Plan No. 11) The Sanctuary (Plan No. 11) is a small temple inside the Naos: its façade testifies to this with its fruit, its upper throat and its lateral tori. This room is the liturgical and not theological heart of the temple. The daily service took place there, but the doctrinal subtleties and the sacred statues of the goddess were in the axial shrine, the Shrine of Hathor (Plan No. 18), located behind the sanctuary. As soon as the doors were opened, choirs would sing the morning awakening hymn: Hathor and her court were supposed to emerge from the night with the refrain: «Awake, be at peace!» The sun streamed in through the east window (the hieroglyphs that frame the opening describe the rising of the star). The four hieroglyphic paintings on the upper part of the walls invoke the goddess on one side by different names, or even by those of other goddesses to whom she is assimilated, Sekhmet, Bastet or Satis-Sothis; on the other side (west), the different parts of the goddess' body are addressed, from the head to the toes. The whole forms a pretty poem that is not without analogy with the Song of Songs and the literary genre of the coat of arms in vogue during the Renaissance. On the thickness of the doorposts, to the east, is a hymn to Hathor which tells us that the goddess came into the world at night, that her principal festival is that during which she goes to Edfu to see her husband and, finally, that Dendera was created in the image of Heliopolis; on the other side, an invocation assimilates, from south to north, each local goddess to Hathor, as if all the goddesses of Egypt were only forms of the mistress of Dendera. In addition to sovereignty over space, the goddess possesses power over time as mistress of the year. The gestures repeated daily by the high priest were fixed many centuries before; the complete ritual is recorded on a five-metre-long papyrus preserved in Berlin. To understand the priest-king's walk, one must "read" the eastern and then the western scenes alternately. The first shows the goddess in her naos, the king has his left foot on the steps of a staircase; in a symmetrical position, on the western wall, the king pulls the ribbon that binds the rings, then, to the east, he undoes the ring in which the horizontal bolt slides and prepares, to the west, to open the door. The texts are fortunately more explicit than the scenes themselves. The king finally finds himself before Hathor (who is no longer represented in her naos) and can worship her. The ritual, some of the stages of which are represented on the walls (purifications, dressing, etc.), continues. In ancient times, a stone naos (of the type of that of Edfu) was placed at the back of the sanctuary; in front of it rested the divine barques. These are represented on the side walls; to the east, those of Hathor and Horus; to the west, those of Isis and Harsomtus. The barques of the goddesses are recognizable by the female head which adorns the prow and stern; those of the gods bear two falcon heads. Inside these nacelles rested a small removable tabernacle closed by a linen curtain which protected the divine image. Above the divine barques, large paintings present a series of divinities: the restricted circle of the city's pantheon is joined by that of the principal gods of Edfu. These thus participated in the daily cult, a clear sign, among other things, of the intimate union of the two cities. The divinities of the four barques are found on the back wall, distributed in the same way. In the lower register, the king, wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt to the east and the red crown of Lower Egypt to the west, presents the symbol of the universal order that is Maat. This rite will be recognized on all the first registers of the back walls of each of the shrines: it constitutes the guarantor of the terrestrial and cosmic balance necessary for the proper functioning of each of the holy places.

Entrance to the shrines on the east side (Plan No. 12-15) On the left (east) side of the Sanctuary (Plan No. 11) is the entrance to the shrines on the east side (Plan No. 12-15). The Sanctuary (Plan No. 11) is surrounded by a corridor which serves the divine shrines. The exterior of the Sanctuary (Plan No. 11) walls shows on several registers the restricted pantheon of the temple (the two triads already encountered on many occasions). The eleven shrines surrounding the sanctuary contain the essential theology of the temple. It is out of the question to expose all its complexity in a simple presentation. Suffice it to say that all the back walls of these rooms are dedicated to Hathor and Isis, who are presented with stereotypical offerings, such as that of Maat in the first register. Finally, the main function of each shrine can be identified by analyzing the texts engraved on the door jambs and lintels, as well as on the frieze and base bands.

East side of the corridor surrounding the Sanctuary (Plan No. 11) On the right side of the photo we can see the exterior of the east wall of the Sanctuary (Plan No. 11). On the left side of the photo we can see the four entrances to the four eastern shrines (Plan No. 12-15). In the center of the photo we can see the entrance to the two southeast shrines (Plan No. 17-18). Shrine of the Nome of Dendera (Plan No. 12): In this shrine, the place of coronation, theologians have drawn a parallel between the enthronement of Hathor (inner lintel) and the transfer of power from Horus to his son Harsomtous expressed by the offerings presented to them (side walls). Shrine of Isis (Plan No. 13): The outer lintel and the painting placed to the left of the entrance are consecrated to Isis, just as the place of honor inside is reserved for her, that is to say the right side wall when looking towards the door. The inner lintel shows the goddess enthroned as queen by Thoth and Khnum. The gods who participate in her triumph are represented on the upper registers of the side walls. Shrine of Sokaris-Osiris (Plan No. 14): Sokaris is originally a funerary chthonic god of Memphis, he became a national figure through his association with Osiris. At Dendera, he is represented with a falcon's head while Osiris has a human head; a plant statue of each of the gods is fashioned during the annual mysteries. The two divinities represent two facets of the same funerary entity, one is more specific to the Delta, the other, Osiris, is the god of the dead of Abydos and therefore of Upper Egypt. From the outside, this shrine, whose colors are better preserved than anywhere else in the temple, differs from the others: framing the door, 77 gods are responsible for repelling possible attacks from evil. As for the exterior doorposts, they are engraved with original texts invoking Osiris in all the cities of Upper Egypt (northern jamb) and Lower Egypt (southern jamb). The upper register shows scenes related to the Osirian mysteries. The scene located on the west wall (above the door, in the upper register) shows a wedjat-eye that symbolizes the moon: the name of this eye is indicated above, it is Osiris: the identification is therefore clear between the god who dies to be reborn and the star with cyclical phases. The two gods are Thoth (with the head of an ibis) and Shu who fish out the moon at the end of its cycle to prevent it from dying and, in a way, restart the vital process; at the top right, the moon lights up the sky while the morning sun appears in the form of a scarab. Such a representation of the net in which the moon is fished out is unique. Shrine of Harsomtus (Plan No. 15): Divine triads (father, mother, child) are found in many cities of Egypt. This type of grouping perhaps responds to the need to bring together several cults in the same place; the model is that of Osiris, Isis and Horus the child, national and mythical archetype. The three aspects of the personality of the child god of the Tentyrite triad are expressed on the exterior lintel of the shrine: human-headed heir god; falcon-headed solar god; serpent-headed fertility-generating god. The inner lintel illustrates the very name of the god and his essential function, to unite the country: Harsomtus means "Horus who unites the Two Countries", that is to say the Delta and the Nile Valley. In the center of the scene, the sign T represents a trachea which means "to unite"; above are the two cartouches reserved for the most important names of the king. Finally, the falcon (image of Harsomtus) wears the double crown given to him by Nekhbet and Wadjyt. The Nile gods unite Upper and Lower Egypt symbolized by the tufts they wear on their heads, papyrus from the Delta on the left, rush from the Nile Valley on the right. The subject of this scene is very frequently represented throughout Egyptian history; here the border between the divine and terrestrial worlds is thin. Moreover, the king and queen frame the scene to show that the royalty of the god is also that of his representative on earth. The god receives other emblems of his function, the feathers of his crown or the lotus, cradle of the sun. A tuft of plants (in the first register of the last scene of the south wall) represents the bouquets of triumph that were given to the king during the symbolic rehearsal of his coronation at the New Year, on the occasion of a visit to the temple or on the return from a victorious campaign. The curious scenes in the upper register, which are difficult to see, are the same ones that are presented in the crypt.

Shrine of Water (Jug) - Per-Nu (Plan No. 17) As replicas of sanctuaries from Lower Egypt, shrines 17 and 19 house gods and goddesses from the Delta, doublets of the local triad: facing Hathor of Dendera, we see Sekhmet, the lioness of Memphis, or Bastet, the cat of Bubastis. These shrines were intended to serve the axial shrine, as evidenced by the exterior lintels of the door which show the priests of Dendera bringing ewers, chests and fabrics to the goddess. From these rooms, we access the two most important crypts, those which must have contained the most sacred images. The text found on the pillars of the Per-Nu is clearly distinguished from those of the other shrines. First, the two pillars do not have four columns but five. Furthermore, we are not dealing with two separate texts but with a single text. Second, this text does not begin with either ind hr or i3w and therefore cannot be considered a hymn. Finally, the text is found in several places in the temple, which reveals its importance for the theology of the temple. Column 1: «Here at Dendera appears Gold. Useret comes out of the Abode of the Sistrum, to enter the Great Throne of Ra in joy, to take possession of Utjeset in celebration, for she finds her father Ra rejoiced to see her, — his eye being around her coming —, while her ennead is in the process of adoring (repeat) that of Edfu, the one with the variegated plumage. He raises for you your head thanks to the double uraeus. The great god, he calls you who open the eyes, who light up the darkness, so that faces see thanks to the rays of the disk. If the gods wake up, it is to elevate your beauty. If the ennead rises early, it is to adore your image.» Column 2: «The goddesses come to you singing praises. The Shepesut beat the drum before you. The Ba of Pe and Nekhen make the hn for your ka. The meret play the harp for your majesty. Men and women announce your beauty. The powerful and the weak say: “How great is your power, how great is your strength while your prestige travels the shores.” Wake up in peace, while your heart is content. Rejoice in seeing that it is beautiful.» Column 3: «You find the goddesses standing at your side while the gods follow your ka. Your father Ra holds his arms behind you. The lion of Atum protects you. Nun the great, as for him, washes your face and the Beautiful of Face takes care of dressing your body. Henu is behind you: he opened your eyes and Sokaris paints your eyebrows. Anukis is there: she arranged your braid and Khenset adorns your hair. Shesemu is near you offering you incense and Shesemu the great, as for him, makes the perfume pleasant. Faqet is anointing your flesh and the lady of Pe, she, perfumes your hair.» Column 4: «Horus the great of power, has worshipped Udjat so that your face is pleased and the lord of Hermopolis reads the festive rituals for your ka, while Hu and Sia are in front. The power of heaven slays evil before you and the power of earth opens the paths for you. The south and the north are in adoration for your face, the nomes and the cities are appeasing you, Rayt. Men and women are praying to you. The Pat and the Rekhyt invoke you.» Column 5: «When you come to your father, your heart is glad and his heart is joyful because of your love. We salute you, our mistress, Useret, the Gold of the gods, mistress of the goddesses, the great cat in Dendera, the braided one in the W'rt-hpr-h3t, with curly hair, whose head is of lapis lazuli, her face is beautiful, and her eyes painted, whose chest is radiant, her breasts are rejoiced, lady of the dance,… when one sees her, her flesh is perfect, her complexion is united, the rays emanating from her body are rejuvenated,» Column 1: «whose appearance is of turquoise, with fresh ornaments, lady of the arched sistra, lady of the uraei, to whom the arched sistra are given, for whom the sistrum is consecrated, to whose ka the menat is offered, with a brisk walk in the temple of Horus the great, with a quick step in the secret shrine, for whom the shrine is flooded with the odor of her perfume, who fills the shrine with her beauty, lady of women, mistress of virgins, the beautiful one who is among the community of women,» Column 2: «whose tenderness is resplendent, sweet with love, at whose sight the gods rejoice, Akhet in heaven, Useret on earth, the great mistress in the banks of Horus: in her name the south and the north are founded, and under her guidance the shrines are established. Come, O gods, praise her. O Ennead, scent the ground for her. O goddesses, O you who make music for her. O Shepesut, strike the tambourine, for see, she is there. Her odor is the divine sweat and her fragrance is the Iber-ointment and the Hekenu-ointment.» Column 3: «The Huab-cloth is on her, flooded with Tishepes-oil and the Anyou-pots are offered to her body. The braids of her hair are the perfume of Punt and the smoke of her head comes from the laboratory. The perfume in her wake unites with the anyou so that the nostrils breathe its perfume. Her heart is content and her face joyful: she is at peace without there being any evil near her. Her words are effective and her words are penetrating, for the power of her magic exists. Her favors are established in the hearts of the gods, her sweetness in the bodies of men.» Column 4: «The king comes to you, his mistress, Hathor the great lady of Iunet, eye of Ra, lady of the sky, mistress of all the gods. He lifts for you the Th-vase according to your desire. He appeases your ka with what you love. He brings you Kenmet and Desdes with the Sdh-wine, Imet and Sunu carrying their jugs of wine, Nehamet and Hut-ihet, united, carry the green eye of Horus which is in them.» Column 5: «The banks of the Fenkhu rush with their tribute consisting of all the jugs of their lands. You drink from those, you are satisfied with those and you satisfy yourself according to your desire, so that you give him, in exchange for this tribute, the royalty of Atum under the double crown. The Iuntyu are behind him up to the double land of the gods. Those of the desert are his servants up to the confines of darkness, while the Temehu and the Aamu united are his servants up to the confines of sunrise and sunset… the falcon established on the serekh, at the head of the kau and the eternally living.»

Shrine of Hathor's Sistrum (Plan No. 16) Corner shrines 16 and 20 are accessed via shrines 17 and 19. Unlike these, they have their own function. A niche similar to that of the axial shrine is arranged in shrine 16, called "dwelling of the sistrum"; it must have contained the three main statues of Hathor, one of Isis, the animal forms of the four most important divinities, Hathor, Isis, Horus and Harsomtus and two sistrum-fetishes. The name "Residence of the Sistrum" expresses in a compressed way the idea that the temple is the resting place of the goddess in the form of the sistrum. The shrine's niche then has the sacred statue of the goddess as a hathoric pillar. In this shrine Hathor is identified with every other goddess in every village in Egypt. Hathor's Isiac side allows her to accentuate the goddess' royal appearance because she is the queen among kings. As a hathoric pillar, the goddess has an important relationship with her son Ihy, the sistrum player. The "Residence of the Sistrum" constitutes a temple. The naos containing the statue of the deity is here replaced by a niche inserted into the wall of the shrine. It contains the goddess statue.

Northern niche in the Shrine of Hathor's Sistrum (Plan No. 16) The Residence of the Sistrum (Plan No. 16) has two niches, one to the north and the other to the south. The northern niche (pictured) is dedicated to Ihy and is framed by the goddesses Nekhbet (right) and Wadjet (left). Ihy has the sistrum in his right hand and the menat in his left and is protected by the two winged goddesses. The southern niche was the place where the sacred statue of the Residence of the Sistrum (Plan No. 16) stood. This niche, due to the elements that constitute it, is a chamber in itself. In the rites of the niche scenes are the rituals that are usually found on the back wall of a shrine: the Adoration, the Vision, the Offering of Maat, and the Antiyou-tissue pair. They are the summary of the daily rite. This niche contained one of the most important representations of the goddess. It is difficult to say whether it was a sistrum or a hathoric pillar. But it was the sekhen of Hathor, lady of Iunet in her form of Hathor Quadrifons. In the scene of the first record of the southern wall of the niche, a Hathoric Pillar is shown and is called Sistrum, so it can be inferred that the "Residence of the Sistrum" is effectively the "Residence of the Hathoric Pillar".

Shrine of Fire - Per-Neser (Plan No. 19) At the basis of Per-Neser's theology is the rather simple play on words between «neser» meaning «flame» and «Nesert» (Wadjet), the name of the uraeus who breathes fire in order to destroy the enemies of the gods. This form of uraeus becomes in the Per-Neser a form of the goddess Hathor, who appears here as the terrifying goddess destroying the enemies of the solar god. The king takes an active part in this warlike action against his enemies. Another aspect of the goddess is linked to both the form of the uraeus and its terrifying character: the eye of Ra. The goddess is the uraeus whose flame is great. Thus, the eye of Ra is identified with the fire-breathing snake. The eye of Ra resides in the Per-Neser, but he can also place himself on his father's forehead. The dangerous aspect of the eye of Ra stands out from Sekhmet's rite of appeasement in which the king asks the eye not to rest its anger on him. It is therefore the eye of Ra that must be worshiped and appeased. The eye of Ra is also the daughter of Ra. The solar god for his part may have the epithet of “his father”. The idea of the goddess as the daughter of the sun god is generally linked to the protection offered by the goddess to her father. But just as a daughter can offer protection to her father, a mother can do this to her son. We therefore find in the Per-Neser the goddess in her role as mother and the solar god as son. In short, the goddess of the Per-Neser can be represented as follows: she is the dangerous uraeus, destroying the enemies of the gods and protecting the solar god of whom she is the eye, the daughter and mother. She thus becomes a solar goddess in the likeness of her father, residing on the horizon. The most important peculiarity of the goddess of the Per-Neser is, however, the aspect of her character: dangerous goddess as a fire-breathing uraeus (Nesert / Wadjet) and the appeased goddess who protects her father (Neheret). The decoration of the Per-Neser places the two aspects of the goddess in constant dialectic because the shrine's ritual aims to maintain a fragile balance between the distinctive aspect that risks overflowing dangerously, and the peaceful aspect that would prevent the goddess from carrying out her task. The act of appeasing then serves as a counterbalance to the numerous mentions of massacring, in order to achieve a balance between the two aspects of the goddess. Thus, the shrine serves to unite the goddess with the horizon disc. The rite of union with the disc being performed under the first rays of the sun, the horizon must necessarily be the eastern horizon.

Door to the Throne of Ra (Plan No. 20) Entrance to the Shrine of the Throne of Ra (Plan No. 20) is from within the Shrine of Fire (Plan No. 19). The message on the door lintel is clear: the Sanctuary of the Throne of Ra is dedicated to Horus, a solar deity, who rises on the horizon, the place of his triumph, thus bringing life to living beings. The Sanctuary of the Throne of Ra is defined as the birthplace of the god. The growth of vegetation results from the appearance of the solar god, whose birth means life for plants. This event takes place in the East, at sunrise; the triumph is evoked by the birth of vegetation. The choice of the sign of a woman giving birth to the place of appearance of the sun clearly shows that the appearance of Ra is also a birth. Just as your mother gives you life, so the solar god transmits this life to plants. The second column on the right has the epithets of Horus, the one on the left has those of Hathor. Horus appears in his form as one who sits on the great throne who reigns over heaven, earth and the gods. The king, as the image of Ra, assumes exactly the same functions as Horus. The thickness of the door mullions indicate that Ra and Hathor share the shrine we will enter.

Shrine of the Throne of Ra (Plan No. 20) The Throne of Ra is a solar shrine that must guarantee the cycle of the falcon god who resides there. In short, the Throne of Ra complex is dedicated to the sun god. It symbolizes the presence of Edfu in Dendera and is the reason why the Throne of Ra is the place where Horus unites with his eye Hathor who is very present in this complex, on the one hand as a dangerous goddess, on the other as the personification of the two eyes of the solar god. The union between these two deities guarantees the continuity of the solar cycle, which is the main theme of the shrine.

West wall of the Throne of Ra (Plan No. 20) The back wall of the Throne of Ra is the western wall. In the two scenes below, the king offers Maat to Hathor and Horus in the south (scene on the left side) and Isis and Harsontu in the north (scene on the right side): Recitation of the king: «Take for yourself Maat, Maat, the great, lady of Iunet. You are Maat in such a way that you rest in her. You rejoice in her, eye of Ra, because your heart rejoices to see her.» Hathor: «I give you Maat on earth during your kingship, so I magnify your prestige in the world.» Horus: «I grant you that Maat will come into existence upon the earth in the time of your ka, that you may appease the gods with what they love.» Maat's offerings give the massacre of enemies a "legal" justification. The king, as the son of Thoth, is the guarantor of the laws of Maat. By his power he can distinguish good from evil, that is, perform the functions of judge. Thus, he is rightly the one who massacres the isiftyou in the world. These isiftyou, who transgress the laws of Maat, are the "earthly" pendants of the "mythical" enemies of the deities, whose destruction is described in the early records of the sidewalls. As a reward, the king receives the role of his father, and a kingdom founded in Maat. The goddess, as for her, is the personification of Maat, daughter of Ra. Her words are laws. She guides the gods with her precepts that cannot be circumvented. Being the first of the ancestors, she is the creator goddess, who founded the earth with good things. Having taken possession by her terror, she reigns as Geb's daughter and administers the country as a vizier. The terror she imposes reminds us that she is the uraeus in her father's head, protector of the sun god. Thus, as for the king, justice, aggression and power jostle to establish Maat and guarantee the solar cycle. The father is personified by Horus and Harsontus, identified with Ra. Horakhty of Edfu, the winged beetle that travels the sky in his barque. He is the creator who appears every day to behold his creation and rejoice in seeing that Maat is accomplished. In the two middle scenes, the king offers the breastplate to Hathor and Horus in the south (scene on the left side) and to Hathor and Harsontus in the north (scene on the right side): While the king clothes his mother, provides for his lady, and protects the eye of Ra, he is like one who is in the south of his wall, protecting her body, ornamenting the breast of his lady of Iunet. The breastplate is first of all considered as a jewel, created by a craftsman, and worn by the goddess. The king is therefore identified with Tatjenen or Ptah. In the two scenes above, the king offers the heh to Hathor and Horus in the south (scene on the left side) and offers the wsh necklace to Isis and Harsontus in the north (scene on the right side): Ihy, the great son of Hathor: «I shake the sistrum for your beautiful face.» The king of Upper and Lower Egypt, son of Ra. Recitation: «I come to you, child, daughter of Ra, of numerous transformations, to the head of the goddesses, to bring to you the hehou, rejoice in their bodies. You unite with the pleasant breath that is in him, because you are the great one who has no equal, whose father rejoices to see her.» Recitation by Hathor, the great, lady of Iunet, eye of Ra, lady of heaven, mistress of all gods, who lifts her father to heaven with her two arms, whose place is sacred in the quest of the millions. The goddess is simultaneously the guarantor of the rising of the sun, and the companion of Ra on his barque.

Climbing the West Staircase (Plan No. 26) to the roof Anointed and adorned, the statue followed by its procession takes the western staircase (Plan No. 26). Custom dictates that one climbs this one which is winding (110 steps) to descend by the eastern staircase (97 steps). At Edfu, the procession which decorates the walls of the staircases respects this custom; at Dendera, on the other hand, the two staircases stage the ascending procession and the descending procession. The four walls of these two staircases thus represent the same 56 characters. At each landing, the long hieroglyphic texts describe the ceremonies. At the head of the descending procession (south wall), the king, who holds the emblem of Dendera, is followed by thirteen standard-bearers; the priest master of ceremonies follows them, carrying the gold tablet "engraved with formulas concerning the divine ritual in order to recite the festive formulas for Hathor." A theory of genies carrying food similar to those of the court and various hierarchically ordered priests then follow (on the sixth level the goldsmiths' workshop opens, see the description below). Finally, priests carry the divine tabernacles hung around the neck and supported by a strap; the first resting place, the most sumptuous, that of Hathor, is carried by four priests at the front and four at the back whose superimposed profiles can be seen. The other receptacles, probably smaller, are carried by a single man: they contain other statues, of Hathor, Horus, Harsomtus and, finally, Osiris and Isis. The pleated royal mantle, the finely worked loincloths of the priests and the sandals with wide straps are all details that make the procession a very lively picture. On each floor, two windows that sparingly light the passage reproduce some elements of the sky: the rays of the sun are engraved on the lower part of the wall; on each side, we see the image of the sun and the moon or the wind.

Temple of Hathor Roof Plan Plan Legend: C1. Shrine 1 - East side C2. Shrine 2 - East side C3. Shrine 3 - East side C4. Shrine 4 - West side C5. Shrine 5 - West side C6. Shrine 6 - West side C7. West Staircase to the roof (Plan No. 26) C8. Court C9. Hathoric Kiosk C10. East Straircase to the roof (Plan No. 27) C11. On the lower level is the Small Hypostyle Hall / Hall of Offerings (Plan No. 2) C12. On the lower level is the First Antechamber / Offering Hall (Plan No. 9) C13. On the lower level is the Second Antechamber / Hall of the Ennead / Vestibule (Plan No. 10) C14. On the lower level is the Holy of Holies / Great Seat (Central Shrine) / Main Sanctuary (Plan No. 11)

Court (Plan No. C8)

Hathoric Kiosk (Plan No. C9) The morning was drawing to a close, it seems, when the procession, having reached the terrace, reached the kiosk located in the southwest corner. This small, uncovered building is composed of twelve columns with Hathoric capitals (some, in the southwest, have been restored) connected four by four by wall-bahuts. The tabernacles were placed inside the kiosk covered with a velum (we can still see the fixing notches at the top of the walls). The divinities - those who appeared in the staircase - are represented on the walls inside their portable shrine. When the sun's rays had the desired orientation, the velum was pulled - and perhaps the veils that closed the intercolumn - and the statues taken out of their tabernacle were flooded with sunlight: they thus united with the rays of the creator, and the immaterial divine soul rejoined its earthly support. In the central scene of the south wall, Hathor receives the homage of two kings (symbolizing the two parts of the country); the statue, taken out of its tabernacle, has just been "reactivated". The painting is located on the north-south axis of the temple; however, the axis of the kiosk itself is east-west like that of certain radiating shrines. It is thus towards the west that the king heads to join the two Hathors leaning against each other. It is also in the middle of this same west wall, on the outside, that a head of the goddess appears. Finally, on the wall that borders the terrace, behind the kiosk, Hathor, standing in line with the door located to the east, receives the enthronement embrace of Ra-Horakhty (with a falcon's head) of Heliopolis and Ptah of Memphis. This arrangement of the scenes prompts one to wonder whether the procession did not take the eastern staircase when going up, as might also be suggested by the location on the eastern exterior wall of the kiosk of two offering paintings presenting fabrics, bracelets, makeup bags and various foods; the painting on the left is particularly magnificent. On each of the twelve columns, a hippopotamus goddess, symbolizing a month of the year, shakes a sistrum; the first season frames the central scene on the west wall. Since Egyptian months were only thirty days long, five so-called epagomenal days were used to complete the year; these are represented on the south-east columns by the gods supposed to have been born on each of these days, Osiris, Horus, Isis and Nephthys (the last god is Seth, but since he is loathed by Horus and Osiris, as the latter's murderer, he is omitted and replaced by an anonymous festival). Hymns to the personified year are reproduced on the exterior, on the lower halves of the southern columns. The New Year's celebration immediately followed the night of Ra (the last of the year) during which evil powers sought to prevent the life cycle from repeating itself. Consequently, a multitude of genies protected the kiosk; represented on the western and southern exterior walls, they guaranteed the corner of the kiosk against external aggression. At the end of the ceremonies, the statues in their tabernacle returned to their shrine, charged with energy for a new one-year cycle.

Going around the terrace Going around the terrace from the south to reach the shrines of Osiris located to the east, we notice on the surfaces of the walls forming parapets “false doors”; they correspond to the locations of the gargoyles. These lions, placed on the exterior face, which spit the water of the storm (manifestation of Seth), prevent the rare rains loaded with sand from running down the walls and dirtying the inscriptions.

Entering the Osirian shrines (Plan No. C1 - C6) Three shrines on the east and three on the west are on the roof of the building; they furnish the most interesting scenes in the temple. Unlike the divine shrines, the complete understanding of which requires an initiation into the subtleties of Egyptian religion, the Osirian shrines can be explained as a whole in themselves. According to legend, Osiris was assassinated by his brother Seth, jealous of his popularity and power. Seth and his acolytes placed the body in a chest, threw it into the sea, and it ran aground in Phoenicia. Isis collected it and kept it safe for a while, but Seth found it again and cut the remains into fourteen pieces, which he scattered throughout the country. Isis then undertook a great quest, gathered the body together, and, to deceive Seth, carried out mock burials everywhere. Thanks to the good care of Thoth the magician and Anubis the embalmer, Osiris was reborn to eternal life and his son Horus avenged him and succeeded him on earth. What emerged from the story was the pressing need to protect the corpse and prepare it for resurrection. This will be the symbolic function of the Osirian shrines that must have existed, if not throughout the country, at least in the most important holy places (there are some in particular at Philae and in the temple of Hibis of Kharga). The "mysteries" of Osiris took place during the fourth month of the year, that of Khoiak (mid-October / mid-November), when the flood waters receded and the crops began to germinate. Plant figurines were then fashioned that served as divine simulacra. The shrines, with a purely ritual function, bear a "generic" name of Memphite origin which is the same everywhere in Egypt. The "dwelling of gold" was first a part of the temple of Memphis, then the term was applied to the place where mummies were prepared, to the place where statues were made (hence the name goldsmiths' workshop) and finally, by extension, to the burial chamber of a tomb. The Osirian shrines are both the image of the first temple of Sokaris in Memphis and the place where the statuettes are fashioned, where they are prepared for eternal life and where they are buried for a period of one year. Other names are also used: the eastern shrines are grouped under that of "house of life of the simulacra" (the statuettes are made to "live" there). The western group is called the "house of Isis-Chentayt" and it is there - still according to the texts - that the work is completed.

Shrine 1 - East side (Plan No. C1) The long text, which covers the west, south and east walls (reading order) in 159 columns, gives details of the various ceremonies that took place from the 12th to the 30th of the month of Khoiak. This account, which is much earlier than the date on which the Dendera copy was engraved, is however only known in its entirety through the latter. It is composed of seven treatises beginning with the formula «Know the mystery of…». The first three explain how the statues of the god are made; the fourth lists the gods who participate in these mysteries. The fifth, the longest (one third of the inscription), describes the various objects used during the ceremonies. The sixth sets the calendar and the last, finally, summarizes in a somewhat disordered manner the main part of the action. The making of Osiris statuettes from cereals constitutes the main act of the ritual. The two halves of a mold bearing the image of the god were filled with barley that was made to germinate. On the west wall of the courtyard, the gold receptacle, placed in a schist vat, is represented with material indications: one cubit long (or 52.5 cm, 26.6 in) for the mold, three palms three fingers (28.2 cm, 11.1 in) deep for the vat. On the upper edge of the latter, the shoots symbolize the growing barley. Finally, the line of hieroglyphs (above the representation) which is read from right to left gives the following information: «Garden vat of Chentayt; length: one cubit, two palms; width: one cubit, two palms». The figurine was placed in the basin at the beginning of the mysteries, on the 12th of Khoiak; then it was watered every day until the 21st of the same month. To collect the waters consecrated by the divine contact and which flowed through a central orifice, a granite tank was placed under the basin. This was closed with a wooden lid; effigies of Nekhbet and Wadjet, placed in the basin, protected the "mysterious work". At the end of the germination, on the 21st of Khoiak, the statue was dried in the sun, then anointed and adorned before being buried in Shrine 4 (Plan No. C4). A simulacrum of Sokaris received similar treatment. At the end of the festivals, the new idols being finished, those of the previous year were buried in the necropolis. These simulacra were placed in small sarcophagi; examples of this can be seen in the Cairo Museum. Abundant and diverse equipment was used: molds, chests, barques, a plow for growing barley and small wooden huts (1.50 m by 1 m, 5 ft by 3.3 ft) where the statuettes were placed on a bed. Molds of these "vegetating Osirises" have been found in private and royal tombs, such as that of Tutankhamun (molds can be seen on display in the Cairo Museum). The decoration of the base of the courtyard begins from the outside of it. At the head, the king opens the march to the priests of the nomes of Lower Egypt (west side) and Upper Egypt (east side). The priests, whose titles are indicated, carry the insignia of their city; thus, on the south wall inside the courtyard, seven human heads illustrate the city of Abydos (the head of the god was the relic of the city, moreover the head which has seven orifices can designate the number seven which corresponds to the number of heads stuck on poles). In the passage of the gate (west side), an officiant wearing a dog-head mask played the role of Anubis, helped by a colleague who guided him. All these priests represent priestly Egypt; perhaps they really traveled to attend the departure of the divine barque in certain cities, on the 26th of the month of Khoiak: they precede the divine skiffs engraved on the base of the gate that gives access to Shrine 2 (Plan No. C2). Before the procession set off, an animal sacrifice was performed. On the east wall, animals symbolizing Seth are dismembered. In the lower register, a red bull is depicted seen from the front, its legs folded, while the two sisters, Isis and Nephthys, hold it chained. In the upper register, a donkey is skewered by the king, while the pieces are offered to Osiris.

Shrine 2 - East side (Plan No. C2) The figurines of Osiris and Sokaris were probably made in this covered room, as perhaps attested by the paintings placed on each side of the doorposts, on the north wall. The fashioning gods Khnum and Ptah are seated on a bed. The goddess who faces them is preparing to take from the containers the seeds needed to make the simulacra; the scales will allow the proportions of the barley to be respected. This goddess is the one who «exalts the barley by her work and, from dusk to dawn, transubstantiates the barley placed as it should be in the dwelling of gold». The word used to write orge is distinguished from the word "gold" only by the determinative, for cereals, for the precious material; beyond the seductive paronomasia, the learned editors perhaps wanted to poetically bring together the color of the metal and that of wheat (or barley). The goddess is called Chentayt; she is an avatar of Isis used almost exclusively for the mysteries. Her role ("to make the garden-vat green in due time each year") is so important that she gave her name to these shrines. This scene and its counterpart on the west side also reproduce what happened in the two holy cities of Osiris, Abydos (to the east) and Busiris (to the west), represented by the local Osiris. Before the god advance the genies carrying the barley, water and ointments necessary for the "mysterious work". Then, on each side, gods arrive carrying vases whose stoppers are in the image of the divinity of each nome; they flock from all over the country (Upper Egypt to the east and Delta to the west) to bring the purifying water of the whole country. Chentayt carries out his work during the night, a dangerous period since it releases the forces of evil. Also, at the top of this register, seventy-seven divinities stand guard. These emanations of the warrior god of Pharbaitos in the Delta are distributed on the walls in small boxes and increase tenfold by their number the magical virtues of the number seven; they defend the holy places "from darkness until dawn", and particularly during the transubstantiation mentioned above. The gods placed above are from all of Egypt and distributed according to the rule (Upper Egypt to the east, Lower Egypt to the west); the aedicule placed in front of them contains the sacred relic that they protect in their city of origin as well as in Dendera itself. These two groups of divine entities, Osirian guard par excellence, are found in the shrine of Sokaris at Edfu; the seventy-seven gods of Pharbaitos also frame the door of the Sokarian shrine of Dendera. The upper register presents a series of small scenes describing the rites performed at each hour of the day and night. The hours of the night are located to the east on the walls and on the window frames; those of the day to the west. Shrine 2 owes its fame to the circular zodiac that adorns the western half of the ceiling. The original was removed by an antique dealer with the permission of Mehemet Aly and resold to the French government in 1823; it is currently on display at the Louvre Museum. The existing cast was donated by France and installed in 1920 by the French architect E. Baraize, who is responsible for fine restorations in Deridera and throughout Egypt. If it is not the only circular zodiac in Egypt, it is at least the most beautiful, the most complete and the best known. The celestial vault is supported by the four pillar goddesses of the sky. At the outer edge, the thirty-six decans form a belt; the inner circle is reserved for the northern constellations such as the Great Bear. In the intermediate space we see the planets, the southern constellations and the zodiacal signs. The celestial vault is represented by the goddess Nut, on the one hand lying in the middle of the room (as on the inner part of the lid of certain sarcophagi) and, on the other hand, framing the sky in the position already observed in the webet. The solar barques are arranged in six rows and two by two. The first (near Nut's belly) represents the passage of the star from the last hour of the night to the first hour of the day, while the thirteenth barque (at the feet of the goddess) shows the transition from day to night.

Shrine 3 - East side (Plan No. C3) This shrine offers the Egyptologist a swarm of rare divinities and texts rich in both theological and philological content. The central scene represents the end of the operations begun in the first rooms. The courtyard basin is here provided with its lid with, at the corners, the four vultures and the four uraeus prescribed by the ritual. Inside is engraved an invocation to Osiris, of which here are extracts: «O Osiris, your mother Nut is pregnant with you, she protects your embryo inside her belly, she makes your bones grow, she keeps your flesh firm, she makes your skin live on your flesh, she dilates your vessels for your blood, she nourishes you in the mold on earth as she gave birth to you in Thebes.» According to legend, it is thanks to his mother that Osiris was able to be reborn (also thanks to Thoth and Anubis, according to other traditions). The latter, symbol of the vault of the sky, is also assimilated to the sarcophagus in which the mummy rests; as a result, she confers a celestial character on the god of the dead. Above the lid stands Harendotes, a god whose name means "Horus, avenger of his father"; he is the heir of Osiris, the conqueror of Seth. On each side, the two sisters are in the attitude of mourners. Above, Hathor kneels, holding on her knees, on one side Sokaris, on the other Osiris; the feet of the divine bodies rest on a head of Hathor, symbol of the temple. Processions of divinities culminate in this essential scene: on the east wall, in the second register, eight goddesses hold clappers with serpent heads; these ivory objects (examples of which can be seen in the Cairo Museum) produced a dull noise that fittingly accompanied the lamentations. On the same register, in the south-east corner, a chest is as if incised into the wall; it is the "mysterious chest of Osiris" in which the head of the god was kept; the reliquary, which the chest perhaps contained, is depicted in the opposite (south-west) corner. In the third register, the stages of the awakening of Osiris according to the tradition of various cities are represented; thus, the last scene of the south wall, east side, shows the god (resurrected with scepter and crown) who illustrates the city of Dendera. The central scene of the last register of the north wall depicts the triumph of Osiris at Abydos and Busiris: the god is given the emblems of his power. The various barques represented in this register perhaps evoke the navigation that took place on 22 Khoiak on the sacred lake. Thirty-four barques carrying various divinities as well as 365 lamps made up the nautical procession. The ceiling decoration is hardly discernible without powerful and frilling lighting. To the east, the goddess Nut, in the same position as in the previous room, gives birth to the sun. On the register placed near her head, stand Orion and Sirius-Sothis, the divine cow; the other three registers bear the first half of the decans. On the west side, the first register, placed to the south (near the door), presents fourteen divinities who symbolize the fourteen days of the ascending phase of the moon; the next two registers give the other half of the decans and the five planets. The fourth register describes the journey of the full moon symbolized by the wedjat-eye. Finally, the last two registers are devoted to the northern constellations, the Great Bear being the closest to the north. The decoration of the frieze presents fourteen images of the wedjat-eye placed in a horizon, symbol of the temple on earth. The opening in the ceiling in the center of the room allows it to receive the sun's rays. In the thickness of this opening, the four representations of Osiris lying on his bed are directly irradiated; it is said that the solar rays unite with his mummy. Ra, the daytime sun, thus participates in the resurrection of the nocturnal sun that is Osiris.

Leaving the east shrines (Plan No. C1-C3) towards the west shrines (Plan No. C4-C6) To reach the western shrines, one goes around the lower terrace, as the divine barques did during the procession of 26 Khoiak, then, passing the kiosk of Hathor, one reaches the western courtyard of the Osirian shrines. The logical order of the scenes, however, requires continuing to the shrine at the back, Shrine 4 (Plan No. C4), to study it before Shrine 5 (Plan No. C5) and the courtyard (Plan No. C6).

Shrine 4 - West side (Plan No. C4) The central scenes illustrate the preparation of the body of Osiris. Anubis performs his task as embalmer while Thoth recites the magic formulas. Isis and Nephthys are lamenting. The text concerning one of them is evocative: «Her eyelids are burned with tears and her eyes filled with tears.» The ceremonies represented took place on the 23rd of the month of Khoiak; when the divine simulacra had dried in the sun, they were anointed, covered with bandages and decorated with amulets. The ceremony thus continues without any break in continuity from the point where it had been conducted in the eastern Shrine 3 (Plan No. C3). The bearers of ointments and fabrics flank the central scenes of the first register. At the end of the procession, on the southern wall, the king, arm raised, consecrates four chests containing light red, dark red, green and white fabrics. The text of the Khoiak ritual engraved in the eastern courtyard (Shrine 1) clearly indicates the 23rd of the month of Khoiak for this ceremony. In the upper register, we witness the different phases of Osiris' awakening. Thus, on the west wall, Osiris raises his hand to his head as a sign of awakening. Protective amulets were slipped between the mummy's bandages; they appear on the doorway. The line of text placed above specifies that these are «the 104 phylacteries of gold and all precious stones that are carried in the abode of gold for the protection of this venerable god on his beautiful feast of the burial of his mummy». The treasure, placed just below, reinforced the magical influx of the amulets. Fourteen is the number of chests that contain the sacred relics; they are recognized above the protective amulets. The king announces in his speech that he is heading towards the four cardinal points in order to seek the relics of the god; he thus assimilates himself to the son of Osiris who faces him in the scene. The ceiling of the room, different from those of the eastern shrines, presents, on the western part, three nested bodies of Nut, perhaps like the three successive shrines. The body of Nut is also present on the eastern half. In the space it circumscribes, we can see a staircase on the steps of which sit the fourteen gods of the ascending phase of the moon, to whom the fourteen pieces of the body of Osiris are assimilated.

Shrine 5 - West side (Plan No. C5) The new simulacra of Osiris and Sokaris, definitively prepared on 23 Khoiak, were most probably placed on the 24th in Shrine 4 (Plan No. C4), the "upper tomb". At the same time, we learn from the inscriptions on the frieze band of Shrine 5 (Plan No. C5), the figurines from the previous year were stripped of their bandages and placed inside a wooden receptacle in the same shrine. The niches on the east and west walls perhaps housed them temporarily until the burial which took place in the necropolis on 30 Khoiak. The various chapters of the Book of the Dead reproduced in Shrine 5 (Plan No. C5) describe the sacred domain of Osiris that every dead person had to know in order to access paradise, the "field of the Ialu" in Egyptian. Thus, the twenty-one access porches are guarded by gods armed with knives (north-west corner, second register); the seven doors of the domain and their guardians adorn the eastern niche. Finally, the fourteen mounds of the sacred necropolis symbolized by genies, the territory proper of Osiris, are represented in the upper register of the north wall, that is to say as close as possible to Shrine 4 (Plan No. C4), the tomb of the god. These chapters 144, 145, 146, 147 and 149 constitute a veritable sacred geography of the other world. It is the guardians of the seven doors who guard the doors of the gilded wooden shrines of Tutankhamun. His mummified body was protected by three sarcophagi placed in a tank itself enclosed in four gilded wooden shrines; these nested receptacles correspond to the succession of Osiris shrines on the terrace of Dendera. The god dies at night to be reborn at dawn, and it is at night that the plant figurines are made. The moment is too formidable for the actors of the sacred drama to be left without protection; a god is appointed to guard each nocturnal hour represented by a star; on the interior west and east jambs of the door, the guardians of the fifth and sixth hours are the counterparts of those of the eleventh and twelfth. The protective cordon runs from the west embrasure of the west window to the east embrasure of the east window. Other guardians watch over the sacred body; thus, in the south-east corner, in the upper register, gods holding hands symbolize the "seven arrows of Sekhmet" by which the fearsome daughter of Ra can unleash epidemics and bring death. The ceiling represents the goddess Nut who illuminates with her rays the earth symbolized by the god Geb performing a sort of somersault.

Shrine 6 - West side (Plan No. C6) This courtyard sees the culmination of the festivals of the month of Khoiak; the divine barques represented in the eastern courtyard were led in procession by the priestly body of all Egypt, went around the terrace, passed through the Hathoric kiosk and arrived in this courtyard. Thanks to this race, which took place at dawn on the 26th of Khoiak, the god of the dead (a mummified falcon) was regenerated by the rays of the sun and was reborn as a falcon ready to take flight. This ancient festival was originally celebrated in Memphis; Sokaris toured the city walls, as recalled by the painting that adorns the western embrasure of the door leading to Shrine 5 (Plan No. C5): the king pulls Sokaris's barque, and the titles placed next to his cartouche indicate that he is the «sem-priest who makes a procession around Memphis». The opposite scene reproduces the massacre of the red bull (the red or russet color characterizes evil beings and particularly Seth, who can take the form of a hippopotamus, a donkey or a red dog; the bewitchment figurines in the image of this god of evil were made of red wax). The butcher cuts up the beast (the head is depicted in front of Nephthys' face) while Isis plays the tambourine; the two goddesses chant the story of Seth's killing. This ceremony is the essential prerequisite for the release of the divine barque, the safeguard of which is also ensured - according to chapter 144 of the Book of the Dead - by offering the pieces of the red bull to the guardians of the seven gates. The ritual of "protection of the divine barque", one of the many Osirian books, is reproduced on the south wall of the courtyard. Thoth on the left holds in his hand the papyrus scroll on which the text is engraved; it is arranged as if the entire papyrus were unrolled. The beginning (top right) begins with the words «Book of protection of the god's barque». This text, in which only the conjuration of Seth and his acolytes is mentioned, was recited during the transport of the body of Osiris to the necropolis of Abydos. Here, it protects both the journey of the simulacrum and the Sokarian procession of the 26th Khoiak. During the procession, Osiris and Sokaris were invoked by litanies while a large food sacrifice was performed, illustrated by the dismemberment of the red bull. The columns of hieroglyphs that adorn the side walls give the details of these litanies: the aim was to invoke Osiris in all the cities of Lower Egypt on the west side and, on the east, to exalt him in those of Upper Egypt. The same type of text is engraved on the uprights of the chamber of Sokaris inside the temple. For each nome in which the god is supposed to reside, the formula «If you are in such a place, (then)…» is used. It is thus said of the first nome of Lower Egypt: «If you are in Memphis, in the abode of gold, (then) the abode of embalming of the temple of Sokaris is consecrated to your mummy while your son - the priest-sem - separates your mouth from your bones and purifies your statue with water.» The small scenes, located at the bottom of these texts, present on one side Osiris of Busiris and, on the other, Osiris of Abydos, placed on beds and protected by the two sisters, Isis and Nephthys. All the gods of Egypt, on the foundations, pay homage to the god of the dead. The procession of the west wall is interrupted, in its middle, by a Nile-god; he makes a libation just above the opening which allows the rainwater to drain away. The cosmic dimension is not forgotten; on the lintel of the door (upper part of the north wall), a scene shows the full moon assimilated to Osiris. In the centre, in a barque, Thoth and Shu hold a disk in which the udjat-eye appears; they watch over the lunar cycle and prevent the star from sinking. It is the ascending phase of the latter that is represented; on either side of the barque, fourteen gods bring a vase and a tree branch; the container symbolises the precious stone that will complete the eye, the plant element is one of the components of the pupil (the correspondences that unite stars, stones and plants fascinated late Antiquity; among the Egyptians, as among the Greeks and later the Arabs, they were generally based on the external appearance, in particular the colour). The three gods with jackal heads, on the left, watch over the star of the night.

Exiting the roof via the East Staircase (Plan No. C10) The eastern staircase, by which one descends, follows a gentle slope; the ceiling is crossed in its middle by a column which allowed the waters of the roof to be directed towards a gargoyle. This block of granite in the name of Amenemhat testifies to the reuse of blocks belonging to a building constructed under a pharaoh of the 10th dynasty, nearly two thousand years before. The same decoration as that of the western staircase adorns the walls, on the right the ascending procession crosses the descending procession of the western wall.

Leaving the Temple of Hathor

Leaving the Courtyard (Plan No. K)

Leaving the Monumental Gate (Plan No. B)

One last look at the Temple of Hathor

The gates of the Monumental Gate are already closing

Sunset at Dendera

See also

• Temple of Seti I

---

Sources

• Dendera Temple complex - Wikipedia
• Le temple de Dendera by Sylvie Cauville

---

Location