Dendera ⲛⲓⲧⲛⲧⲱⲣⲉ ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ دندرة | |
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     Clockwise from top: Entrance to Dendara Temple, Dendara Temple Complex, Inside Hathor Temple, Hathor Temple Complex | |
  Dendera Location in Egypt | |
| Coordinates:26°10′05″N32°39′22″E / 26.16806°N 32.65611°E /26.16806; 32.65611 | |
| Country |  Egypt |
| Governorate | Qena |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EST) |
Dendera (Arabic:دَنْدَرةDandarah;Ancient Greek:Τεντυρις or Τεντυρα;BohairicCoptic:ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ,romanized: Nitentōri; SahidicCoptic:ⲛⲓⲧⲛⲧⲱⲣⲉ,romanized: Nitntōre),[1][2] also spelledDenderah, ancientIunet 𓉺𓈖𓏏𓊖 “jwn.t”,[3]Tentyris[4][5],(Arabic: Ewan-t إيوان-ة ),[6] orTentyra[7] is a small town and former bishopric inEgypt situated on the west bank of theNile, about 5 kilometres (3 mi) south ofQena, on the opposite side of the river. It is located approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) north ofLuxor and remains a Latin Catholictitular see. It contains theDendera Temple complex, one of the best-preserved temple sites from ancientUpper Egypt.
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| jwnt[8] inhieroglyphs | ||||
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| Era:Old Kingdom (2686–2181 BC) | ||||
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| t3 n t3 rr(t)[1][9] inhieroglyphs | ||||||||
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| Era:Ptolemaic dynasty (305–30 BC) | ||||||||
The original name of the town isAncient Egyptian:ı͗wnt, the etymology of which is unknown. It was later complemented by the name of the chief goddessHathor and became EgyptianAncient Egyptian:ı͗wnt-tꜣ-ntrt,lit. 'ı͗wnt of the goddess' which is the source ofCoptic:ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ,romanized: Nitentōri or justtꜣ-ntrt "of the goddess", which is the source ofKoinē Greek:Τεντυρις. The modernArabic name of the town comes from either its Greek or Coptic name.[10]
There is also an aberrant Coptic formⲛⲓⲕⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ, which could be either dissimilation of a regular name or a confusion with KoineΚένταυροι.[11][12]
TheDendera Temple complex, which contains theTemple of Hathor, is one of the best-preserved temples, if not the best-preserved one, in all of Upper Egypt. The whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick wall. The present Temple of Hathor dates back to July 54 BC, at the time ofPtolemy XII of thePtolemaic dynasty,[13] and was completed by theRoman emperorTiberius, but it rests on the foundations of earlier buildings dating back at least as far asKhufu (known as the Great Pyramid builder Cheops, the secondPharaoh of the 4th dynasty [c. 2613–c. 2494 BC]) but it was the pharaohPepi I Meryre who built the temple.[13][14]
It was once home to the celebratedDendera zodiac, which is now displayed in theLouvre Museum in Paris. There are also Roman and pharaonicMammisi (birth houses), ruins of a Coptic church and a small chapel dedicated toIsis, dating to theRoman or thePtolemaic epoch.
In the vicinity of the temple complex a bakery dated to the First Intermediate Period was discovered by the French-Polish expedition from theInstitut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO) and thePolish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw. Bread offered to Hathor was baked here.[15] The team also excavated the so-called Eastern Temple in this area.[16]
The area around the temple has been extensively landscaped and now has a modern visitor centre, bazaar and small cafeteria.
After Egypt became a Roman possession, the city of Tentyris was part of the LateRoman province ofThebais Secunda. Itsbishopric was a suffragan ofPtolemais Hermiou, the capital andmetropolitan see of the province. Little is known of the history of Christianity in the place, as only the names of two ancient bishops are given:
The town was given its present Arabic name of Denderah during the lateOttoman Empire and ruled 6000 inhabitants in Qena (Qeneh) district.
Under the Latin nameTentyris, the episcopal see was nominally revived as atitular bishopric (in Curiate Italian repeatedly renamed) since 1902, but is vacant since 1972,[17] having had the following incumbents of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank :
This area has a large amount of sunshine year round due to its stable descending air and high pressure. According to theKöppen climate classification system, Dendera has ahot desert climate, abbreviated "BWh" on climate maps.[18]
![Ptolemy XII before Hathor and Philae, at the Hathor Temple, Dendera, which he built in 54 BC.[13][19]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aPtolemy_before_Hathor%2c_Philae.jpg)
![Ptolemy XII before Isis and Osiris, at the Hathor Temple, Dendera.[13][20]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aPtolemy_before_Isis_%2526_Osiris%2c_Dendera_Temple.jpg)
![Emperor Trajan as a Pharaoh making an offering to the Gods, in Dendera.[21]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aEmperor_Trajan%2c_Dendera.jpg)
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Tentyris".Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.| International | |
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