Dendera
Dendera is an archaeological locality in Egypt just outside the
town of Qena (62 km north of Luxor) in the region of Middle Egypt.
The modern Arab town is built on the ancient site of Ta-ynt-netert which means 'She of the Divine Pillar', or Tentyra which is Greek for Dendera. It was the capital of the sixth nome or province of pharaonic Upper Egypt, also named Nikentori or Nitentori, which signifies willow wood or willow earth. Others give the derivation from the sky and fertility goddess Hathor, also associated with Aphrodite, who was specially worshiped there. The crocodile is recognized as the deity of the city and was also venerated as such in other Egyptian cities, which caused many quarrels, notably with Ombos.
TOUR ATTRACTION: The Dendera Temple complex which
contains the Temple of Hathor is one of the best, if not the best,
preserved temple in all Egypt. The whole complex covers some 40,000
square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick enclosed wall.
The present building dates back to the times of the Ptolemaic dynasty
and was completed by the Roman emperor Tiberius, but it rests on
the foundations of earlier buildings dating back at least as far
as Khufu (pyramid builder Cheops, second king of the 4th dynasty
[c. 2613c. 2494 BC]), in which was found the celebrated zodiac
now in Paris; there are also the temples of Mammisi and of Isis,
of the Roman or Ptolomaic epoch.