Dendera Temple - dedicated to Hathor, the goddess of love, art, femininity and motherhood.

After an early morning balloon ride and a delicious, specially prepared breakfast, a tailor-made minibus tour takes you to Ken - Dendera Temple. Dendera is located about 5 km from the city of Qena and about 60 km from Luxor, on the west bank of the Nile. In ancient times, the place was called "Eunet ta načeret", which means "the undefeatable land of the goddess", and was for a long time the centre of the cult of the goddess of love Hathor. When the Greeks arrived in Egypt with Alexander the Great, they renamed the city "Tenterya", meaning "sacred column", which in Arabic became "Dendera".

It is believed that a magnificent temple was built at the end of the 1st century BC to worship the goddess Hathor, her husband Horus and her young son Ichi. The Temple of Dendera is one of the latest built and best preserved temples in Egypt. Believed to have been built during the last period of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and rebuilt several times afterwards, it served its purpose for as long as five hundred years. It remained under the sand, virtually untouched, until the end of the 19th century, when it was discovered by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette.

The Temple of Dendera was known in the Ancient Kingdom for its dedication to the goddess Hathor, daughter of the sun god Ra, who was worshipped by the Egyptians as a symbol of love, femininity, motherhood, beauty, fun and dancing. The Egyptian name for the goddess, Heru, meant 'House of Horus'. The Egyptians called her "the golden lady of love", "the mistress of gold". Hathor was also worshipped as the cosmic deity from whom life was born, and Hathor the Merciful - considered the goddess of healing - to whose temple pilgrims suffering from various ailments came to pray. She was worshipped as the celestial cow, and was called the "sky goddess" or "sky cow", who gave birth to the sun. In the form of a cow, the goddess was often depicted carrying the sun between her horns, and later Hathor was depicted as a woman with cow's horns, and sometimes ears, and also carrying a sun disc.

The Dendera temple is built of sandstone, is almost 80 metres long and is enclosed by a high stone wall. The temple complex consists of two hypostyle halls with a total of 24 columns, a sacred lake, two temples in honour of Osiris and one in honour of Isis. The façade of the main temple is truly spectacular, with six massive columns with Hathor's heads and a huge carved ledge with a winged solar disc over the entrance. From there we enter the hypostyle hall, made up of 18 columns bearing Hathor's image and eighteen prophet pillars representing not only the sisters, but also the eternal 'holy columns'.

The goddess Hathor herself was closely linked to the sky in the minds of the ancient Egyptian people. This association can be seen in the ceiling of the first hypostyle hall, which is divided into 7 well-preserved groups: colourful planets, constellations, astronomical figures representing the goddess Nut, vultures, winged solar discs, drawings of the signs of the zodiac, and illustrations of Ra's golden boat at noon and midnight. These representations of the passage of the sun god dragonfly through the twelve hours of the day and the twelve hours of the night have survived to the present day.

The walls are decorated with scenes of Roman emperors looking like pharaohs worshipping the goddess Hathor. From here, a central corridor leads through a small hypostyle hall to the sacred area of the temple. The capitals of the hall's six columns are in the shape of lotus and papyrus blossoms, from which emerges the four-faced Hathor, ruler of the four cardinal points. Behind the second hypostyle hall is the hall of 'sacrifices' and in front of it is the hall of the 'nine' or 'circle of the gods', where the circle of celebrating deities is found. The temple, or 'Set Uret' as the Egyptians called it, was not only the centre of the complex, but also the site of the statue of the deity, where the iconic statue of the goddess Hathor and her sacred boat used to stand. It is like a "temple within a temple". The Dendera shrine is dedicated to the two main aspects of the one feminine divine principle: the eastern part to Hathor and the western part to Isis.

The most precious sacred divine images, symbols and likenesses were kept in crypts in rooms dedicated to them. In the far corner of the Hathor temple, there is a very narrow opening in the floor - an entrance with a staircase leading down to a small room with bas-reliefs and hieroglyphs on the walls. The crypts are accessed through floor hatches and can only be reached by bending halfway down. The space inside is very narrow, 1.12 m wide and 4.6 m long, with low ceilings and a lack of air, which makes it somewhat uncomfortable to walk through. Although I have been to the Dendera Temple more than once, this is the first time I have been to the crypts, due to a fortunate circumstance, and although the rooms are narrow and small, the impression is truly unique.

Fourteen crypts have so far been discovered in Hathor Temple. These crypts were multifunctional, not only storing sacred objects but also special secret rituals.

Dendera has attracted alternative historians, particularly with its images that link it to the Ancient Egyptian version of electricity. The Egyptians had electric light bulbs that illuminated their famous tombs, even where sunlight could not penetrate and no soot from matches remained on the walls or ceiling. The walls of the underground chamber depict human figures with bubble-shaped objects resembling giant light bulbs with snakes writhing inside. And the heads of the tapering snakes are crowned with lotus blossoms, like a cable connected to a box on which a deity kneels.

Researchers have considered many versions of the purpose of the underground chambers of the Hathor Temple: 'temple', 'storage of cult objects', 'library', 'archive'. However, it is illogical to set up something like this in a room that can only be accessed through a narrow opening and to decorate its walls with fantastic and unique reliefs. One of the hypotheses about the purpose of the underground chambers is that they were a mini-electricity plant, and that the images on the walls represent the secret science of electricity, which was only passed on to the initiated, and that it is possible that the ancient Egyptians knew and used electricity. Most of the paintings on the walls of Hathor Temple resemble instructions: what the priests are to do and how to serve the goddess, exactly what to do and in what order, what music to play (there is even a drawing of sheet music). The crypt walls depict cult images of the deities, with precise indications of their dimensions and the materials from which they were made. The instructions are so detailed and comprehensive that the sense of cult disappears and you feel the authenticity of the ancient legend that the temple is home to the goddess Hathor, who is loyal to the two gods Horus and Thoth, and who used the temple as a meeting place for them.

When was the first temple dedicated to Hathor in Dendera built and who and when left the mysterious bas-reliefs on the walls of the crypt? It is still unknown. Egyptologists date the Dendera complex to the Ptolemaic period, but this dating is disputed by alternative historians, who argue that the gods ruled Egypt long before the first rulers (the pharaohs). So perhaps the ancient Egyptian legends are based on real historical events and the Dendera temple is the true home of the goddess Hathor?

Two rooms (chapels) have been preserved on the roof of the Temple of Dendera: the first room has a ceiling that attracts the attention of professional astrologers and people interested in astrology because one of the oldest images of the zodiacal circle, the Zodiac of Dendera, or the Zodiac of Osiris, was found on the ceiling of one of the upper rooms. The site resembles a small planetarium, about three metres in diameter, and provides a brief overview of the Nile Valley's astronomy, astrology, agriculture and calendar-making, depicting all the signs of the Zodiac in the usual sequence (from Aries to Pisces) and the constellations of the Zodiac, with groups of stars connected by imaginary lines to form shapes resembling animals or other representations. It is thought that there may have been a parallel between the constellations and the layout of the Egyptian territorial units, the Nomes.

The ancient Egyptian year consisted of 36 weeks of 10 days and 5 feast days. To measure the year, the entire circle of the Dendera zodiac (360°) is divided into 10 parts of 36.10°. The middle circle of the zodiac figures represents the astrological signs of the zodiac. The outer circle of figures represents the 36 decades of the Egyptian year, i.e. the 10-day weeks. The twelve figures on the outside of the circle represent the 12 months of the year, and their hands represent the 24 hours of the day. And the word "hour" comes from the name of the god Horus, so each of the twelve signs was called one of the "keepers of the hours", and the word "horoscope" also comes from this god. The zodiac is mounted on the ceiling of one of the chapels on the roof of the temple. According to the researchers, it encodes the cyclical processes of the planet, the recurrence of global catastrophes and many other things. The temple now houses only a replica of the Zodiac, the original having been taken out of the country in the 19th century and stored in the Louvre in Paris.

The second chapel (room) contains scenes from the life, death and resurrection of Osiris, the father of Horus.

Many travellers visiting Dendera cannot pass the outer wall of the temple, where the great Egyptian queen Cleopatra is sealed in stone for eternity as she accompanies her son Caesarion to prayer. Here, visited by the Greeks and Romans, later Arabs and Europeans were undoubtedly attracted to this temple of love, purity and wisdom, and drew strength and created legends about the place. Near the temple there is a 'sacred lake' from which water was drawn for ritual ablutions, but unfortunately the lake has since dried up and become overgrown with palm trees. The third legend states that: "At the winter solstice, the 'Stargate' becomes a portal through which divine energy is poured into the Earth, and if you go through the gate at that time, you will be able to purify your energy, your energetic body, improve your health, and receive a powerful charge of positive life force".

It is up to each one of us to believe the legends or doubt their truth, but it is an irrefutable fact that the Dendera Temple is considered to be one of the most powerful energy points in the world, and even if it isn't convincing, a visit to the Dendera Temple will leave you in no doubt.

Our Company was not indifferent when visiting the Dendera Temple, and we usually spend a good hour in this temple, up to a maximum of two. Our group had a great time and even went up to the panoramic platform, spending over 3,5 hours in this temple. When I ask Tom, what are your impressions? After a quiet thought, he replies: -"well, I guess you could say it's one of the top three temples I've seen. Next to Abu Simbel and the Temple of Isis in Aswan".

I visited Dendera for the first time in 2008, but every time I go back the impression is stronger, and we could have spent more time this time, but the sun is coming up and the skin is starting to peel, and secondly, we need to go back to Luxor and continue with the sights that we have seen and have not yet seen.

And if you would like to visit the Dendera Temple, you would need to book a tailor-made tour to Luxor, with a choice of Hurghada or Marsa alam by car or minibus, and Sharm El Sheikh to Luxor by plane, and in Luxor a tailor-made (private) tour of 1 day or better still longer. And if you choose the "Undiscovered Egypt - Lake Nasser: spectacular natural landscapes, temples and fishing" tour, which would include this unique Dendera Temple in the list of attractions as well.