Denderah Temple

We awoke early morning to hear the engines start up as we sailed from Luxor to Qena in readiness for our trip to Denderah Temple. A later breakfast today, 8:30am and we had been told that our coach (with others) would have a police escort to Denderah Temple. As we left the boat, there was indeed a much greater security presence than we had seen before, even the traders and hawkers were actively discouraged from pestering the tourists. The boat was moored in a fairly isolated part of the river where it looked like building work was being undertaken to build a proper berth and embarkation point. Once on the coach, all traffic on the roads was stopped as the convoy of coaches crossed the river to make the short journey to Denderah Temple.

Denderah is one of the best preserved temples in Egypt and is dedicated to Hathor, the cow goddess. It still has its sacred lake (now dry !) crypts, roof, chapels, stairways and girdle wall and as we walked around the outer perimeter, the floor is littered with pottery fragments from about the tenth century. As with other temples, many of the engravings had been 'vandalised' but again the all knowledgeable Sam explained all, pointing out the images of Cleopatra .

The Hypostyle Hall at Denderah

This was probably one of the most difficult sites to tour around that we encountered during our trip. The stairways are very narrow and quite dark in places as you make the journey upwards towards the roof. As it was quite busy when we were there, it was a bit uncomfortable trying to get around. However, at ground level, the Hypostyle Hall is supported by twenty four columns with the figure of Hathor at the top of each one. The ceiling is also beautifully decorated and you can see where the priests used to stand when they appeared 'through the wall' to address the rank and file who were of course not allowed to actually enter the temple. A set of iron steps lead down to the crypt where you can see engravings of what appears to be a battery ! Unfortunately, I missed this as there was a long queue trying to enter the crypt down the narrow stairs. Again, insufficient time to see everything.

The Columns of the Hypostyle Hall

This is a photograph of part of the beautifully decorated ceiling inside the Hypostyle Hall. As with Queen Hatshepsut's Temple, the colours are the original and have not been refurbished or touched up in any way. Apparently the black is soot caused by later inhabitants, who did not share the religious beliefs of the original inhabitants, who lived and cooked in the temple. On one of the higher levels is an incredible signs of the zodiac ceiling. However, the 'awe' was tempered a bit when Sam told us that we were looking at a replica, as the original had been removed by a certain Mr Napoleon and was now stored in a museum in France. Around the walls of the upper floors are lots of hieroglyphs which took nearly twenty years to decipher and translate. Throughout the temple you can see scenes of the New Year festival celebrations carved into the walls ... along with graffiti added by Mr Napoleon's soldiers during his expedition to Egypt !!

The roof at Denderah Temple

No it's not a statue of the wife ! This is Bess who could be considered the goddess of 'court jesters'. This statue was in the courtyard of Denderah as apart from being an historical site, Denderah is also used to store other items which are found in the locality until they can be properly sited. So, as we left Denderah, again the vendors were actually physically discouraged from selling to the tourists. As our escorted convoy started to leave the site, the reason for the increased security and devotion to duty became clear ... as the convoy of the General in charge of security in the area entered the site on a tour of inspection !

"Bess" - living at Denderah !