In ancient times, Qift was a major trade center and home to the god Min. In the nineteenth century, it was also home to the Qiftis, archaeological workmen trained by Sir Flinders Petrie to dig Egyptian archaeological sites. Sixtytwo kilometers (37 miles) north lies Qena, thegovernorate capital, and here one crosses a new bridge to the West Bank of the Nile before proceeding another 20 kilometers (12 miles) north to Dandara.
Dandara, the ancient Tantera, called Tentyris by the Greeks, is an extensive site with tombs dating back to the earliest dynasties. It was the capital of Egypt’s sixth nome. Its most famous monument is the Temple of Hathor, enclosed within a great mud brick wall, 280 by 290 meters (910 by 943 feet) and 10 meters (33 feet) thick and 10 meters high. The temple is surrounded by a number of other buildings including a Temple of Isis, Ptolemaic and Roman birth houses, a Coptic church, and a sacred lake. Walk through the grand gateway built by Domitian and Trajan in the first century AD into an open yard, past the Roman birth house andCoptic church on the right.
The Temple of Hathor sits directly in front of you. The Temple of Hathor was begun in the first century BC and work continued from 54 to 20 BC. It was built atop the remains of earlier temples, some of which may date as far back as the Old Kingdom, and others erected by Thutmes III and Rameses II and III. The name of Ptolemy XII is found in the rear part of the temple, the first part to be built in the Ptolemaic Period, but many of the cartouches in wall scenes were left blank, apparently because political instability at the time left the artists unsure whose name should be written. Much of the work, however, was undertaken during the twenty-one-year reign of Cleopatra VII. The similarity in the plans of Dandara and Edfu Temples is not coincidental: the former clearly was copied from the latter, although on a smaller scale, and reflects the close relationship between Hathor (worshipped at Isna) and Horus (worshipped at Edfu) and their cults.
The façade of the temple is impressive: 35 meters (114 feet) wide and 12.5 meters (41 feet) high, with six Hathor-headed columns in the form of musical rattles called sistra, separated by decorated curtain walls and a central doorway. Above, three lines of Greek text, written by Romans in AD 35, proclaim that the temple was “for the Emperor Tiberius Caesar, the new Augustus, son of the divine Augustus, under the prefect Aulus Avillius Flaccus” and others.
VESTIBULE
Inside, eighteen sistra-like columns fill the huge vestibule. Because the temple is so well preserved, with its ceiling still intact, the way in which its chambers are lit is almost exactly as it was in ancient times and the play of light and shade on the columns in the vestibule is a dramatic example of that. Scenes on the left side of the front wall show the emperor wearing the crown of Lower Egypt, as he leaves the palace to perform temple ceremonies. He is being purified by Horus and Thoth and then crowned by several goddesses. These scenes continue on the right wall of the vestibule, where the king lays out the plan of Dandara Temple and dedicates it toHathor.
On the right side of the front wall, the emperor wears the crown of Upper Egypt and is presented by Montu and Atum to Hathor. The many figures of royalty and deities on the columns, where the king presents offerings to the gods, have been vandalized (probably by Christians who occupied the site) but show clearly the slight corpulence or voluptuousness that is a characteristic of human figures in Ptolemaic art.The ceiling is elaborately decorated with astronomical scenes including the sky goddess Nut, signs of the zodiac, and decans. Beyond the vestibule stands a small hypostyle hall with two rows of three columns, called the Hall of Appearances.
Unusually, the columns bases are made of granite, while their drums and capitals are of sandstone. On the walls, the king is shown before figures of Hathor, called here the daughter of Ra, Horus, and the child Ihy, also called Harsomtus. Scenes on the walls in the right half of the hall read counterclockwise from the entrance to the rear door. Like those in the vestibule, they deal with the laying out, building, and dedication of the temple to Hathor. Scenes in the left half of the hall read clockwise from the entrance and show the king presenting the temple to Hathor and Horus.
On the left side of the rear wall, Ptah presents the king to Hathor and Horus and their son, Harsomtus, who is shaking a sistrum in celebration.Six small chambers lie around the hypostyle hall, and their purpose can be determined by the scenes on their walls. In each, the king is making offerings to Hathor: silver ornaments in the first chamber on the right, libations of water in the second chamber; incense in the first chamber on the left, and foodstuffs in the second chamber. The two rear chambers were used for storage of temple paraphernalia. Beyond the hypostyle hall, two antechambers stand one behind the other. The first is called the Hall of Offerings and would have been closed off by a huge double leaf door of wood and metal.
Scenes on its walls show the king offering to the gods of Dandara. On either side of the first antechamber, stairways lead up to the roof of the temple, which we describe below. The second antechamber, the Hall of the Divine Ennead, is surrounded by a series of small rooms that held the clothing and adornment of the gods. The first chamber on the left, for example, is called the Linen Room; that on the right is the Treasury. Walking into the Treasury and turning left takes one into a small court in the rear of which is a staircase leading up to the Pure Chapel, called the wabet. It was here that ceremonies joining Hathor and the sun god were conducted on her birthday and on New Year’s day.
Offerings were made in the small court by priests—these are shown on its walls in remarkable detail—and ceremonies that included processions of gods from Upper Egypt (on the left) and LowerEgypt (on the right) are shown in the wabet. The goddess Nut is depicted on the ceiling.
Return to the second antechamber. Eleven other chambers lie around its perimeter and in the center stands a sanctuary, the Great Seat, in which the barks of Hathor, Horus, Harsomtus, and Isis were kept. This is the most sacred part of the temple, accessible only to the king and high priest, and only on a few days each year.
At the sides of the sanctuary doors the king offers mirrors to Hathor. Inside, he offers incense before her bark, Horus of Edfu, and Harsomtus. The side chambers were used both as chapels for various gods and as storerooms for temple equipment. In the one directly behind the sanctuary, a gilded 2 meter (6 foot) tall statue of Hathor was housed in a recess high up in the rear (south) wall. In the floor of the chamber immediately to the right of the Hathor statue room lies the entrance to one of twelve subterranean crypts. These are of interest because of their architecture, but also because their carved and brightly painted walls are still well preserved and depict the various ritual objects stored inside. In one crypt, the Old Kingdom king Pepy I is shown offering a statuette to Hathor.
THE ROOF
The roof of Dandara Temple is a treasure that must be visited. Take the stairs leading from the first vestibule. The stairs on the left side go straight to the roof; those on the right spiral upward. They are the same steps used by ancient priests in the New Year’s festival, and the walls of the stairwells are decorated with scenes of the priestly processions, ascending the stairs bearing statues of Hathor for the roof-top ceremonies, or descending after the ceremonies were concluded.The roof of the temple is built on several levels, depending on the heightof the chamber below.
In the right rear (southwest) corner stands a small kiosk with twelve Hathorheaded columns around its perimeter. It was built by Ptolemy XII and originally had an unusual vaulted roof made of wood. Toward the front of the temple stand two sanctuaries dedicated to Osiris. Osiris was believed to have been buried at Dandara (among many other places) and celebrations of his death and resurrection were regular events here. The ceiling of one of these sanctuaries was decorated with a beautifully carved oval zodiac. The original was taken to the Louvre in Paris in 1820; a plaster cast has been installed in its place. In an adjacent room, a scene shows Osiris lying on a bed being comforted by Hathor. Isis, in the form of a bird, hovers over him, ready to receive his seed and become pregnant with Horus.
The roofing blocks are crisscrossed with shallow drainage channels designed to capture rain water and direct it to the lion-headed drain spouts placed at intervals at the top of the temple’s outer walls. Directly below each drain spout is a vertical column of magical texts down which the water will run, gaining magical power from its contact with the potent words.
There are spectacular views of the Dandara complex and the surrounding desert and fields from the roof and a few moments should be spent enjoying them before descending.
The outer faces of the temple walls again show the king laying out the plan of the temple, placing its first stones and dedicating them to Hathor.
OUTSIDE THE TEMPLE
On the rear wall, Cleopatra and her son Caesarion stand in two scenes before Hathor and other deities. Behind the temple stands a smalltemple of Isis, built from blocks taken by the Emperor Augustus from earlier buildings on the site. A small but attractive tree-filled sacred lake lies nearby.
Returning to the front of the Temple of Hathor, a large Roman birth-house stands left of the main gate in the enclosure wall. Built in the time of Augustus and decorated under Trajan and Hadrian, it was dedicated to Harsomtus, the son of Hathor and Horus. Scenes inside depict the birth of Harsomtus and show figures of the lionheaded dwarf-like god Bes, associated with marriage and childbirth.
Beside the Roman birth- house stand the remains of a Coptic church dating to the fifth century AD. Tradition claims that as many as fifty thousand monks came here annually to celebrate Easter. Between the church and the temple of Hathor stands another birth-house, begun in the reign of Nectanebo I (of Dynasty 30) and added to throughout the Ptolemaic period. It was abandoned when the forecourt of the temple of Hathor cut through its walls. Scenes depict the birth of Harsomtus. Elsewhere in the enclosure of the Hathor temple stand the remains of several Roman brick buildings and traces of the ancient town.
From" The Illustrated Guide to Luxor" by kent R.Weeks ,published by the American University in Cairo Press. Copyright © 2005 White Star S.p.a