Dendera (Arabic: دَنْدَرةDandarah; Ancient Greek: Τεντυρις or Τεντυρα; BohairicCoptic: ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ, romanized: Nitentōri; Sahidic Coptic: ⲛⲓⲧⲛⲧⲱⲣⲉ, romanized: Nitntōre),[1][2] also spelled Denderah, ancient Iunet 𓉺𓈖𓏏𓊖 “jwn.t”,[3]Tentyris[4][5],(Arabic: Ewan-t إيوان-ة ),[6]orTentyra[7] is a small town and former bishopric in Egypt situated on the west bank of the Nile, about 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Qena, on the opposite side of the river. It is located approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) north of Luxor and remains a Latin Catholic titular see. It contains the Dendera Temple complex, one of the best-preserved temple sites from ancient Upper Egypt.
Entrance to the temple.Miniature stela. It shows 2 reliefs of ears and incised hieroglyphs. The title or epithet of the "Lady of Dendera" as well as the names of Taweret and Hathor appear. From Egypt, Ramesside period. The British Museum, London
The original name of the town is Ancient Egyptian: ı͗wnt, the etymology of which is unknown. It was later complemented by the name of the chief goddess Hathor and became Egyptian ı͗wnt-tꜣ-ntrt which is the source of Coptic: ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ, romanized: Nitentōri or just tꜣ-ntrt "of the goddess", which is the source of Koinē Greek: Τεντυρις. The modern Arabic name of the town comes from either its Greek or Coptic name.[10]
There is also an aberrant Coptic form ⲛⲓⲕⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ, which could be either dissimilation of a regular name or a confusion with Koine Κένταυροι.[11][12]
The Dendera Temple complex, which contains the Temple 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 of Ptolemy XII of the Ptolemaic dynasty,[13] and was completed by the Roman emperorTiberius, but it rests on the foundations of earlier buildings dating back at least as far as Khufu (known as the Great Pyramid builder Cheops, the second Pharaoh of the 4th dynasty [c. 2613–c. 2494 BC]) but it was the pharaoh Pepi I Meryre who built the temple.[13][14]
It was once home to the celebrated Dendera zodiac, which is now displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris. There are also Roman and pharaonic Mammisi (birth houses), ruins of a Coptic church and a small chapel dedicated to Isis, dating to the Roman or the Ptolemaic epoch.
Under the Latin name Tentyris, the episcopal see was nominally revived as a titular 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 the Köppen climate classification system, Dendera has a hot desert climate, abbreviated "BWh" on climate maps.[18]
^Hawas, Zahi (2002). مخطوط معجم اللغة المصرية القديمة احمد كمال كمال. الجزء االثاني عشر (in Arabic). Cairo: Al-maǧlis al-aʿlá li-l-aṯār, high council of antiquities. p. 496. ISBN9773053474.
^"Trajan was, in fact, quite active in Egypt. Separate scenes of Domitian and Trajan making offerings to the gods appear on reliefs on the propylon of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera. There are cartouches of Domitian and Trajan on the column shafts of the Temple of Knum at Esna, and on the exterior a frieze text mentions Domitian, Trajan, and Hadrian" Stadter, Philip A.; Stockt, L. Van der (2002). Sage and Emperor: Plutarch, Greek Intellectuals, and Roman Power in the Time of Trajan (98-117 A.D.). Leuven University Press. p. 75. ISBN978-90-5867-239-1.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Tentyris". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
Egypt
![Ptolemy XII before Hathor and Philae, at the Hathor Temple, Dendera, which he built in 54 BC.[13][19]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ptolemy_before_Hathor%2C_Philae.jpg)
![Ptolemy XII before Isis and Osiris, at the Hathor Temple, Dendera.[13][20]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ptolemy_before_Isis_%26_Osiris%2C_Dendera_Temple.jpg)
![Emperor Trajan as a Pharaoh making an offering to the Gods, in Dendera.[21]](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Emperor_Trajan%2C_Dendera.jpg)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Tentyris". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
