Dendara Temple

Description

Enjoy Half Day Tour to Dendera Temple from Luxor. Drive for about 70km to the north of Luxor to visit Dendera Temple complex, which contains a large number of structures from different periods of Egyptian history, the best preserved is the Greco-Roman temple of Hathor, then transfer back to your hotel in Luxor.

Highlights

Temple of Hathor

Well preserved Temple with beautiful colours and discussed carvings

Mamisi of the Goddess Isis

Led by a qualified Egyptologist

Get inside tips from a local

Family friendly

What You Can Expect

An expert tour guide will pick you up from your Hotel in Luxor and accompany you to visit Dendera temple complex, discover the Mamisi (Birth house) of the goddess Isis, dates back to the Greek time and raised by Nectanebo II, the last native pharaohs (360–343 BC). Explore the temple of Hathor, one of the best preserved temples in all Egypt. The temple was founded by Pepi I (2250 BC) and continuing right up until the time of the Roman emperor Trajan.

The ceiling of the Dendera Temple has recently been cleaned, in a careful way that removed hundreds of years of black soot, without harming the ancient paint underneath. As a result the spectacular ceiling painting has been exposed in Hathor temple, and some of the most vibrant and colorful paintings dating from antiquity are now visible.

The sculptured Dendera zodiac is a widely known relief found in a late Greco-Roman temple, containing images of Taurus (the bull) and the Libra (the balance). It was removed from the temple ceiling in 1820 and is now in the Louvre Museum. Champollion’s guess that it was Ptolemaic proved correct and Egyptologists now date it to the first century BC.

A sketch was made of it during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt now in the temple. Explore the temple crypt which was for keeping cult equipment, archives and magical emblems for the temple’s protection, though the most important object kept in the crypts was a statue of the BA of Hathor, on the rear of Hathor temple is a carving of Cleopatra VII and her son, Ptolemy Caesarion, fathered by Julius Caesar are good examples Ptolemaic Egyptian art.

Then enjoy free time to explore the temple at leisure.

After finishing, you will be transferred back to your Nile Cruise or Hotel in Luxor.

Entrance fees are not included in the price of any tours: We do not charge in advance for site entrance fees to add flexibility to your program as you may choose to skip one or more sites depending upon your interests.