Photo : Olaf Tausch — CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Luxor · Dendera
Temple of Dendera
Hathor's face on every capital, and a zodiac taken from the roof in 1821, now in the Louvre.
The temple of Hathor, near Qena, was built at the turn of our era and decorated under the Roman emperors, on a sacred site far older. Its façade rests on columns each of whose capitals carries the goddess's face, with cow's ears, turned to all four sides; nearly every one of those faces was hammered away later. Inside, the cleaning of the soot has given the ceiling back its blues and its figures of the sky. The circular zodiac was not there: it was on the ceiling of an Osiris chapel on the roof, and it was detached from it in 1821; the original is now at the Louvre. Staircases climb to the roof, where the New Year procession passed, and crypts run below the halls. On the rear outer wall stand Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarion, both in pharaonic dress.
The extra bit
Go up onto the roof as soon as you arrive, before the stone heats up: a straight stair takes you up and a turning one brings you down, both carved with the same procession. Keep the low halls and the crypts for the middle of the day.
Know before you go
This is a whole day from Luxor, northwards, often joined with Abydos on the same run: agree with the driver the evening before on the order of the two and the time of return. The conditions under which foreigners use this road have changed more than once and this guide does not track them — have them confirmed by your hotel or by the driver before you set off. The crypts are narrow, low and airless; the roof, conversely, has no protection from the sun at all. There is nothing to see between the temple and Qena: take water and plan on lunch along the way.
