Dendera

Dendera ( ar, دَنْدَرة ''Dandarah''; grc, Τεντυρις or Τεντυρα; Bohairic cop, ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ, translit=Nitentōri; Sahidic cop, ⲛⲓⲧⲛⲧⲱⲣⲉ, translit=Nitntōre), also spelled ''Denderah'', ancient Iunet 𓉺𓈖𓏏𓊖 “jwn.t”, Tentyris or Tentyra is a small town and former bishopric in Egypt situated on the west bank of the Nile, about south of Qena, on the opposite side of the river. It is located approximately 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.

Etymology

The original name of the town is , the etymology of which is unknown. It was later complemented by the name of the chief goddess Hathor and became Egyptian which is the source of cop, ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ, translit=Nitentōri or just "of the goddess", which is the source of grc-x-koine, Τεντυρις. The modern Arabic name of the town comes from either its Greek or Coptic name.

There's also an aberrant Coptic form , which could be either dissimilation of a regular name or a confusion with Koine .

Ecclesiastical history

After Egypt became a Roman possession, the city of Tentyris was part of the Late Roman province of Thebais Secunda. Its bishopric was a suffragan of Ptolemais Hermiou, the capital and metropolitan see of the province. Little is known of the history of Christianity in the place, as only the names of two ancient bishops are given:
* Pachomius the Great, generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism
* Serapion or Aprion, a contemporary and friend of the monk Pachomius, whose diocese boasted the celebrated convent of Tabenna.

The town was given its present Arabic name of Denderah during the late Ottoman Empire and ruled 6000 inhabitants in Qena (Qeneh) district.

Titular see

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, having had the following incumbents of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank :
* Matteo Gaughren, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.) (1902.01.13 – 1914.05.30)
* Emile-Marie Bunoz, O.M.I. (1917.06.13 – 1945.06.03)
* André van den Bronk, Society of African Missions (S.M.A.) (1946.07.30 – 1952.05.15)
* Teodoro Bensch (1956.12.01 – 1958.01.07)
* Jean-Rosière-Eugène Arnaud, Paris Foreign Missions Society (M.E.P.) (1958.03.02 – 1972.09.11).

Temple complex

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, and was completed by the Roman emperor Tiberius, 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 . 2613–c. 2494 BC but it was the pharaoh Pepi I Meryre who built the temple.

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.

In the vicinity of the temple complex a bakery dated to the First Intermediate Period was discovered by the French-Polish expedition from the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO) and the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw. Bread offered to Hathor was baked here. The team also excavated the so-called Eastern Temple in this area.

The area around the temple has been extensively landscaped and now has a modern visitor centre, bazaar and small cafeteria.

Climate

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.

Sponsors

File:Ptolemy before Hathor, Philae.jpg, Ptolemy XII before Hathor and Philae, at the Hathor Temple, Dendera, which he built in 54 BC.
File:Ptolemy before Isis & Osiris, Dendera Temple.jpg, Ptolemy XII before Isis and Osiris, at the Hathor Temple, Dendera.
Image:Roman Emperor Domitian on the Northern gate of Dendera Temple, Egypt.jpg, Roman Emperor Domitian on the Northern gate of the Temple of Hathor.
File:Roman Emperor Trajan at Dendera, Egypt.jpg, Roman Emperor Trajan at Dendera, Egypt
File:Trajan_offers_to_Hathor_%26_Ra-Harakhte%2C_Dendera.jpg, Roman Emperor Trajan offers to Hathor and Ra-Harakhte, Dendera.
File:Emperor Trajan, Dendera.jpg, Emperor Trajan as a Pharaoh making an offering to the Gods, in Dendera."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"

Monuments

Image:DenderaHathorTempleComplexQenaEgypt622-2007feb10PhotoByCsorfolyDaniel.JPG
Image:Aegypt1987036 hg.jpg
Image:Dendera Bes 01a.JPG
Image:Aegypt1987-078 hg.jpg
Image:Dendera Hathorkopf 01.JPG
Image:Dendera Tempelkomplex 07.JPG
Image:Dendera Mammisi Nektanebos I. 02.JPG
Image:Dendera Römische Säulen 02.JPG
Image:SFEC-DENDERA-2010-112.JPG
Image:Dendera Tempelkomplex 02.JPG
Image:Egypt.Dendera.Hathor.01.jpg
Image:Denderah Outside.JPG
Image:Dendera Tempelkomplex 06.JPG
Image:Flickr - Gaspa - Dendara, tempio di Hator (11).jpg
Image:Dendera Topo Map.jpg
Image:Dendera Hathor-Heiligtum 01.JPG
Image:Temple of Hathor, Ceiling, Dendera, Egypt.jpg
Image:Дендера.jpg

References – Notes

Sources and external links

*

GigaCatholic, listing the titular bishops

{{Authority control

Cities in ancient Egypt
Tentyris
Populated places in Qena Governorate