The Hathor Temple at Serabit el Khadim is one of the most impressive temples of ancient Egypt. It represents the largest and most important Egyptian temple in the Sinai Peninsula. It is the oldest example of a partially rock-cut Egyptian temple. The sanctuary at Serabit is the largest sanctuary left by a group of miners in all of Egypt. This temple, located in the mountains of Serabit el-Khadim, was built at approximately 850 m above sea level, roughly 1436 m lower than Mount Sinai and about 643 m higher than the apex of the Great Pyramid.
Location of Hathor Temple
The Hathor temple is located at an altitude of about 850 meters above sea level in the southwest Sinai peninsula, about 10 kilometres north of Wadi Maghara and about 43 kilometres east of Abu Zenima.
History of the Temple of Hathor
Hathor Temple at Serabit el Khadim was built in an area where turquoise mining took place over many centuries to worship the goddess Hathor (the Lady of Turquoise). The temple’s earliest attested dating is for the Twelfth Dynasty (c. 1985–1795 BC.), and it continued to be used until the Ramesside period (1307–1070 BC.).
The temple construction took place in three phases, during the Twelfth Dynasty, the Eighteenth Dynasty and the Ramesside Period, along two parallel axes, a Middle Kingdom axis and a New Kingdom axis. The oldest, the Middle Kingdom axis, runs southeast-northwest. It contained many stelae on both sides of the central passage, most dating to the reigns of the Pharaohs Senusret III, Amenemhat III and Amenemhat IV. The Kings Chapel was built during the reigns of Amenemhat III and Amenemhat IV.
Chapel of the Kings
It looks like a portico with four columns, with parts carved into the rocks. This axis was extended west in the New Kingdom. Fourteen additional New Kingdom rooms were constructed west of the court sometime between the reigns of the Pharaohs Amenhotep III and Ramesses VI. This court is in the centre of the temple and gives access to three directions: the north, the south and the southeast. It leads to a cistern from the north to store rainwater, which was essential for the temple’s rituals. To the southeast, there is a direct pathway to the Speos of Sopdu and that of Hathor through two rooms. From the south, it opens into the room usually described as the “basin”, which then leads to a small corridor extending into three rooms, known as “the Sopdu Rooms”. The first two rooms give access to the third one, located to the south of the Hathor sanctuary and considered to be the sanctuary of Sopdu in Serabit el-Khadim. These rooms must have existed since the reign of Amenemhat III, although they witnessed alterations and additions over the following years. Their final appearance dates most likely to the joint control of Hatshepsut and Thutmosis III. They contain monuments dedicated to Sopdu, a solar deity usually associated with the desert and the frontiers. Its name also appears in an inscription of the year 42 reign of Amenemhat III in Wadi Maghara.
Today’s visitor to the Hathor temple at Serabit el-Khadim follows a series of small rooms that form the temple, from the entrance at the very beginning to the chapel of Hathor at the end, where the shrine of offerings lies. These rooms bear a considerable number of stelae and many different monuments; parts of statues, offering tables and some blocks of the original decoration of the temple.
The tour guide is usually a Bedouin, a descendant of the nomadic Bedouins. They roamed the region hundreds of years ago and belonged to the Ulaykat or the Muzzeina tribes.
Access
Access to the Hathor Temple at Serabit el Khadim can be done using two different ascents:
- The first way is the Supreme Council of Antiquities stairs, which start from the plain of el-Tih, where many rest stations are found. The only shaded one is located in front of the inscription of Rod el-‘Air. It is the safest way and the most recommended.
- The second way is through Wadi Serabit; this wadi surrounds the site from the north. However, to get to Wadi Serabit, one must go off-road for 20 minutes in very soft sand, and the trail is hazardous up to the temple. It is not recommended, even if the Bedouins of the area suggest that it is faster or shorter.
