Dendera (Arabic: دَنْدَرة Dandarah; Ancient Greek: Τεντυρις or Τεντυρα; Bohairic Coptic: ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ, romanized: Nitentōri; Sahidic Coptic: ⲛⲓⲧⲛⲧⲱⲣⲉ, romanized: Nitntōre), also spelt Denderah, ancient Iunet 𓉺𓈖𓏏𓊖 “jwn.t”, Tentyris or Tentyra is a small village 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.
Location of Dendera
Dandarah, also spelt Dendera, is an agricultural village on the west bank of the Nile, in Qinā muḥāfaẓah (governorate), Upper Egypt. It lies about 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Qena, on the opposite side of the Nile.
Etymology
The town’s original name 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.
There is also an aberrant Coptic form ⲛⲓⲕⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ, which could be either dissimilation of a familiar name or confusion with Koine Κένταυροι.
Ecclesiastical history
After Egypt became a Roman possession, the city of Tentyris was part of the Late Roman province of Thebais Secunda. Its diocese 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 is 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) in 1902 but has been 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).
Dendera 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 complex covers 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mudbrick 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. Still, 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 fourth dynasty [c. 2613–c. 2494 BC]). Still, 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. The team also excavated the so-called Eastern Temple in this area. Bread offered to Hathor was baked here.
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 lot 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.
