Dendera Temple: What It Is and Is It Worth the Trip
Dendera is the temple to see if Karnak and the Valley of the Kings are not enough. It is a thousand years younger than they are and therefore almost intact: you can walk through roofed halls, climb onto the roof and go down into the crypts. Below: what to see in the Temple of Hathor, whether it really shows “lamps”, how to get there and whether it is worth it.
The Temple of Hathor at Dendera: history
The present Temple of Hathor was built in the Greco-Roman period — under the last Ptolemies, including Cleopatra VII — and decoration continued under the Roman emperors. A sanctuary of the goddess stood here earlier, but what we see today dates from the last centuries BC. That is why the temple has survived almost whole.
What to see at Dendera Temple
- The Hypostyle Hall with 24 columns whose capitals are faces of Hathor with cow’s ears.
- The ceilings with the sky goddess Nut, solar boats and constellations. Cleaned of soot, the colours are bright again — blue and gold.
- The roof with the chapel of Osiris and a copy of the Dendera zodiac.
- The rear wall with a relief of Cleopatra and her son by Caesar, Caesarion.
- The crypts — narrow underground rooms with reliefs, including the famous “lamps”.
The Dendera zodiac and the “Dendera lamps”
The Dendera zodiac is a stone relief with a map of the starry sky and the signs of the zodiac from the ceiling of the Osiris chapel. The original was taken to France in 1821 and is now in the Louvre; the temple has a copy.
The “lamps” are reliefs in a crypt with a lotus and a snake inside an elongated shape. Alternative-history fans see electric light bulbs in them, but Egyptologists read the scene clearly: it is a mythological image of the birth of the sun, and the inscriptions next to the reliefs confirm it.
How to get to Dendera
Dendera lies off the main tourist routes and is awkward to reach on your own. The easiest way is the “Luxor + Dendera” tour from Hurghada: the road to Luxor runs through Qena, so the temple is a convenient stop on the way. Morning at the Temple of Hathor, afternoon at the highlights of Luxor.
Luxor · Hurghada
Luxor and Dendera from Hurghada by Coach
- 18 hours
- Group
- Wed, Sun
- Kids friendly
If you prefer not to rush, choose the two-day programme with a night in Luxor.
Luxor · Hurghada
Luxor and Dendera 2-Day Tour from Hurghada
- 2 days
- Group
- Wed, Sun
- Kids friendly
Is Dendera worth it
Yes, if you have already been to Luxor or love antiquities: an intact roof, coloured ceilings and crypts like these are found almost nowhere else. If it is your first time in Egypt and time is short, start with classic Luxor — Karnak and the Valley of the Kings — and save Dendera for your next trip. What else to see in Luxor is in our Luxor guide, and another temple on the route is covered in “Karnak Temple”.
