Dendera or Dandara was the temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Hathor, is located in the upper Egypt 60 kilometers  north of Luxor, west of the actual city of Qena, in the other side of the Nile river, the West; Dendera faces the North and also the Nile.

Although most of the buildings that we see now were built during the Greco Roman period, the Ptolemy rulers, Cleopatra VII did extended additions, as they found a great resemblance or matching characteristics of this Egyptian goddess to their goddess Aphrodite the goddess of procreation, love, beauty, arts, music and lust.

Roman ruler also added to the temple complex constructions as they also related this goddess to their goddess Venus for such reason the Roman governors also are depicted in the wall of the sanctuaries or chapels giving offerings in the temple to the Egyptian goddess Hathor.

However its Egyptian origin goes far back, there are commemorative inscriptions of Ramses II, Thotmes III from the eighteen dynasty of the “”New Egyptian Empire”, Mentuhotep of the eleventh dynasty, from “Middle Egyptian Empire”, during the fourth dynasty Cheops the builder of the “Great Pyramid”, this temple relief’s also show this goddess being worship by the sixth dynasty ruler Pepi I, pharaohs of “Old Egyptian Empire” and even in the vicinity are also found tombs that farther go back to the first dynastic period.

Although that Dendera was not a very powerful state or nome, was present and had a very important place in the hart of all the Egyptian or foreign rulers that ever were, underline Hathor Importance.

The pillars in the principal colonnade of the temple usually are round and on top have the face of this goddess Hathor that appears facing the four cardinal points, covering the four cardinal point of either heaven, earth or both with a trapezoidal mastaba like shrine as head dress.

The whole columns probably also resemble a sistrum an Egyptian instrument related to this goddess, most likely in reasons that the columns were conceived as a personification of this goddess, and goes together with the name that she had “She of the divine column”.

 

The crocodile was a very important animal taken as a deity of the city as well the caw that represented her as a sky goddess. She usually is represented as a cow or a woman with horns and a disk in the middle sometimes accompanied by a serpent.

 

Her name written in Hieroglyph is a house and a falcon inside of it, meaning that she was the house or temple of Heru or Horus the day therefore the sky; Egyptians related the temple to sky or heaven.
Also being the wife or counter part of Heru or Horus she as well was related to the night sky probably as the Milky Way or the whole sky.

 

In Dendera is the famous “Dendera Zodiac” its original is now at Louvre museum in Paris. Also chamber dedicated to the death and resurrection as well to the divine birth where Heru or Horus child is born. There are also multiple carvings of gods and goddess like Bess, the protector at child birth, Nut the mother goddess of the sky and scenes dedicated to the Osiris symbolism and others to Khnum the ram headed god, protector of artists and creator of every living thing in a potter and the image of Khepera the god rebirth at one of the lintel at the entrance.