I had a 7:30am wakeup call. Several people from the ship had opted for a balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings from 5am to 7am. Not this girl. My fear of heights just wasn’t going to allow it. Went for breakfast at 8:30am, which was also when the ship was casting off for Qena. At 10:30am Hanaa (the Egyptologist for our group) gave a presentation on “Egypt & the Nile”. At noon we arrived in Qena and had lunch. It was a fairly leisurely day for me as we didn’t have the excursion to Dendera Temple scheduled until 2pm.
Dendera is a large and very well-preserved temple complex that dates to the Ptolemaic period. It is surrounded by the remains of sizable mudbrick walls and includes the following features:
- Temple of Hathor
- Temple of Isis
- A Sacred Lake
- The only surviving sanitorium in any Egyptian Temple
- Somewhat similar to a Roman bathhouse, but strictly for bathing and an overnight stay to manifest healing dreams.
- A couple of birth houses
- A Coptic church
We entered the complex through the remains of the Roman Gate (photos 001 & 002). Then we encountered Bes (003). He was the protector of newborn babies and children. He also warded off scorpions. He later came to signify music and dance. He had both human and lion characteristics.
The first building we entered was a large birth house (004 – 009). This was Roman, from the time of Trajan. Part of what was depicted here was that the Egyptian goddess, Nut, would swallow the sun at night and then give birth to it again in the morning.
We then entered the forecourt of the Temple of Hathor (010, 011, 012) and went around to the back of the building, passing the Temple of Isis (013). At the back of the temple, we were shown depictions of Cleopatra VII with Marc Antony (014) and of Cleopatra VII with her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarian (015). From there we went back around to the front of the Temple of Hathor and entered.
It was quite beautiful with most of the colors still very much intact (016, 017, 018). Hanaa told us that kings were depicted as facing inward and gods were depicted as facing outward in temple art. The floor was supposed to represent the marsh out of which life rises. The columns were indicative of plants and trees, while the ceiling was the sky.
We went down into the crypts to see the “Dendera light” reliefs (019). This depicts Harsomtus (aka Horus as part of Ra), in the form of a snake, emerging from a lotus flower. This is one of the Egyptian creation myths. Some 20th century pseudoarchaeologists have interpreted this as a modern incandescent light bulb with a power cord (lotus stem) and a filament (snake).
When we returned upstairs, Hanaa continued her story of Hathor’s children. As the oldest, Osiris became king of Egypt and married his sister Isis. He was a good king and commanded the respect of all. He taught humans how to farm, grow crops, and live in peace. His brother, Seth, however, was jealous. He secretly took Osiris’ measurements and built a magnificent, custom fit wooden chest.
Seth hosted a banquet and offered the chest as a gift to whoever fit inside of it. When Osiris lay down in it, the lid was slammed shut, sealed with molten lead and thrown into the Nile River. Osiris suffocated and died.
Heartbroken, Isis searched for him and eventually found the chest inside of a tree in the palace of Byblos. She brought the coffin back to Egypt. Seth found it and hacked Osiris’ body into 14 pieces which he then scattered throughout Egypt.
Nephthys joined Isis in collecting all of the pieces of Osiris. They found all but one. His phallus. It had been eaten by a fish.
Using potent magic, they put all of the pieces back together, creating the very first mummy (020). They also magically created a new phallus (021) so that Isis and Osiris could have one more night of passion together (022). Afterwards, Osiris descended into the underworld to become the eternal ruler and judge of the dead.
Isis conceived Horus. I was still portraying Isis.
Next we went up the “melted stairs” to the roof. Photo 023 shows what the ceiling looked like as we went up the stairs. Photos 024 and 025 show the stairs. We later came down a different staircase.
On the roof, we encountered a bat. We were also shown a copy of the Dendera zodiac. The original was in the Louvre in Paris. It has not been clear as to whether or not it was sold to France or stolen by France. But the copy is in very poor shape. I found it very difficult to see and so didn’t take a photo of it. Photos 026 and 027 show the roof.
Onboard the ship that evening, as we were sailing back to Luxor, we had a toast, followed by a Port Talk on the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s Temple and Howard Carter’s house. This was followed by dinner.
During the toast, a woman in our group introduced me to the ship’s pianist and suggested to us both that I should sing with him. I had previously sung part of a song while trying to illustrate something and she had asked me if I was a singer. I said I was. After that introduction, I made certain that I did not enter the lounge after dinner on nights when the pianist was playing. I am sure she had good intentions, but it just isn’t that easy. Neither one of us wanted to try to find something we both knew and might be in the right key for me to sing while he played.
The nautical term for the day was “Cut and Run”. If a captain of a small ship encountered a larger enemy vessel, he might decide that discretion is the better part of valor. He would then order the crew to cut the lashings on all the sails and run away before the wind. Other sources indicate that “cut and run” meant to cut the anchor cable and sail off in a hurry.
Next – The Valley of the Kings Tomb of Ramesses IV
