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Ancient Egypt / Religion /
Dendera
Ancient Egyptian: Iunet, Tantere, Tentyris
Religious site of Ancient Egypt, located to the capital of the 6th nome of Upper Egypt, near modern Qena.
Its heyday goes back to the Early Dynastic period, concluded in Roman times.
The dominant structure here is the Temple of Hathor, one of the youngest temples of this kind in Egypt, begun constructed in the 30th Dynasty, completed in Roman times. The temple was dedicated to a local variation of Hathor, in which she was closely linked with Nut. Hathor was also defined as the daughter of Re, and among her associations were the dead. While the present temple is comparatively new, it was built on the grounds of much older religious structures, suggesting a continious cult here back at least to the times of Pepi 1 (around 2300 BCE).
The most central ritual performed here was the New Year celebration, where the various chambers of the temple were visited by processions, concluded at the roof, where ba was united with the solar disc.
The oldest remaining structure is the Mammisi of Nectanebo 1, built in the 4th century BCE.
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By: Tore Kjeilen
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