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Facade of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera
Luxor and the Nile

Dendera and Abydos

The two best-preserved temples in Egypt, north of Luxor on the Nile road.

Dendera
Temple of Hathor, c. 54 BC–AD 60, Ptolemies and Romans
Dendera ceiling
Cleaned 2005–2020; zodiac (original in the Louvre)
Abydos
Temple of Seti I, c. 1290 BC; seven sanctuaries
King List
76 cartouches from Menes to Seti I

Dendera (60 km north of Luxor) is the Ptolemaic-Roman Temple of Hathor with its roof, its cleaned painted ceilings, the zodiac and the Cleopatra relief; Abydos (160 km) is the Temple of Seti I with the finest raised reliefs in Egypt and the Abydos King List. Together they make a nine-hour day from Luxor; Dendera alone is a half day.

Visiting

Abydos was the burial place of the first kings and the pilgrimage centre of Osiris for three thousand years. The temple Seti I built there has an L-shaped plan with seven sanctuaries for seven gods and reliefs carved in raised relief so fine they look modelled in wax. In a corridor at the back, the King List names every legitimate king before Seti and omits Hatshepsut, Akhenaten and Tutankhamun. Behind it lies the Osireion, a granite hall built as the tomb of Osiris.

Dendera is thirteen centuries younger and complete: the hypostyle hall with 24 Hathor-headed columns and a ceiling that shows the sky goddess Nut swallowing the sun each evening, the sanctuary, the crypts with the "Dendera light" relief, the staircases up to the roof chapels for the New Year, and, on the rear wall, Cleopatra VII and her son Caesarion making offerings.

The road between them runs along the Nile through the villages of the Qena governorate, and the day is as much about that as the temples.

Tips from our guides

  • Abydos first (furthest), Dendera on the way back
  • Climb to the Dendera roof; the guide has the key to the crypts
  • The day is long: 09:00 start from Luxor, back 16:00

Best time: October to April.

Questions

Yes, as a five-hour half day from Luxor, morning or afternoon.
26.1419 N, 32.6701 EOpen in Google Maps

Tours that visit Dendera and Abydos