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Facade of the Temple of Hathor at Dendera
Luxor en de Nijl

Dendera en Abydos

De twee best bewaarde tempels van Egypte, ten noorden van Luxor aan de Nijlweg.

Dendera
Hathor-tempel, ca. 54 v.Chr.–60 n.Chr., Ptolemaeën en Romeinen
Plafond van Dendera
gereinigd 2005–2020; dierenriem (origineel in het Louvre)
Abydos
tempel van Seti I, ca. 1290 v.Chr.; zeven heiligdommen
Koningslijst
76 cartouches van Menes tot Seti I

Dendera (60 km ten noorden van Luxor) is de Ptolemeïsch-Romeinse Hathor-tempel met dak, gereinigde beschilderde plafonds, de dierenriem en het Cleopatra-reliëf; Abydos (160 km) is de tempel van Seti I met de fijnste reliëfs van Egypte en de Koningslijst van Abydos. Samen vormen ze een dag van negen uur vanuit Luxor; Dendera alleen is een halve dag.

Het bezoek

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 van onze gidsen

  • 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

Beste tijd: Oktober tot april.

Vragen

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