Temple of Dendur
Encyclopedia
Egyptian temple
Egyptian temples were built for the official worship of the gods and commemoration of pharaohs in Ancient Egypt and in regions under Egyptian control. These temples were seen as houses for the gods or kings to whom they were dedicated...
that was built by the Roman governor of Egypt, Petronius, around 15 BC and dedicated to Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
, Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
, as well as two deified sons of a local Nubia
Nubia
Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...
n chieftain, Pediese ("he whom Isis has given") and Pihor ("he who belongs to Horus
Horus
Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...
"). The temple was commissioned by Emperor Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
of Rome and has been exhibited in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
since 1978.
Architecture and artwork
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
and measures 25 meters from the front stone gate to its rear as well as 8 meters from its lowest to its highest point. A 30 meter wide cult terrace overlooks the Nile. From the gate, 2 flanking walls ran around the temple and isolated the structure from the cult terrace and the Nile river. The temple is partly decorated with reliefs: the temple base is decorated with carvings of papyrus and lotus plants growing out of the water of the Nile
Nile
The Nile is a major north-flowing river in North Africa, generally regarded as the longest river in the world. It is long. It runs through the ten countries of Sudan, South Sudan, Burundi, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda and Egypt.The Nile has two major...
, which is symbolized by depictions of the god Hapy
Hapy
Hapi, sometimes transliterated as Hapy, not to be confused with another god of the same name, was a deification of the annual flooding of the Nile River in Ancient Egyptian religion, which deposited rich silt on its banks, allowing the Egyptians to grow crops. His name means Running One, probably...
. Over the temple gate as well as over the entrance to the temple proper, depictions of the Winged sun
Winged sun
The winged sun is a symbol associated with divinity, royalty and power in the Ancient Near East . The symbol has also been found in the records of ancient cultures residing in various regions of South America as well as Australia.- Ancient Egyptian use :In Ancient Egypt, the symbol is attested...
disk of the sky god Horus
Horus
Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...
represent the sky. This motif is repeated by the vultures depicted on the ceiling of the entrance porch. On the outer walls, Emperor Augustus is depicted as a pharaoh
Pharaoh
Pharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
making offerings to the deities Isis, Osiris
Osiris
Osiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and...
, and their son Horus. The subject is repeated in the first room of the temple, where Augustus is shown praying and making offerings. Augustus is identified as "Caesar" (actually, "Qysrs", which is based on "Kaisaros", the Greek version of Caesar). He is also called "Autotrator", an alteration of "Autokrator", or autocrat, the Greek equivalent of Imperator, one of the emperor's titles. This misspelling seems to be deliberate, in order to achieve more symmetry in the hieroglyphs. In some other parts of the temple, however, the emperor is simply called "Pharaoh". The middle room, which was used for offerings, and the sanctuary of Isis at the rear of the temple are undecorated but for reliefs on the door frame and backwall of the sanctuary. The latter shows Pihor and Pedesi as young gods worshiping Isis and Osiris respectively. The 6.55 X 13 metre temple house is modest but well executed in design with two front columns, an offering hall and a sanctuary with a statue niche. A crypt was also built into the rear wall while a rock chamber in the nearby cliffs may have represented the tombs of Pediese and Pihor who were said to have drowned in the Nile river.
In the 19th century, graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
was left on the temple walls by visitors from Europe. One of the most prominent pieces of graffiti ("A L Corry RN 1817" at eye level to the left as one enters the temple) was left by the British naval officer and later Rear Admiral Armar Lowry Corry
Armar Lowry Corry
Rear Admiral Armar Lowry Corry was a British naval officer.-Naval career:Corry entered the Royal Navy on 1 August 1805, became a Lieutenant on 28 April 1812, a Commander on 13 June 1815, and Captain on 23 July 1821...
.
Relocation
Aswan
Aswan , formerly spelled Assuan, is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate.It stands on the east bank of the Nile at the first cataract and is a busy market and tourist centre...
) in 1963 in order to save it from being submerged by the construction of the Aswan High Dam. In recognition of the American assistance in saving various other monuments threatened by the dam's construction, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
presented the temple and its gate as a gift to the United States of America, represented by - among others - Jacqueline Kennedy, in 1965. The stone blocks of the temple weighed more than 800 ton
Ton
The ton is a unit of measure. It has a long history and has acquired a number of meanings and uses over the years. It is used principally as a unit of weight, and as a unit of volume. It can also be used as a measure of energy, for truck classification, or as a colloquial term.It is derived from...
s in total with the largest pieces weighing more than 6.5 tons. They were packed in 661 crates and transported to the United States by the freighter S.S. Concordia Star. In the United States, several institutions made bids for housing the temple, in a competition that was nicknamed the "Dendur Derby" by the press. Alternative plans proposed re-erecting the temple on the banks of the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
or on the Charles River
Charles River
The Charles River is an long river that flows in an overall northeasterly direction in eastern Massachusetts, USA. From its source in Hopkinton, the river travels through 22 cities and towns until reaching the Atlantic Ocean at Boston...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. However, these suggestions were dismissed because it was feared that the temple's sandstone would have suffered from the outdoor conditions. On April 27, 1967, the temple was awarded to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it was installed in the Sackler Wing in 1978. Inside the Sackler Wing, designed by the architects Kevin Roche
Kevin Roche
Kevin Roche is an Irish-American architect known for his creative work with glass.Born in Dublin, Roche spent his formative years in Mitchelstown, Co. Cork before he graduated from University College Dublin in 1945. He then worked with Michael Scott from 1945-1946...
, John Dinkeloo, and associates, a reflecting pool in front of the temple and a sloping wall behind it, represent the Nile and the cliffs of the original location. The glass on the ceiling and north wall of the Sackler is stippled in order to diffuse the light and mimic the lighting in Nubia.
Architectural copies
The 1845 Egyptian BuildingEgyptian Building
The Egyptian Building is a National Historic Landmark in Richmond, Virginia, built in 1845. It is the first permanent home of the Medical Department of Hampden-Sydney College and now is a part of Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center. It is located on Shockoe Hill at the 1200 block of E...
of the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond is a replica of the Temple of Dendur.
See also
- Temple of DebodTemple of DebodThe Templo de Debod or Temple of Debod is an ancient Egyptian temple which was rebuilt in Madrid, Spain.The temple was built originally 15 km south of Aswan in southern Egypt very close to the first cataract of the Nile and to the great religious center dedicated to the goddess Isis, in Philae...
- Temple of TaffehTemple of TaffehThe Temple of Taffeh is an Ancient Egyptian temple which was presented to the Netherlands for its help in contributing to the historical preservation of Egyptian antiquities in the 1960's. The temple was built of sandstone between AD 1-14 on the orders of the Roman emperor Augustus. It was part of...
- Temple of Ellesyia
File: Temple of Dendur- night.jpg|Dendur Temple at night
File:Temple of Dendur - Metropolitan Museum.JPG|The column and reliefs of Dendur temple
File:Reliefs from Dendur Temple2005.jpg|Reliefs from the temple of Dendur