THE TEMPLE OF HATHOR - DENDERA EGYPT
[Music] hello everyone welcome to marsalam renowned for its coral reefs and sandy beaches a paradise indeed it's also a great spot if one wants to visit ancient sites in upper egypt let's go [Music] we're going to drive through eastern desert to see one of the best preserved temple complexes in [Music] egypt [Music] [Music] [Music] the dandera temple complex located approximately 60 kilometers north of laksa is most known for the hathor temple built by the ptolemaic dynasty in the first century bc however the temple seen today is only one of several that stood here anciently there is evidence that it rests on foundations of earlier religious structures devoted also to hathor dating back to 2250 bc they were built by khufu and peppy the first the third king of the sixth dynasty [Music] it was one of the most important ancient egyptian places of worship a sacred place for pilgrims in search of miraculous cures from the goddess waiting for her to come in their dreams it was an organized sanctuary for practicing psychological physiological and magical therapies above else it was a site for festivities following the astrological cycles the purpose of the celebrations was focused on fertility birth and continued renewal of life for example the reunion between hathor and horus of atfu in the harvest season or the new year's day [Music] the temple plan is classical egyptian measuring 35 by 59 meters standing 12.5 meters high its facade is imposing with six huge heather-headed system columns with screen walls in between and the massive cornice in the middle of which is the winged sandisk a symbol of divine protection the figures of cleopatra and her son caesarean can be seen carved in relief in the utter walls [Music] the romans built the hypostyle hall in the first century ad with 18 columns kept by hathor headed capitals [Music] if such a wonderful temple was created for an ancient goddess we need to learn more about her [Music] hathor was one of the oldest and the most popular goddesses in all of egypt she was a goddess of heaven as a wife of celestial god horus and daughter of the solar godra she was the mythological mother of pharaohs she helped deceased souls in transition to the afterlife she was a goddess of music dance joy sexuality but also maternal care her name translates to the house of horus that's why she was also perceived as the queen of egypt hathor was depicted in many forms as a cow or as a woman with cow's head burying the sandisk and horns or as a woman with two horns and solar discs or as a woman's head with cows ears however ancient egyptian deities were quite complex as they were able to associate with other gods or undergo a process of polymorphism the story of hatros rage is one of the best examples [Music] the humankind wants to seize raw power as he's become old and feeble he commands hathor to punish those responsible to do so hathor turns into a raging lioness segment she finds the men camped by the river and slaughters them all tearing them to shreds it is during this process that hatter develops an unstoppable bloodlust that she can no longer control instead of just pursuing those responsible she continues on her rampage going from village to village along the nile and continuing her massacre among the innocent unable to stop her hera sends her a red beer thinking it's the blood of humans sekhmet drinks it passes out and mankind is saved that's why hathor was also perceived as a goddess of drunkenness [Music] all colors in the temple are original look at it [Music] it is a masterpiece of ancient egyptian design and decoration which covers every surface and has been recently cleaned revealing a suburb astrological ceiling in all its original vibrant colors as you can now see the main color in the temple is blue as it was a symbol of birth rebirth and fertility in ancient egypt of the best preserved temples are from greco-roman period as ancient egyptians built new temples from the materials of the old temples usually at the same location [Music] the small hypo style hall was called the hall of appearances in ancient times it is supported by six columns eight square apertures in the ceiling admit light on each side of this hall are three chambers some of which are dark while others are lighted by a purchase in the roof in ancient times each chamber was called differently and had a specific purpose there was a laboratory where the incense and perfumes for the temple ceremonies were prepared the harvest room for harvest offerings and a chamber where offerings were prepared before being taken to the hall of offerings there was also a treasury where the precious vessels vestments and jewels were kept and a libation room with the jars of holy nile water used later in the purification ceremonies it is worth mentioning that originally all of the chambers and halls of the temple were separated from one another by heavy wooden doors in laid with bronze silver and gold [Music] unfortunately a lot of reliefs have been intentionally damaged by christians and muslims [Music] [Music] [Music] um the hathor temple has many chambers crypts and passageways it's almost like a labyrinth [Music] [Music] [Music] dendra temple has 14 crypts built adjacent to the chambers where the priests use the silver and gold vessels in the daily rituals these crypts are thought to have served as treasuries or warehouses for ritual furnishings sacred and ceremonial equipment and divine images used in celebrating various feasts and holidays it's likely that few crypts served as locations for formal rituals the sins on the walls represent the king offering sacrifices and slaying hostile guards [Music] [Music] [Music] the most known calf relief still creates confusion and controversy is called the dendrolite a fringe hypothesis suggests that the dendrolite depicts advanced electrical technology possessed by the ancient egyptians mainstream egyptologists however view the carvings as representing a typical set of symbolic images from egyptian mythology we have to remember that we cannot impose our modern culture symbols values or meanings on a civilization so distant and different [Music] the crypts are quite small the width of edge is 1.8 meters and the entrances are only 80 centimeters wide the largest crypt is 34 meters long some of them have walls of limestone rather than the sandstone of the temple itself they are covered with carefully carved reliefs which are fresh and undamaged as if they had just left the hands of the sculptor but not all crypts are open for tourists we are now in one of them [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] leading up to the roof is a winding stairway joining a straight one these were used by priests for the great processions the stairways have been decorated with reliefs depicting in full detail the new year's festival in which the king and priests brought the images of hathor and her related guts around and over the roof of the temple the wall on the left shows the procession ascending to the roof while the right hand wall shows its descending in two corners of the roof are the shrines dedicated to the mysteries of the death and resurrection of osiris which can be seen depicted on the walls he was a god of fertility agriculture life death and resurrection when his brother said cut him up into pieces after killing him a winged isis his wife found all the pieces and wrapped his body up enabling him to return to life the ceiling shows the new and gab earth and sky [Music] this is the chapel of the disc here at least once a year the figures of gods were brought to be reanimated with the sun's rays this part of the roof is surrounded by high walls so the profane down below could have no sight of the ceremonies we are now in the second osiris chapel it were a famous bar relief zodiac containing images of taurus the bull and libra the scales was discovered however the original zodiac was cut from the ceiling and currently resides at the louvre paris from the roof we have a great view on the massive madbrick walls originally the temple was enclosed by three great walls built at the time of roman emperors domitian nerva and trajan of these only the inner one of mad brick still remains mention roman period we cannot forget about the famous cleopatra the seventh filopator as the hatter temple is also called cleopatra's temple of love cleopatra was the last ruler of the independent egyptian kingdom from the powerful ptolemaic dynasty in 51 bc ptolemy the 12th died leaving the throne to 18 year old cleopatra and her brother the 10 year old ptolemy the 13th it is likely that the two siblings married as was customary in ancient egypt political turmoil shaped this period soon after the assumed power complications aroused between cleopatra and her brother eventually she fled to syria where she assembled an army to defeat her rival in order to declare the throne for herself in 48 bc she returned to egypt with her military might and faced her brother around the same time the civil war between military leaders julius caesar and pompeii was consuming rome in pursuit of his rival caesar followed pompey into egypt where he met and eventually fell in love with cleopatra in caesar cleopatra now had access to enough military muscle to dethrone her brother and solidify her grip on egypt as sole ruler caesar restored cleopatra to the throne cleopatra followed caesar back to rome but returned to egypt in 44 bc following his assassination in 41 bc mark anthony who ruled rome following the murder of caesar sent for cleopatra and plunged into a love affair with her like caesar before him anthony was embroiled in a battle over rome's control his rival was a caesar's own great nephew octavian later known as emperor augustus anthony who presided over rome's eastern areas so in cleopatra the chance for financial and military support to secure his own rule over the empire cleopatra had her own motivations as well in exchange for her help she sought the return of egypt's eastern empire after suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of roman rival octavian mark anthony believing cleopatra to be dead killed himself cleopatra followed by also committing suicide supposedly by being bitten by a snake although the truth is unknown after her death on august the 12th 30 bc cleopatra was buried alongside anthony in a yet to be discovered location following cleopatra's death egypt became a province of the roman [Music] empire [Music] the reliefs on the western wall were sculptured in a very late period and are entirely roman even though the reliefs on the exterior walls represent the usual sins of the king offering the temple to the gods this is a significant departure from the dynastic architecture confining the religious representation to the inside while decorating the outside with scenes of the walls and conquest of the pharaoh behind the temple lies a huge amount of debris but if we get closer we can clearly see that these are pottery shreds from different periods the hathor sanctuary was not only visited by thousands of pilgrims but priests and their relatives lived in houses attached to the wall enclosure this is the temple of goddess isis it dates from the time of the emperor augustus and has a sanctuary with side chambers and vestibule [Music] the south wall is especially interesting the two figures represented twice in the presence of the gods of dandera are none other than the famous cleopatra the seventh and cesarean her son by julius caesar this place is called sacred lake it was an important part of the temple as the deeply symbolic rituals were performed by the priests such as floating the sacred boats which bore gods and the goddesses statues the water from the lake was also used in purification rituals and also to wash the sacred vessels in this huge area about forty thousand square meters we can also find the hathor shrine of mantu hotep the third wells the madbrick ruins of sanatorium where water was poured over hieroglyphs carved on the healing statue in order to cure diseases [Music] the mummy see of nectar nebula the first from the 4th century bc which is the earliest extend building in the compound the roman mummy see with lotus decorated columns capped by bess ancient egyptian gut of childbirth fertility sexuality humor and war but serving primarily as a protector god of pregnant women and children romans were known for imposing their architecture on the conquered lands however here they were influenced by a much older and more advanced egyptian civilization among all sacred structures we can also find the christian coptic basilica built in the 5th century a.d with crosses carved into the archways [Music] [Music] [Music] at the monumental gate of domitian and trade-in our today's adventure ends so if you enjoy my videos please like subscribe and leave the comments below [Music] 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2021-03-22 12:37
