DENDERA AND ABYDOS ARE THE FIRST new sites we visited on this trip and we highly recommend them despite the inconvenience of getting there. Fahd arranged for his friend, Yosef, to drive us there on Wednesday, about 200 kilometers each way. Fahd even packed us breakfast for the 6 AM departure. We arrived at Dendera right at the seven o’clock opening and had the entire site to ourselves—well, us and the archeologists who continue to research the site.
Cleopatra and Caesarion (left)
Dendera is relatively young by Egyptian standards, just over 2000 years old, and contains Ptolemaic, Roman and Coptic Christian structures including a likeness of Cleopatra and Caesarion, her son by Julius Caesar.
Connie Playing "Shoots and Ladders" like an Egyptian
Visiting is like being in a game of “Shoots and Ladders” with hidden doorways, secret tunnels and blind passages. But the main attraction is the Hall of Hathor with its giant, brightly painted columns.
Colorful Columns of Hypostyle
Column Detail
Abydos is 100km from Dendera and while it’s certainly worth a visit, if time is an issue you could give it a miss especially on market day when the traffic is horrendous.
Abydos Temple looks like Temple of Hapshepsut
Brightly painted Mural
At first glance, the Temple of Seti I resembles that of Hatshepsut, understandable since both were important burial centers. We were amazed by the views from the First Hypostyle through the Second, colorful column upon colorful column as far as we could see.
Just to give an idea of their size
Looking through the Hypostyles
When a beam of sunlight shined through it felt like something out of an Indiana Jones film. The shrines and murals depicting Anubis, god of the dead, were so bright they look as if they could have been painted last week.
Anubis, Jakal-headed God of the Dead
