Dendera

Dendera (دَنْدَرة Dandarah; Τεντυρις or Τεντυρα; Bohairic ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ; Sahidic ⲛⲓⲧⲛⲧⲱⲣⲉ), also spelled Denderah, ancient Iunet 𓉺𓈖𓏏𓊖 “jwn.t”, Tentyris ,(Arabic: Ewan-t إيوان-ة ), or Tentyra is a small town and former bishopric in Egypt situated on the west bank of the Nile, about 5 km south of Qena, on the opposite side of the river. It is located approximately 60 km north of Luxor and remains a Latin Catholic titular see. It contains the Dendera Temple complex, one of the best-preserved temple sites from ancient Upper Egypt.

Etymology
The original name of the town is ı͗wnt, the etymology of which is unknown. It was later complemented by the name of the chief goddess Hathor and became Egyptian ı͗wnt-tꜣ-ntrt which is the source of ⲛⲓⲧⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ or just tꜣ-ntrt "of the goddess", which is the source of. The modern Arabic name of the town comes from either its Greek or Coptic name.

There is also an aberrant Coptic form ⲛⲓⲕⲉⲛⲧⲱⲣⲓ, which could be either dissimilation of a regular name or a confusion with Koine Κένταυροι.

Temple complex


The Dendera Temple complex, which contains the Temple of Hathor, is one of the best-preserved temples, if not the best-preserved one, in all of Upper Egypt. The whole complex covers some 40,000 square meters and is surrounded by a hefty mud brick wall. The present Temple of Hathor dates back to July 54 BC, at the time of Ptolemy XII of the Ptolemaic dynasty, and was completed by the Roman emperor Tiberius, but it rests on the foundations of earlier buildings dating back at least as far as Khufu (known as the Great Pyramid builder Cheops, the second Pharaoh of the 4th dynasty [c. 2613–c. 2494 BC]) but it was the pharaoh Pepi I Meryre who built the temple.

It was once home to the celebrated Dendera zodiac, which is now displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris. There are also Roman and pharaonic Mammisi (birth houses), ruins of a Coptic church and a small chapel dedicated to Isis, dating to the Roman or the Ptolemaic epoch.

In the vicinity of the temple complex a bakery dated to the First Intermediate Period was discovered by the French-Polish expedition from the Institut français d’archéologie orientale (IFAO) and the Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw. Bread offered to Hathor was baked here. The team also excavated the so-called Eastern Temple in this area.

The area around the temple has been extensively landscaped and now has a modern visitor centre, bazaar and small cafeteria.

Ecclesiastical history
After Egypt became a Roman possession, the city of Tentyris was part of the Late Roman province of Thebais Secunda. Its bishopric was a suffragan of Ptolemais Hermiou, the capital and metropolitan see of the province. Little is known of the history of Christianity in the place, as only the names of two ancient bishops are given:
 * Pachomius the Great, generally recognized as the founder of Christian cenobitic monasticism
 * Serapion or Aprion, a contemporary and friend of the monk Pachomius, whose diocese boasted the celebrated convent of Tabenna.

The town was given its present Arabic name of Denderah during the late Ottoman Empire and ruled 6000 inhabitants in Qena (Qeneh) district.

Titular see
Under the Latin name Tentyris, the episcopal see was nominally revived as a titular bishopric (in Curiate Italian repeatedly renamed) since 1902, but is vacant since 1972, having had the following incumbents of the fitting episcopal (lowest) rank :
 * Matteo Gaughren, Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (O.M.I.) (1902.01.13 – 1914.05.30)
 * Emile-Marie Bunoz, O.M.I. (1917.06.13 – 1945.06.03)
 * André van den Bronk, Society of African Missions (S.M.A.) (1946.07.30 – 1952.05.15)
 * Teodoro Bensch (1956.12.01 – 1958.01.07)
 * Jean-Rosière-Eugène Arnaud, Paris Foreign Missions Society (M.E.P.) (1958.03.02 – 1972.09.11).

Climate
This area has a large amount of sunshine year round due to its stable descending air and high pressure. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Dendera has a hot desert climate, abbreviated "BWh" on climate maps.

Sources and external links

 * GigaCatholic, listing the titular bishops
 * GigaCatholic, listing the titular bishops