Dendera and Abydos Day tour

Our tour Guide will Pick up from the hotel and drive 60 KLM north of Luxor to a city called Qena where we stop to visit, Dendera temple complex (Hathor Temple) is quite large, boasting a basilica, two birth houses, a sacred lake, and numerous other temples and shrines within its walls from different ancient Egyptian eras, with monuments from the Middle Kingdom, the Ptolemaic Era, and the period of Roman provincial rule. There is evidence that the first building was around 2250 BCE, but the standing structures mostly date from the Ptolemaic era forward. In 1995 BCE, the oldest structure currently there is from Nectanebo II 345 BCE. it may be more accurate to say the structure as we know it began in 54 BCE when construction began on the Temple of Hathor, This site was the center of the cult of Hathor. With two unique things:

Happy Reunion, Hathor would journey from her temple at Dendera to spend some time with her husband, Horus, at his temple in Edfu. This “reunion” was a yearly occurrence, and at the end of the celebration, the return of Hathor to Dendera was thought to signal the official beginning of the flood season of the Nile.

The famous Zodiac of Dendera, bas-relief with human and animal figures represented a night skyscape and was found on the ceiling of a chapel in the Temple of Hathor

After we finish here, we drive further to the north to a place called Abydos where we visit The Temple of Seti at Abydos, Abydos city was the site of many ancient temples and was the burial place for the first kings of a unified Egypt. Nearby there was also a predynastic cemetery with hundreds of graves. Today we visit the Abydos temple which was built by King Seti and his son Ramses, Seti built the temple itself, while Ramses completed the decorations, the surrounding courtyards, and other works. In a hallway in the temple, there is an inscription on the wall known as the Abydos King List. This list names the most important pharaohs, according to Seti. There are a total of 76 pharaohs on the list, The list starts with Menes (Narmer) and ends with Seti. Menes was the founder of the First Dynasty and ruled until his death sometime around 3000 BCE. Seti ruled during the New Kingdom until he died in 1279 BCE. The list, therefore, records over 1,600 years of history, although with some omissions. This King List is one of only ten found in Egypt. Connected to Seti’s Temple is the Osirion, an underground chamber connected to the Nile, constructed from enormous blocks of stone. 

After visiting, drive back to Luxor and finish at your hotel, wish you enjoyed your day