• Dendera Temple Complex - Your journey begins with a pickup from your hotel in Cruise in Safaga, courtesy of a Marsa Alam tours guide. Following this, you’ll embark on a drive to the Dendera temple, arriving at 08:30. Accompanied by an Egyptologist, you’ll be given a detailed account of the temple’s storied past.

Dendera temple
The Temple of Hathor primarily dates back to the Late Ptolemaic period, with its construction attributed to the era of Ptolemy XII and Cleopatra VII. Subsequent enhancements were made during the Roman era. Despite being erected by rulers not originally from Egypt, the temple’s architecture aligns with traditional Egyptian temple designs, except for the hypostyle hall’s facade, which an inscription attributes to Emperor Tiberius.

Hathor, revered as a deity of healing, is celebrated within the temple complex, which houses a sanatorium. Pilgrims would travel here seeking healing from the goddess.

• Abydos - The journey continues from Dendera to the Abydos temple. Abydos stands as a pivotal archaeological site in Ancient Egypt, home to numerous venerable temples, including Umm el-Qa’ab, a royal burial ground for early pharaohs. These graves gained prominence over time, and the desire to be interred nearby elevated the town’s status as a religious hub.

Presently, Abydos is renowned for the memorial temple of Seti I, featuring the Abydos King List, a nineteenth dynasty artifact listing Egyptian pharaohs from Menes to Ramesses I. Much of the ancient city, including the Great Temple, lies beneath modern structures north of the Seti temple. Regrettably, many of the initial edifices and their contents are considered lost, with some likely destroyed by ongoing development.

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