Dendera - Temple of Hathor

Ignoring for the moment the smaller buildings to the right of the entrance, we proceed straight ahead to the Temple of Hathor, oriented approximately north and south. This was built during the reigns of the last Ptolemies and the Emperor Augustus (first century B.C.) on the site of an earlier temple traditionally believed to date from the Old Kingdom (at least sixth Dynasty) which was altered or added to principally by the kings of the 12th Dynasty and by the great rulers of the New Kingdom (in particular Tuthmosis III and Ramesses II and III). Some of the mural reliefs were executed at still later dates. The normal colonnaded forecourt and pylons at the north entrance were never constructed. The Dendera Temple lacks the magnificence of