Focus on Temple of Dendur and explain the Architecture.
The Temple of Dendur is a modest example of a temple from the Ptolemaic and Roman Periods, with roots in earlier Egyptian architectural style. Like the other temples in the region, it was designed by local Egyptian architects and constructed of Nubian sandstone blocks with a pink hue. These men would have worked with Augustus's men to develop the temple's inscriptions and carvings. The stone carvers and builders who created the temple used millennia-old Egyptian architectural esthetics and methods.The temple complex was on a 30 metres (98 ft) sandstone platform or terrace overlooking the Nile. A mud brick wall surrounded the temple complex, running 25 metres (82 ft) from the front gate to its rear and 8 metres (26 ft) tall. Now lost, the wall once controlled access to the temple complex. The gateway from the Nile was a monumental pylon that survives. The Egyptians called this gate "the Luminous Mountain Horizon". The pylon is decorated with relief carvings, has rounded tori at the corners and tops of its walls, and is capped with a cavetto cornice, a common design element in Egyptian buildings. A processional way or dromas led 30 feet (9.1 m) from the pylon across a wba (open court) to the temple building.The temple has a modest but well-executed design. It is 42.7 feet (13.0 m) long by 21.5 feet (6.6 m) wide by 16 feet (4.9 m) high. Because of the steep slope of the riverbank, the rear of the temple was set into the rocky bank. The tops and corners of its walls feature a rounded tori, traditional in ancient Egyptian design.The temple consists of three sections: the pronaos, the antechamber, and the sanctuary. The pronaos or porch is the front of the temple. It includes two highly decorated columns with composite tops depicting lotus blossoms, a style first used in Egypt between 664 and 525 BCE. Next is the antechamber or offering hall. Originally separated by wooden doors, the antechamber opens into the sanctuary where the Egyptians believed the gods resided. Inside the sanctuary was a repository stone for sacred bark and a statue niche. The back wall of the sanctuary has a hidden chamber that is 9.5 feet long by 6 feet long x 2.25 feet wide. The chamber is accessed by pivoting a block of stone on the outer southern wall. Its purpose is unknown.In the cliffs behind the temple, there was a small chamber cut into the rock face. It may have been where Pedesi and Pihor were buried or a representation of their tomb.
antechamber temple pronaos Roman Periods lotus Nile Ptolemaic relief Nubia Egypt cavetto cornice sanctuary Augustus