Temple to Hathor, Goddess of Sensual Pleasures
Nile Valley, Egypt
Before Isis, Hathor was mother goddess to the ancient Egyptians. As such she was also goddess of love, sensual pleasure, drunkenness, music and dance. At Dendera the faithful worshipped her and celebrated these attributes in what remains a wonderful, well-preserved temple.
Background
Although finds at Dendera date back to the 6th Dynasty (around 2320 BCE) the superb temple dates from around 125 BCE – recent in terms of Egyptian temple-building. At this time the Ptolemies ruled the country integrating their Greco-Roman and the local Pharaonic religions and this temple is the latest of several which were built on the site.
Hathor is represented as a woman with cows’ ears or as a cow with a disc between her horns and was a mother deity. She was also associated with joy, sensual pleasure and drunkenness as well as love and in later times became associated with the Greek Aphrodite. Her temple at Dendera was a celebration of her love for Horus, the falcon-headed god and ended with the Festival of Drunkenness.