Dendera Basilica

Department Archive
Collection Byzantine Research Fund
Reference No. BRF/01/06/01/004
Level Item
Place Dendera
Dates 26/05/1933
Donor/Creator Mileham, Dr G. S.
Scope and Content Ground plan. This is a reproduction of drawings nos. 01/07/03/01/01 and 01/07/03/01/02 (BRF nos. 01/06/01/01 and 01/06/01/02). It is signed (G.S. Meham) and dated (Oct. 1938) in pencil in the bottom right-hand corner. Copies of the drawings could be found at the Griffin Library at Hill.
Further information Dendera, a little town on the west bank of the Nile, was the capital of upper Egypt in Pharaonic times, the seat of a titular in Roman times and, very likely, of an early Byzantine bishopric. The Dendera complex, one of the most celebrated Egyptian temple complexes, was founded on Khufu (4th Egyptian Dynasty) remains, and dates, in its present form, back to Ptolemaic times. Under Emperor Tiberius, the Romans completed and enlarged the complex. Worth noting between the two birth-houses are the ruins of a Coptic basilica. The monument consists of a two-aisled nave, a trefoil shaped sanctuary and a narthex with two side-doors at the western end leading into it.