Dendera light

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The "Dendera light", showing the single representation on the left wall of the right wing in one of the crypts

The "Dendera light" is a term used to describe a supposed ancient Egyptian electrical lighting technology depicted on three stone reliefs (one single and a double representation) in the Hathor temple at the Dendera Temple complex located in Egypt. The sculpture became notable among fringe historians because of the resemblance of the motifs to some modern electrical lighting systems.

Mainstream Egyptologists take the view that it is a typical set of symbolic images from Egyptian mythology.


Mainstream view[edit]

The view of Egyptologists is that the relief is a mythological depiction of a djed pillar and a lotus flower, spawning a snake within, representing aspects of Egyptian mythology.[1][2] The Djed pillar is a symbol of stability which is also interpreted as the backbone of the god Osiris. In the carvings the four horizontal lines forming the capital of the djed are supplemented by human arms stretching out, as if the djed were a backbone. The arms hold up the snake within the lotus flower. The snakes coming from the lotus symbolize fertility, linked to the annual Nile flood.[2]

Fringe view[edit]

In contrast to the mainstream interpretation, there is a pseudoscientific fringe hypothesis according to which the reliefs depict Ancient Egyptian electrical technology, based on comparison to similar modern devices (such as Geissler tubes, Crookes tubes, and arc lamps).[3][4] J. N. Lockyer's passing reference to a colleague's humorous suggestion that electric lamps would explain the absence of lampblack deposits in the tombs has sometimes been forwarded as an argument supporting this particular interpretation (another argument being made is the use of a system of reflective mirrors).[5] Proponents of this interpretation have also used a text referring to "high poles covered with copper plates" to argue this[6] but Dr. Bolko Stern has written in detail explaining why the copper covered tops of poles (which were lower than the associated pylons) do not relate to electricity or lightning, pointing out that no evidence of anything used to manipulate electricity had been found in Egypt and that this was a magical and not a technical installation.[7]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Wolfgang Waitkus, Die Texte in den unteren Krypten des Hathortempels von Dendera: ihre Aussagen zur Funktion und Bedeutung dieser Räume, Mainz 1997 ISBN 3-8053-2322-0 (tr., The texts in the lower crypts of the Hathor temples of Dendera: their statements for the function and meaning of these areas)
  2. ^ a b "Dendera Temple Crypt".
  3. ^ Childress, D. H. (2000). Technology of the gods: the incredible sciences of the ancients. Kempton, Ill: Adventures Unlimited Press. ISBN 0932813739
  4. ^ Electricity in ancient times. WUFOC and NÄRKONTAKT.
  5. ^ Lockyer, J. Norman (1998) [1894]. The Dawn of Astronomy. Kessinger Publishing. pp. 180–1. ISBN 1564591123. 
  7. ^ Stern, Bolko (1998) [1896]. Ägyptische Kulturgeschichte. Reprint-Verlag-Leipzig. pp. 106–108. ISBN 978-3826219085. 

External links[edit]