Deir el-Medina Monastery

Yes, I recognize the redundancy in the title of this post that literally means Monastery of the City Monastery. I did that just to distinguish this part of the archaeological site from the rest. The 1st 2 pictures look at the remains of the Coptic monastery.
The monastery was built around a Temple to Hathor that itself was built upon several earlier temples. The small but rather well preserved temple dates to the Ptolemaic period, with construction beginning in the 3rd century BCE.
The 3rd picture looks into the temple through the hypostyle hall. Notice the columns with papyrus capitals. The door to the rear leads to a hall with 3 chapels, the central one that is dedicated to Hathor, is in the 4th picture.
The 5th picture is of a sacred scarab being worshipped by 2 women. This is identified as Greco-Roman as the women are naked. In earlier Egyptian art, the women are clothed.
The last picture is of some more of the wall art. At top of the picture are the goddesses Maat and Hathor. Below them is the god Anubis and pharaoh.Read more