Roman birth house (

Mammisi

Denderah

)

Dendera Temple 12

To the right of the gateway there is a Roman birth house (

Mammisi

) which is often ascribed to Trajan but may also have been constructed by Nero.
The dedication inscriptions and decorations in the birth house refer to Trajan, but Nero is depicted inside the hypostyle hall of the Temple of

Hathor

making an offering of a model of the birth house implying that he was involved in its construction.
This is the latest preserved birth house and despite being built during the Roman period it largely follows the traditional Ptolemaic model.

In order to ensure that the birth house was level with the Temple of

Hathor

it was built on a raised platform with an access stair at its side.
In a break from tradition, the slabs which formed the roof were not positioned beneath the concave cavetto molding which runs around the top of the walls.
The inner sanctuary is divided into three corridors, but it is though that the left and right corridors were symbolic and decorative as they are too narrow to be practical.
There is a large false door set into the back wall of the sanctuary and a niche cut High into the wall which corresponds to the location of the niche in the Temple of

Hathor

which would have held the cult statue.
A panel from the Roman Mammisi, showing a detailed relief of the pharaoh making an offering to

Hathor

, who is suckling the young Ihy.
A second Ihy, wearing the White Crown of Upper

Egypt

, stands behind

Hathor

.
The Roman birth house is the latest preserved Temple of its type.
It was the ritual location where

Hathor

gave birth to the young Ihy, who stands for the youthful phase of the creator gods in general.
The birth house was the ritual site of the birth of Ahy (Ihy) or Hor-sema-tawy (Harsomptus - "Horus the uniter of the two lands") two youthful deities described as the sons of

Hathor

and Horus (or more specifically Horus of Behedet).
The external walls feature beautiful representations of the divine birth and childhood of these deities.
There are also numerous depictions of Bes (who was a patron of childbirth) on the capitals of the columns surrounding the birth house
Coptic Christian basilica
Beside this birth house can be seen the remains of a Coptic Christian basilica dated to the 5th century AD.
Between the Coptic church and the Temple of

Hathor

there is a smaller birth house which was built by Nectanebo I and further decorated in the Ptolemaic Period.
This building was partly demolished in order to expand the courtyard in front of the Temple of