What threatened the temple in the 1960s?

Flooding from the Aswan High Dam

What marks did 19th-century travelers leave on the temple?

Carved graffiti with names and dates

Temple of Dendur Quiz: Ancient Egypt Inside the Met

Egypt gave the United States a 2,000-year-old sandstone temple in 1965 as thanks for help saving Nubian monuments, and this Temple of Dendur quiz explains how it reached Manhattan. Play 10 interactive questions on Augustus, the goddess Isis, the brothers Pedesi and Pihor, the Aswan High Dam, Abu Simbel, the Sackler Wing and the graffiti carved by travelers.

Start Temple of Dendur Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Museum
Which museum houses the Temple of Dendur?
Builder
During whose reign was the temple built, around 15 BCE?
Goddess
To which goddess was the temple dedicated?
Brothers
Which two brothers were honored at Dendur?
Threat
What threatened the temple in the 1960s?
Gift
Why did Egypt give the temple to the United States?
Abu Simbel
Which famous temples were moved during the same rescue campaign?
Opened
When did the temple open to the public at the Met?
Graffiti
What marks did 19th-century travelers leave on the temple?
Material
What stone is the temple built from?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Which museum houses the Temple of Dendur?
Answer: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
It stands in the Sackler Wing in New York.
Q2: During whose reign was the temple built, around 15 BCE?
Answer: Roman emperor Augustus
Egypt was then a Roman province.
Q3: To which goddess was the temple dedicated?
Answer: Isis
It also honored two deified local brothers.
Q4: Which two brothers were honored at Dendur?
Answer: Pedesi and Pihor
They were sons of a local chieftain who drowned in the Nile.
Q5: What threatened the temple in the 1960s?
Answer: Flooding from the Aswan High Dam
Lake Nasser would have submerged it.
Q6: Why did Egypt give the temple to the United States?
Answer: As thanks for help saving Nubian monuments
US funds supported the UNESCO rescue campaign.
Q7: Which famous temples were moved during the same rescue campaign?
Answer: Abu Simbel
Engineers cut them into blocks and rebuilt them higher up.
Q8: When did the temple open to the public at the Met?
Answer: 1978
It was installed in a glass-walled gallery.
Q9: What marks did 19th-century travelers leave on the temple?
Answer: Carved graffiti with names and dates
Visitors once carved their names into the stone.
Q10: What stone is the temple built from?
Answer: Sandstone
The Met controls humidity to protect it.

Temple Of Dendur Quiz – Ancient Egypt Inside the Met

The Temple of Dendur was built around 15 BCE in Nubia, during the reign of Roman emperor Augustus. It was dedicated to the goddess Isis and to two deified local brothers, Pedesi and Pihor.

In the 1960s the Aswan High Dam threatened to flood it under Lake Nasser. An international UNESCO campaign rescued Nubian monuments such as Abu Simbel, and Egypt gave the temple to the United States in 1965 as thanks.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art installed the sandstone temple in the Sackler Wing, opening it in 1978 beside a reflecting pool. Graffiti carved by 19th-century travelers can still be seen.

What This Quiz Teaches

Art lovers and history fans will enjoy these questions.

Where the temple came from
Whom it honored
Why it was moved
How it reached New York
What visitors can see

Did You Know?

The gallery's sloping wall evokes the Nile cliffs.
The Met Gala sometimes uses the temple space.
Other Nubian temples went to Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.
Madrid's Temple of Debod was another gift.
The temple was shipped in hundreds of crates.