What did the temple look like?
Augustus built the Temple of Dendur by the River Nile about 80 km (50 miles) south of the town of Aswan.
He built it on a bed of rocks with cliffs behind it and used blocks of sandstone from Egyptian quaries.
A wide terrace looked out over the river. There was a gate, then an open courtyard and the temple itself at the back.
The whole structure was small, only 25 meters (82 feet) in length from the gate to the back of the temple and the cliff-face.
The porch at the front of the temple building has two columns, carved to look like tall bundles of papyrus stalks or reeds, with lotus blossoms.
These represent nature and the seasons.
Above the columns is a carving of the sun and the wings of the sky god Horus.
On the ceiling inside the porch there are carvings of vultures with their wings spread out, representing the sky.
The Egyptians respected the natural world and especially the River Nile which gave them the water they needed to live.
There are smaller entrances in the sides of the temple which have the same carving of the sun and Horus's wings.
Carved on the outside walls of these entrances are pictures of Augustus making offerings to the Egyptian gods Osiris and Horus, and the goddess Isis.
Inside the temple is a room with an alter for offerings to Isis.
The back wall of this room has carvings of Isis and the two sons of a local Nubian chief, called Pedesi and Pihor.
They had drowned and Augustus wanted to honour them because the Nubians thought of them as gods.
Augustus created a very beautiful building when he made the Temple of Dendur.
