THE TEMPLE OF DENDUR: A Visit to Ancient Egypt

The Temple of Dendur, soon to become a vitrine-enshrined annex to the Metropolitan Museum, goes to work as a teaching tool even before its arrival, providing a focus for yet another introduction to the culture of ancient Egypt -- the importance of the Nile, the concept of ka, the iconography of temple art. And, since the temple was actually built in Greco-Roman times, there's the story of Caesar and Cleopatra retold. Also in brief, is the background on the UNESCO-organized rescue of the statues of Rameses (which is the raison d'etre for donating the temple to the United States) and the ""Dendur Derby"" in which the Metropolitan beat out other U.S. museums for custody of the treasure. The use of Dendur as home base gives Kelen's forays into Egyptology an aura of pleasant immediacy, especially for children who will see the temple itself; for those who won't, old standbys, such as Cottrell's Land of the Pharaohs (1960), remain the preferred introduction.