Deir al-Hagar temple located south of the cultivated area of the
Dakhla Oasis about ten kilometers from el-Qasr in the desert. This is a sandstone temple erected during the reign of the Emperor Nero (54-67 AD), and decorated during the time of Vespasian (69-79 AD), Titus (79-81 AD) and Domitian (81-96 AD), who decorated he monumental gateway. Other Roman rulers made small contributions to the decorations, with the latest inscriptions dating to the 3rd century AD. The temple was mainly dedicated to the Theban triad, consisting of
Amun-Re, Mut and Khonsu, though Seth, who was the principle god of the Oasis, was also honored here. Here, Seth is depicted with a falcon head and a blue anthropomorphic body.
There are cartouches of Roman emperors on the temple walls mixed among more recent additions, for almost every traveler who came to Dakhla in the nineteenth century etched there names, There is an interesting legend surrounding the visit of Gerhard Rohlf to the temple. Local residents believe that he came to the oasis, with a treasure book in hand, to find a buried treasure. When he was unsuccessful, they believe he sacrificed one of the workers of his group to the afrit, a spirit, who was guarding the entrance to the treasury. Then he took the treasure and departed.
