Dendera Light

In the crypts beneath the Temple of Hathor at Dendera, a carved relief shows priests holding a large, bulb-shaped object with a wavy serpent inside, supported on a pillar. Fringe theories have seized on it as an ancient 'electric light bulb', proof of lost technology, but Egyptologists read it clearly through its accompanying hieroglyphs as a mythological scene: a lotus flower giving birth to a snake, a symbol of creation.

Myths aside, the relief is a genuine highlight of one of Egypt's best-preserved temples. Dendera dazzles with its astronomical ceiling, colour still clinging to the columns, and hidden crypts you can duck into. The 'light' is a fun puzzle, but the whole temple is the real marvel.