thumb|right|100px|The djed, an ancient Egyptian symbol meaning 'stability', is the symbolic [[vertebral column|backbone of the god Osiris.|class=skin-invert-image]]
The djed, also djt ( 𓊽, Coptic jōt "pillar", anglicized /dʒɛd/) is one of the more ancient and commonly found symbols in ancient Egyptian religion. It is a pillar-like symbol in Egyptian hieroglyphs representing stability. It is associated with the creator god Ptah and Osiris, the Egyptian god of the afterlife, the underworld, and the dead. It is commonly understood to represent his spine.
Myth
In the Osiris myth, Osiris was killed by Set by being tricked into a coffin made to fit Osiris exactly. Set then had the coffin with the now deceased Osiris flung into the Nile. The coffin was carried by the Nile to the ocean and on to the city of Byblos in Lebanon. It ran aground and a sacred tree took root and rapidly grew around the coffin, enclosing the coffin within its trunk. The king of the land, intrigued by the tree's quick growth, ordered the tree cut down and installed as a pillar in his palace, unaware that the tree contained Osiris's body.
Meanwhile, Isis searched for Osiris aided by Anubis, and discovered Osiris's location in Byblos. Isis maneuvered herself into the favor of the king and queen and was granted a boon. She asked for the pillar in the palace hall, and upon being granted it, extracted the coffin from the pillar. She then consecrated the pillar, anointing it with myrrh and wrapping it in linen. This pillar came to be known as the pillar of djed.
Origin and development
[[Image:Seal ring Ptah the one with durable favours N2080 mp3h8731.jpg|thumb|200px|Seal ring featuring the inscription ptḥ ḏd ḥzwt "Ptah, the one with durable favors"
Hieroglyphs (read from right, top): [the creator god] Ptah (ptḥ) [gives] enduring (djed) favors (i.e. libation offerings, expressed with the biliteral ḥz depicted triply for plural).
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The djed may originally have been a fertility cult-related pillar made from reeds or sheaves or a totem from which sheaves of grain were suspended or grain was piled around. Erich Neumann remarks that the djed pillar is a tree fetish, which is significant considering that Egypt was primarily treeless. He indicates that the myth may represent the importance of the importation of trees by Egypt from Syria. The djed came to be associated with Seker, the falcon god of the Memphite Necropolis, then with Ptah, the Memphite patron god of craftsmen. Ptah was often referred to as "the noble djed", and carried a scepter that was a combination of the djed symbol and the ankh, the symbol of life. Andrew Hunt Gordon and Calvin W. Schwabe speculated that the ankh, djed, and was symbols have a biological basis derived from ancient cattle culture (linked to the Egyptian belief that semen was created in the spine), thus:
- the ankh, symbol of life, thoracic vertebra of a bull (seen in cross section)
- the djed, symbol of stability, based on sacrum of a bull's spine
- the was-sceptre, symbol of power and dominion, a staff featuring the head and tail of the god Set, "great of strength"
Hieroglyphic usage
The djed hieroglyph was a pillar-like symbol that represented stability. It was also sometimes used to represent Osiris himself, often combined "with a pair of eyes between the crossbars and holding the crook and flail." The djed hieroglyph is often found together with the tyet (also known as Isis knot) hieroglyph, which is translated as life or welfare. The djed and the tyet used together may depict the duality of life. The tyet hieroglyph may have become associated with Isis because of its frequent pairing with the djed.
Ceremonial usage
thumb|right|200px|A scene on the west wall of the [[Osiris Hall at Abydos shows the raising of the Djed pillar.]]
thumb|Limestone [[pyramidion. Curved sides, no hieroglyphic inscriptions. Relief showing arms of djed holding sun disc. Two adoring baboons. From Gurob, Faiyum. Dynasty XIX. Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, London]]
The djed was an important part of the ceremony called "raising the djed", which was a part of the celebrations of the Sed festival, the Egyptian jubilee celebration. The act of raising the djed has been explained as representing Osiris's triumph over Seth. Ceremonies in Memphis are described where the pharaoh, with the help of the priests, raised a wooden djed column using ropes. The ceremony took place during the period when fields were sown and the year's agricultural season would begin, corresponding to the month of Koiak, the fourth month of the Season of the Inundation. This ceremony was a part of one of the more popular holidays and celebrations of the time, a larger festival dedicated to Osiris conducted from the 13th to 30th day of the Koiak. Celebrated as it was at that time of the year when the soil and climate were most suitable for agriculture, the festival and its ceremonies can be seen as an appeal to Osiris, who was the God of vegetation, to favor the growth of the seeds sown, paralleling his own resurrection and renewal after his murder by Seth. Walters Art Museum.]]
There is also a scene depicted in the tomb to the right of the above scene which has not been well preserved. Hodel-Hoenes explains that it once showed the pharaoh, accompanied by his queen, using a rope to raise the djed pillar. Three men, probably priests of the temple of Memphis, help him in the process. A fourth priest was seen supporting the pillar. Various offerings were presented before the pillar below the ropes. The pharaoh and his queen are each accompanied by four pairs of young women resembling those of the sed-festival. Each of these women is rattling a Hathor sistrum, a musical instrument for percussion with a U-shaped handle and frame seen as resembling the face and horns of the cow goddess Hathor, while holding a menat, a protective amulet associated with Hathor, in the other hand. A line of hieroglyphs running just above the girls' heads in each row of women says, "Children of the king praising (or charming) the noble djed pillar." Hodel-Hoenes interprets this as identifying the girls as the daughters of Amenhotep III. Katherine Harper and Robert Brown also discuss a possible strong link between the djed column and the concept of kundalini in yoga.
Photo galleries
See also
- Dendera light, an inscription including a djed pillar, sometimes claimed to show electric lighting