Printout
For best results save the whole webpage (pictures included) onto your hard disk, open the page with Word 97 or higher, edit if necessary and print. Printing using the browser's print function is not recommended. |
 |
The Djed-pillarThe Djed-pillar, Egyptian ,[1] is an ancient symbol for stability and endurance. It is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom:
You shall emerge as Horus-of-the-Underworld at the head of those who never set and sit on your metal throne above the your canal belonging to the watery region (of the heavens), living like an ankh-beetle, enduring like a djed-pillar.The djed's magic could enhance endurance and stability of persons, institutions like the kingship, and of physical structures. One assumes that the djed-signs engraved on columns were hoped to improve the stability of the building.[3] Origin
Nekhbet, the White One of Nekhen, may she grant life, stability and power like Re. Divine associationsIt was the Memphite god Tatenen who brought the djed-pillar into this world.[10] Originally Sokar was associated with the Djed-pillar, later Ptah, who merged with Tatenen, became identified with Sokar and received the title of Noble Djed. Ptah was depicted as a mummy holding in his hand a sceptre which combined ankh, djed and was.[11] As early as the Old Kingdom there was a priest of the Noble Djed at Memphis.[12]Eventually, during the New Kingdom, the djed became a symbol of the Osirian cult and was referred to as the backbone of Osiris in the Book of the Dead. The murder of Osiris by his brother Seth was obliquely referred to as Seth having laid the djed on his side. By raising the djed Horus helped his father to rise from the dead.[6] In coffins there was at times a picture of a djed-pillar painted below the deceased's back where it could protect his backbone and help in his resurrection. In the Osirian context the djed was at times shown with human arms holding royal insignia of power,[4] this god having been ruler of the world. Rituals
O Thoth, who justifies Osiris against his enemies, justify NN against his enemies in the great Court at Busiris,[19] in that night of the Raising of the Djed-pillar at Busiris.The djed was connected with fertility and conserved the fruitfulness of the grain.[12] The festival of the Raising of the Djed took place on the first day of Shemu, the ritual harvest season. People came to venerate the Djed and then reenacted the mythological battle between good and evil as part of the festivities and oxen were driven around the walls of Memphis.[15] The Raising of the Djed was also part of the Heb-Sed, the rejuvenation ceremony performed mostly by aging pharaohs at varying intervals, by which their waning powers were to be restored.[6] Amulets
On shall say this charm over a djed amulet of faience, the engravings of which are (inlaid with) electrum, covered in byssus, while causing unguent to drip over it, tied to a brick of fresh clay.The art of coffin decoration became highly developed during the 21st dynasty, and after its decline by the beginning of the 22nd dynasty beautiful cartonnage cases were being created, which also often showed winged deities and djed-symbols.[18] |
|
Footnotes:
[1] MdC transliteration Dd, Wb vol. 5, 626.11-627.4 [2] After a transliteration and German translation on the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae web site, D. Topmann (ed.): Altägyptisches Wörterbuch, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (accessed 23rd June 2010) => Pyramidentexte => Pyramide Pepis I. => Sargkammer => Südwand => östl. Fläche => PT 537 [3] Shaw & Nicholson 1995, p.71 [4] Shaw & Nicholson 1995, p.86 [5] Lurker 1998, p.64 [6] Pinch 2004, p.127f. [7] One of the Egyptian terms for backbone is Dd , Wb 5, 627.12 [8] Andrew H. Gordon and Calvin W. Schwabe, The Quick and the Dead, Brill 2004 [9] After a transliteration and German translation on the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae web site, I. Hafemann (ed.): Altägyptisches Wörterbuch, Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften (accessed 24th June 2010) => Historisch-rhetorische Königstexte (19.Dynastie) => Karnak => Tempel des Amun => Hypostyl (Aussen)/Nordwand => Ostseite => 1. Unteres Register Kriegszug von Sile nach Kanaan [10] Bunson 1991, p.396 [11] Shaw & Nicholson 1995, p.230 [12] Lurker 1998, 64f. [13] Bunson, p.290 [14] After a transliteration and German translation on the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae web site, D. Topmann (ed.): Totenbuchprojekt, Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften (accessed 23rd June 2010) => pKairo CG 51189 (pJuja) => Tb 018 [15] Bunson p.101 [16] Bunson, p.35 [17] After a transliteration and German translation on the Thesaurus Linguae Aegyptiae web site, D. Topmann (ed.): Totenbuchprojekt, Nordrhein-Westfälische Akademie der Wissenschaften (accessed 23rd June 2010) => pKairo CG 51189 (pJuja) => Tb 151 [18] Bard & Shubert 1999, p.68 [19] Djedu, the cult centre of Osiris in Lower Egypt Bibliography: Bard & Shubert 1999 Bunson 1991 Lurker 1998 Geraldine Pinch, Egyptian mythology: a guide to the gods, goddesses, and traditions of ancient Egypt, Oxford University Press US, 2004 Shaw and Nicholson 1995 | ||
|
|
A somewhat battered amulet eight centimetres tall, showing a was-sceptre, a djed-pillar and an ankh-sign on top of a neb-basket.
Raising the djed-pillar, Abydos