Djed Pillar

"Although it was widely used as a religious icon throughout much of the history and geography of Ancient Egypt, it is still not clearly understood what the Djed was originally conceived to represent.

Typical Distinctive Features of the Djed symbol:

• 
  Four horizontal bars surmounting a vertical shaft
  
• Vertical striations between each bar
• These striations are shown in profile on the sides of the Djed creating a curved appearance
• Four bands around neck of the shaft
• Sometimes a small capital can be seen surmounting the Djed
• The Djed often stands on a rectangular base

Raymond Faulkner sees the Djed as 'a cult object resembling a tree trunk with lopped-off horizontal branches, sacred to Osiris, Ptah and Sokar'. He interprets the meaning of its use hieroglyphically as 'stable', 'enduring'.

Alan Gardiner suggests that it represents 'a column imitating a bundle of stalks tied together'. Yet he describes this hieroglyph: , the top section of the Djed as 'vertebrae conventionally depicted'. It is used in the word pesed, meaning 'back', as in 'spine'.

The reconstruction of the body of Osiris occurred at a place called Djedu,in the Delta region of Lower Egypt and it was here that the yearly ceremony of 'Raising the Djed Pillar' took place on the last day of the month of Khoiak, the eve of the agricultural New Year. The next day marked the beginning of the

Osiris-Seker entombed inside the trunk of a tree

four month long season of Pert, or 'Going Forth' during which the lands rose out of the flood waters allowing the fields to be sown.Djedu was also referred to as Per-Asar-Neb-Djedu, meaning "The House of Osiris - the Lord of Djedu".

From the descriptions above it can be understood that the general concept of the Djed symbol appears to be a combination of the backbone of Osiris, a column or pillar, and the trunk of a tree.
The mention of the place of the 'Four Pillars' is a reference to Heaven, which the Ancient Egyptians believed to rest on these four pillars.  The columns supporting the roofs of temples were often shaped like papyrus stems, hence the hieroglyphic writing of the word "pillar".

The djed-pillar was designed as a symbol of Osiris and later came to be understood as a representation of his backbone. In fact, in several Book of the Dead spells, representations of the symbol are used to help reinstate the vertebrae of the deceased and consequently revive them for his or her rebirth into the afterlife. When worn as an amulet, the symbol helped to invoke the regenerative powers of Osiris."

pyramidofman/JHU