The Ancient Egyptians held deep and complex beliefs concerning the fate of the body and soul after death. Though these beliefs often varied from region to region within the empire, the Egyptians as a whole shared in the knowledge that the essence of a man did not cease to be when his body died. The Underworld was a place very similar to the everyday world, but a place where existence was carried out in the presence of the Gods. In the afterlife, people were still expected to work, worship, and continue their lives much as they had on Earth. Firm belief in the continuation of existence beyond death led to the necessary development of elaborate funerary arts that were designed to provide the required tools and attributes for a successful existence in the Underworld.
This collection of beliefs, like most other aspects of Egyptian culture, underwent a series of changes throughout Egyptian history. The earliest belief systems were simple and clear, with the body of the dead being returned to the land under the watchful eyes of the gods. As Egyptian culture progressed toward the height of their civilization, beliefs became more and more complex. As the complexity of ideas increased so to the need for funerary preparations to ensure the safety and continued well-being of the deceased. Further complexities occurred when Osiris and Re were integrated into beliefs about the afterlife. With this addition, all aspects of funerary belief became the domain of Osiris. His mythic role as the resurrected God became an important illustration of the prospect of resurrection in the afterlife for all men. The result of this synthesis of complex and often contradictory beliefs was an Egyptian religious structure involving a deeply held system of beliefs that had their roots in several prehistoric and early dynastic cultural practices.[1]
Egyptian history consists of countless eventful and important eras. In this work, I will concentrate specifically on the transition from the New Kingdom into the Late Period of Egyptian history; with dates ranging from 1080 to 525 B.C.E.[2] This period included several instances of considerable historical and political upheaval in the Egyptian world. The later phases of the New Kingdom saw the development of new innovations in coffins, including elaborate coffin cases and cartonnage[3], as well as the first significant uses of shabtis, figures created and placed in tombs to act as stand-ins for the dead when work was required of them in the afterlife.[4] The end of the New Kingdom and transition into the Late Period was a time of tension as well as of marked political success.
This particular era saw the development of new political structures that would prove more successful and longer lasting than their predecessors.[5] It was also the beginning of significant foreign influence and, in some cases, rule within Egyptian lands. Evidence of foreign impact is exposed in the depiction of foreigners in funerary and popular art.[6] During this time several innovations were made in the funerary process, including revolutions in coffin design and material as well as changes in funerary objects.
One important addition to the decorative aspect of funerary arts, and specifically coffin decoration, during this period was the djed-pillar. An important symbol, it appears in Egyptian art as a column topped by at least three short cross-bars.[7] Djed, also standing in as the Egyptian word for "to speak" or "to declare", was the sacred word incarnate. In its verb form it became the definition of stability and strength.[8] The djed-pillar itself was not new to Egyptian art and religion, but began as an architectural element in the Third Dynasty.[9] In fact, it has been suggested that the use of free-standing pillars in Egyptian architecture began with the djed-pillar.[10] As building construction expanded beyond simple early forms, the wider djed columns provided a strong basis of support for larger and heavier roofing systems.
Originally made from bound bundles of reeds, fastening bands created hanging ends that, when recreated in stone, would create the familiar arms of the djed-pillar.[11]
The emergence of this important symbol was soon expanded beyond the realm of architectural elements to include both funerary arts and jewelry for the living and dead. Djed-pillars have been found in Third Dynasty funerary wall paintings, where they are shown in the function of structural supports that elevate the heavens and delineate the border between the lands of the pharaoh and the world beyond pharaonic influence.[12]
The Egyptian Old Kingdom employed the djed-pillar in several forms, including amulets worn by everyone, living or dead. The Egyptians placed enormous emphasis on the importance and power of amulets. These small sculptural forms served as direct connections to the power and protection of the gods. In a world wrought with dangers, both spiritual and physical, amulets lent protection from the divine. Egyptian amulets date as far back as the Neolithic period, and were fashioned in the form of animals, gods, and humans.[13] Djed-pillar amulets, appearing as during the late Old Kingdom, were made of countless materials with their color or attributes often meant to encourage certain aspects of the amulet itself. Often the material chosen depended directly on the financial state of the owner, with faience or semi-precious stones used as replacements for precious gold. Though gold was the recommended material for the depiction of the djed-pillar because it would not tarnish[14], popular substitutions included glazed glass and lapis lazuli in shades of blue and green for regeneration, cornelian for new life, and yellow in imitation of gold.[15] The abundance and variety of materials used illustrate the urgency to include the djed-pillar regardless of financial or social standing.
The association with Osiris, god of the dead, made the djed-pillar one of the most common funerary amulets in Egypt.[16] The djed-pillar has been found in association with numerous mummies and in various gravesites from a range of time periods beginning in the Third Dynasty. The first appearance was in connection with the god Sokaris, who served as the funerary god of Memphis.[17] The mummy of Tutankhamun, the boy king, included two gold djed-pillars placed around the neck of his mummy.[18] Though extremely popular as an amulet, the djed-pillar originally transitioned from its use as an architectural form into an important part of religious and social festivals.
Ancient Egyptian culture, almost entirely dependent on agricultural cycles, also incorporated the djed-pillar into agricultural festivals. Farming was the central activity for most Egyptians, and was centered on the important cycles of the inundation of the Nile. The height of the flooding period marked the depositing of rich mineral resources on crop lands and, therefore, the beginning of an important soughing time for Egyptian crops. Festivals were celebrated during this season to encourage the health and success of the crops. During the festival of Sokar, a god of the Earth, pack animals ritually plowed the land in preparation for the burial of Osiris. At this festival the djed-pillar was raised as a symbol of renewal and strength.[19] Many studies of the festival rites of the Egyptians have also suggested that this festival, or perhaps another with similar practices involved, was performed in direct connection with the kingship and, specifically, at the beginning of each new king's reign.[20] The raising of the djed-pillar would have been directly overseen by the king, who was directly equated with a god on Earth. The djed would have been an identifiable symbol of the power of the king.
The djed-pillar's power passed through the hands of many gods in its way to an eventual association with the great Osiris.
From its beginnings with Sokaris of Memphis, it was passed on as an attribute of Ra and then distributed into the powerful hands of Ptah, also of Memphis. The pillar may have originally been named for the god Djed, who was absorbed into the identity of Ptah.[21] In this aspect it became a member of an important trio of symbols, including the was
and the ankh, which stood for life, stability, and serenity.[22] Ptah was often shown in paintings and statuary in possession of the was-scepter, ankh, and djed-pillar.[23]
Shortly after this period, myths of the god Osiris began to spread widely from their original source within a Syrian agricultural cult.[24] The first connections between the djed-pillar and Osiris were expressed in the identification of the pillar with the tree that grew around the coffin of Osiris. This association was illustrated in the festivals at Memphis, where the raising of the djed-pillar was directly associated with agricultural rites and crop success. Identification with a tree is further supported by New Kingdom illustrations showing the djed pillar as it is carved from wood.[25] In Busiris, a town known for the celebration of the djed-pillar ceremony in a more religious context, the symbol came to represent the backbone of the god Osiris as well as a phallic symbol representing his mythical post-mortem relations with his wife, Isis.[26]
New Kingdom funerary art began to include the djed-pillar in amuletic as well as pictorial artistic contexts. Tomb sites from the New Kingdom period show frequent portrayals of the djed-pillar in festival scenes, as companions to the dead, and as symbols carried by the gods. Late New Kingdom
coffins, whose interiors were showing increasingly numerous and complex decorative motifs, began to include the djed-pillar on the floor of the coffin. This placement emphasized its connection with the backbone of Osiris by lining up the image with the spine of the mummy.[27] This connection linked the dead directly to the identity, power, and resurrection of Osiris himself. Coffins often included the djed-pillar in lid illustrations as well.
The tomb of Sennefer shows the deceased man standing before the personified djed-pillar as a symbol of the strength it will provide for him in the afterlife.[28] Here the djed serves as a companion to Sennefer, offering its power to aid in his journey to the Underworld. A second New Kingdom
tomb shows the erection of the djed pillar during the sed festival in honor of Ptah-Sokar-Osiris. The honoring of multiple gods as a single conglomerate was extremely common in Egyptian worship and, in this instance, included the djed-pillar as a symbol of an Osirian victory over the deceitful Seth, his brother and murderer.[29] Seth, though a god himself, was often seen as a source of negative energy because of his jealous murder of Osiris. Seth, like Judas in Christian mythology, performed an evil deed that brought about a necessary resurrection that made the afterlife an immediate possibility for all mankind. During these festivals, honor was given to the great Osiris, with the djed-pillar standing in as a symbol of his rebirth. According to G. D. Hornblower, the pillar itself would have been raised not for Osiris, who was already dead and a lord in the Underworld, but for the reigning king who embodied Horus.[30] The festival itself is preserved in great detail in this particular burial chamber, with wall paintings illustrating the efforts of singers, dancers, priests, and hand maidens in the service of the gods.
Several royal burial chambers have been found to include elaborate structures of magical protection using the aid of the djed-pillar.
Squares were constructed from unbaked mud bricks and were placed within tombs, each brick supporting an amulet and holding a relevant funerary text, in order to provide the deceased with a protective barrier against unwanted magic. The djed-pillar served an important role in this structure, resting atop one of the four bricks, as a symbol of strength and stability.[31] The role of the djed-pillar in Egyptian funerary arts would take another turn with its inclusion in the Book of the Dead.
Though the Egyptians had no single text considered as an overarching religious authority, the Book of the Dead became a respected text that the Egyptians sought to include in their burial arrangements. The earliest known examples of written text from the Book of the Dead have been dated to the mid-fifteenth century but were likely predated by oral traditions that included the spells later copied into text.[32] Spells from this text were often used as amulets for both the living and the dead.[33] Texts from the Book of the Dead were included in burial practices by means of wall paintings, amulets in mummy wrappings, and actual copies of the text included with mummies. The importance of the inclusion of these spells was to provide the dead with instructions for how to survive in the world beyond. By making use of the Book of the Dead spells, the deceased was offered detailed instructions on how to avoid countless dangers and pitfalls during the journey to the Underworld.[34] Theses sacred texts also served as important tools for the priests in the preparation of the body of the deceased. Spells for amulets, specific body parts, and necessary actions were included for the priests to say over the body as it was prepared for its final journey.
The djed-pillar appears directly in the Book of the Dead, where it is unequivocally linked to the backbone of Osiris. Spell 155, one of the spells included for use by the priests during mummification, instructs the priest to read a particular spell over a djed-pillar to provide strength in the resurrection of the body on the other side.
Raise yourself, O Osiris. Place yourself on your side, that I may put water beneath you and that I may bring you a djed-pillar of gold so that you may rejoice at it. Spell 155[35]
Chapter CLV of the Book of the Dead includes another exhortation to Osiris, here emphasizing the importance of the djed-pillar in its role as a strengthener of the dead:
Thy backbone is thine, thou who art of the still heart; it is granted in thy place. I give unto thee thy needful humour. I bring unto thee the djed, whereupon thou rejoicest. These are the words to speak over a gilded djed made from the heart of a sycamore and placed on the neck of the glorified one. Then he shall enter through the door of Duat[36]
In these texts the importance of the djed-pillar lies in its use by the dead as a source of strength and power, this granting the deceased the ability to make the journey to the underworld and to take part in the required activities once he has arrived there.
The djed-pillar served as a power source that provided the bearer with the power and limited attributes of the divine. Through the representation of an aspect of the god, whether it was Sokaris, Ptah, or Osiris, those who possessed the djed possessed a small degree of the power the gods could invoke. Whether the djed was in the form of an amulet, or a painting where it was depicted in the company of the deceased, the djed-pillar carried connotations of strength, stability, rebirth, and power over death itself.
Endnotes
[1]George Posener, Dictionary of Egyptian Civilization (New York: Tudor Publishing Company, 1959), 98.
[2] A. Rosalie David, The Egyptian Kingdoms
(New York: Equinox Books, 1975), 75.
[3] Barbara Watterson, The Egyptians (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1997), 188.
[4]William C. Hayes, The Scepter of Egypt: A Background for the Study of the Egyptian Antiquities in the Metropolitan
Museum of Art. Part II: The Hyksos Period and the New Kingdom (New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1959), 324.
[5]Jan Assmann, The Mind of Egypt (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2002), 287.
[6] A. Rosalie David, The Ancient Egyptians: Religious Beliefs and Practices (New York: Routledge, 1982), 150.
[7]Ian Shaw and Paul Nicholson, The British Museum
Dictionary of Ancient Egypt
(London, British Museum
Press, 2002), 86.
[8]Vincent Bridges, The Path of Ausar and the Mysteries of Resurrection, http://www.vincentbridges.com/Egypt/ausar.html
[9]Car ol Andrews, Amulets of Ancient Egypt, (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994), 83.
[10]John Irwin, "Asokan Pillars: A Reassessment of the Evidence-II: Structure," The Burlington
Magazine 116, no. 861 (1974): 712.
[11] G. D. Hornblower, "Osiris and His Rites, II." Man 37 (1937): 173.
[12]James Hall, Illustrated Dictionary of Symbols in Eastern and Western Art, (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1996), 77.
[13]Migene Gonzalez-Wippler, Complete Book of Amulets and Talismans (St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 2003), 18.
[14]Carol Andrews, Turquoise djed pillar amulet, http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/compass/ixbin/hixc lient.exe?_IXDB_=compass&_IXFIRST_=1&_IXMAXHITS_=1&_IXSPFX_=graphical/full/&with+all_unique_id_index+is+$=OBJ6026&submit-button=summary.
[15]Andrews, Amulets, 83.
[16]Ibid.
[17]Carol Andrews, Egyptian Mummies (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2004), 41.
[18] Christine El Mahdy, Mummies, Myth and Magic in Ancient Egypt
(New York: Thames and Hudson, 1989), 150.
[19]Hermann Kees, Ancient Egypt: A Cultural Typography
(Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1961), 56.
[20]Bridget McDermott, Decoding Egyptian Hieroglyphs: How to Read the Secret Language of the Pharaohs (San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2000) 32.
[21] Stephanie Rossini and Ruth Schumann-Antelme, Illustrated Hieroglyphics Handbook (New York: Sterling Publishing Company, 1998), 92.
[22]Bridges, Path of Ausar, http://www.vincentbridges.com/Egypt/ausar.html
[23]Ea rl L. Ertman, "The Earliest Known Three-Dimensional Representation of the God Ptah," Journal of Near Eastern Studies
3, no. 2 (1972): 2.
[24]April McDevitt, Ancient Egypt: The Mythology, http://www.egyptianmyths.net/djed.htm
[25] Jane Sellers, The Death of Gods in Ancient Egypt
(New York: Penguin Books, 1992), 116.
[26]Robert A. Armour, Gods and Myths of Ancient Egypt (New York: American
University in Cairo Press, 2001), 67.
[27] Shaw, Dictionary, 68.
[28]Sigrid Hodel-Hoenes, Life and Death in Ancient Egypt: Scenes from Private Tombs in New Kingdom Thebes (Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press, 2000) 136.
[29]Ibid, 222.
[30]Hornblower, "Osiris", 173.
[31]John H. Taylor, Death and the Afterlife in Ancient Egypt (London: British
Museum Press, 2001), 208.
[32] R. O. Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1990), 11.
[33]Geraldine Pinch, Magic in Ancient Egypt
(Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1995), 111.
[34]George Posener, Dictionary of Egyptian Civilization (New York: Tudor Publishing Company, 1959), 32.
[35]Faulkner, Book of the Dead, 155.
[36] Alfred Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyptians (Mineola, NY:
Dover
Publications, 2003), 290.