The Djed Pillar
The columnar sign shaped like a stylised tree trunk or a stack of ribs, symbol of stability and of Osiris, whose backbone it was said to be. Set up as a temple emblem and ritually raised by the king in the sed festival to renew his reign, it was also worn as an amulet of gold or faience to give the wearer firmness of life. In the Osiris myth, Isis and Nephthys restore the god beside the pillar, and the raising of the djed in the festival of Sokar re-enacted his resurrection each year. Countless faience djed amulets survive from graves, often strung with the tjet of Isis and the ankh as a prote