Heka (; ; Coptic:
hik
'; also transliterated Hekau) was the

deification Apotheosis (, ), also called divinization or deification (), is the glorification of a subject to divine levels and, commonly, the treatment of a human being, any other living thing, or an abstract idea in the likeness of a deity. The origina ...

of magic and medicine in

ancient Egypt Ancient Egypt () was a cradle of civilization concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in Northeast Africa. It emerged from prehistoric Egypt around 3150BC (according to conventional Egyptian chronology), when Upper and Lower E ...

. The name is the Egyptian word for "magic". According to Egyptian literature (Coffin text, spell 261), Heka existed "before duality had yet come into being''.''" The term ''ḥk3'' was also used to refer to the practice of magical rituals.

Name

The name Heka is identical with the Egyptian word ''ḥkꜣ(w)'' "magic". This hieroglyphic spelling includes the symbol for the word ''ka'' (''kꜣ''), the ancient Egyptian concept of the vital force. Due to the importance placed onto names in ancient Egypt Heka was often incorporated into personal names. Some examples include: Hekawy, Hekaf, or simply Heka. The goddess

Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...

is also sometimes affiliated with Heka being titled Weret Hekau, Great Lady of magic.

Beliefs

The Old Kingdom

Pyramid Texts The Pyramid Texts are the oldest ancient Egyptian funerary texts, dating to the late Old Kingdom. They are the earliest known corpus of ancient Egyptian religious texts. Written in Old Egyptian, the pyramid texts were carved onto the subterranea ...

depict ''Heka'' as a supernatural energy that the gods possess. The "cannibal pharaoh" must devour other gods to gain this magical power. Eventually, Heka was elevated to a deity in his own right, and a cult devoted to him developed.

Creation myths

By the time of the Coffin Texts, Heka is said to have been created at the beginning of time by the creator

Atum Atum (, Egyptian: ''jtm(w)'' or ''tm(w)'', ''reconstructed'' ; Coptic ''Atoum''), sometimes rendered as Atem, Temu, or Tem, is the primordial God in Egyptian mythology from whom all else arose. He created himself and is the father of Shu and ...

. Sometimes also being personified as the creator god, presented as a man or child and in some imagery holding two snakes. Heka is also said to be one of the three facets of the creator along with sia and hu.

General myths

Heka is later depicted as part of the tableau of the divine

solar barque thumb Solar barques were the vessels used by the sun god Ra in ancient Egyptian mythology. During the day, Ra was said to use a vessel called the Mandjet () or the Boat of Millions of Years (), and the vessel he used during the night was known ...

and as a protector of

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wikt:wsjr, wsjr'') was the ancient Egyptian deities, god of fertility, agriculture, the Ancient Egyptian religion#Afterlife, afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He was ...

Duat The Duat or Tuat (Ancient Egyptian: Hieroglyph: 𓇽 romanized: dwꜣt) is a concept in ancient Egyptian mythology involving death. It is most often seen as a realm where people go after they die. Due to linguistic shifts within Ancient Egypt, th ...

capable of blinding crocodiles. Then, during the

Ptolemaic dynasty The Ptolemaic dynasty (; , ''Ptolemaioi''), also known as the Lagid dynasty (, ''Lagidai''; after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal house which ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Ancient Egypt during the Hellenistic period. ...

, Heka's role was to proclaim the pharaoh's enthronement as a son of Isis, holding him in his arms. Heka also appears as part of a divine triad in

Esna Esna ( , or ; ''Snē'' from ''tꜣ-snt''; ''Latópolis'' or (''Pólis Látōn'') or (''Lattōn''); Latin: ''Lato'') is a city of Egypt. It is located on the west bank of the Nile some south of Luxor. The city was formerly part of the ...

, Ptolemaic and Roman capital of the Third Nome of the

Thebaid The Thebaid or Thebais (, ''Thēbaïs'') was a region in ancient Egypt, comprising the 13 southernmost nome (Egypt), nomes of Upper Egypt, from Abydos, Egypt, Abydos to Aswan. Pharaonic history The Thebaid acquired its name from its proximit ...

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ', shortened to , , locally: ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the Nile River valley south of the delta and the 30th parallel North. It thus consists of the entire Nile River valley from Cairo south to Lake N ...

, where he is the son of ram-headed

Khnum Khnum, also romanised Khnemu (; , ), was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities in Upper Egypt, originally associated with the Nile cataract. He held the responsibility of regulating the annual inundation of the river, emanating from the ca ...

and a succession of goddesses. His mother was alternately said to be Nebetu'u (a form of

Hathor Hathor (, , , Meroitic language, Meroitic: ') was a major ancient Egyptian deities, goddess in ancient Egyptian religion who played a wide variety of roles. As a sky deity, she was the mother or consort of the sky god Horus and the sun god R ...

), lion-headed Menhit, and the cow goddess Mehet-Weret, before settling on

Neith Neith (, a borrowing of the Demotic (Egyptian), Demotic form , also spelled Nit, Net, or Neit) was an ancient Egyptian deity, possibly of Ancient Libya, Libyan origin. She was connected with warfare, as indicated by her emblem of two crossed b ...

, a war and mother goddess. Werethekau whose name means "she who has great magic" is also sometimes connected with the force of Heka. As Egyptologist Ogden Goelet (1994) explains, magic in the ''

Book of the Dead The ''Book of the Dead'' is the name given to an Ancient Egyptian funerary texts, ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom of Egypt, New Kingdom (around 1550 BC) to around 50 BC ...

'' is problematic: The text uses various words corresponding to 'magic', for the Egyptians thought magic was a legitimate belief. As Goelet explains:

Gallery

Esna Tempel 13 Heka.jpg, Relief of Heka at the Temple of Esna Heka.jpg, Heka (ḥkꜣ) Heka (magical form).png, Heka, holding two serpents crossing each other with the hind of a lion on nome standard represent his name on his head in the magical form

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Heka (God) Egyptian gods Health gods Magic gods Nubian gods ca:Llista de personatges de la mitologia egípcia#H