Ḥeḥ (''ḥḥ'', also Huh, Hah, Hauh, Huah, and Hehu) was the personification of

infinity Infinity is something which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is denoted by \infty, called the infinity symbol. From the time of the Ancient Greek mathematics, ancient Greeks, the Infinity (philosophy), philosophic ...

eternity Eternity, in common parlance, is an Infinity, infinite amount of time that never ends or the quality, condition or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside tim ...

in the Ogdoad in

ancient Egyptian religion Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of Polytheism, polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with Ancient Egyptian deities, many deities belie ...

.Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). ''The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt''. Thames & Hudson. p. 109 His name originally meant "flood", referring to the watery chaos Nu that the Egyptians believed existed before the creation of the world. The Egyptians envisioned this chaos as infinite, in contrast with the finite created world, so Heh personified this aspect of the primordial waters. Heh's female counterpart and consort was known as Hauhet, which is simply the feminine form of his name. Like the other concepts in the Ogdoad, his male form was often depicted as a

frog A frog is any member of a diverse and largely semiaquatic group of short-bodied, tailless amphibian vertebrates composing the order (biology), order Anura (coming from the Ancient Greek , literally 'without tail'). Frog species with rough ski ...

, or a frog-headed human, and his female form as a

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

or snake-headed human. The frog head symbolised fertility, creation, and regeneration, and was also possessed by the other Ogdoad males Kek, Amun, and Nun. The other common representation depicts him crouching, holding a palm stem in each hand (or just one), sometimes with a palm stem in his hair, as

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae ** List of Arecaceae genera **Palm oil * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music ...

stems represented long life to the Egyptians, the years being represented by notches on it. Depictions of this form also had a

shen ring In ancient Egypt, a shen ring was a circle with a line tangent to it, represented in hieroglyphs as a stylised loop of a rope, bound to a stick. The tool used by builders and architects. Shen rings can most often be seen in the clutches of Horu ...

at the base of each palm stem, which represented

. Depictions of Heh were also used in

hieroglyphs Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs ( ) were the formal writing system used in Ancient Egypt for writing the Egyptian language. Hieroglyphs combined ideographic, logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements, with more than 1,000 distinct characters.I ...

to represent one

million 1,000,000 (one million), or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian ''millione'' (''milione'' in modern Italian), from ''mille'', "thousand", plus the ...

, which was essentially considered equivalent to infinity in

Ancient Egyptian mathematics Ancient Egyptian mathematics is the mathematics that was developed and used in Ancient Egypt 3000 to c. , from the Old Kingdom of Egypt until roughly the beginning of Hellenistic Egypt. The ancient Egyptians utilized a numeral system for countin ...

. Thus this deity is also known as the "god of millions of years".

Origins and mythology

The primary meaning of the

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

word ''ḥeḥ'' was "million" or "millions"; a personification of this concept, Ḥeḥ, was adopted as the Egyptian god of infinity. With his female counterpart Ḥauḥet (or Ḥeḥut), Ḥeḥ represented one of the four god-goddess pairs comprising the Ogdoad, a pantheon of eight primeval deities whose worship was centred at Hermopolis Magna. The mythology of the Ogdoad describes its eight members, Heh and Hauhet, Nu and

Naunet Nu ("Watery One") or Nun ("The Inert One") (Ancient Egyptian: ; Coptic: ), in ancient Egyptian religion, is the personification of the primordial watery abyss which existed at the time of creation and from which the creator sun god Ra a ...

Amun Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt near the Libyan Desert, r ...

and Amaunet, and Kuk and Kauket, coming together in the cataclysmic event that gives rise to the sun (and its deific personification,

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 ...

). Heh sometimes helps Shu, a god associated with air, in supporting the sky goddess Nut. In the Book of the Heavenly Cow, eight Heh gods are depicted together with Shu supporting Nut, who has taken the form of a cow.

Forms and iconography

The god Ḥeḥ was usually depicted anthropomorphically, as in the hieroglyphic character, as a male figure with divine beard and lappet wig. Normally kneeling (one knee raised), sometimes in a basket—the sign for "all", the god typically holds in each hand a notched palm branch (palm rib). (These were employed in the temples for ceremonial time-keeping, which use explains the use of the palm branch as the hieroglyphic symbol for ''rnp.t'', "year"). Occasionally, an additional palm branch is worn on the god's head. In Ancient Egyptian Numerology, Gods such as Heh were used to represent numbers in a decimal point system. Particularly, the number 1,000,000 is depicted in the hieroglyph of Heh, who is in his normal seated position.

Cult and worship

The personified, somewhat abstract god of eternity Ḥeḥ possessed no known cult centre or sanctuary; rather, his veneration revolved around symbolism and personal belief. The god's image and its iconographic elements reflected the wish for millions of years of life or rule; as such, the figure of Ḥeḥ finds frequent representation in amulets, prestige items and royal iconography from the late

Old Kingdom In ancient Egyptian history, the Old Kingdom is the period spanning –2200 BC. It is also known as the "Age of the Pyramids" or the "Age of the Pyramid Builders", as it encompasses the reigns of the great pyramid-builders of the Fourth Dynast ...

period onwards. Heh became associated with the King and his quest for longevity. For instance, he appears on the tomb of King Tutankhamen, in two cartouches, where he is crowned with a winged scarab beetle, symbolizing existence and a sun disk. The placement of Heh in relation to King Tutankhamen's corpse means he will be granting him these "millions of years" into the afterlife.

Gallery

File:Tutankhamun Treasure in Paris coupe au lotus-cropped.jpg, Tutankhamun's alabaster

lotus chalice The Lotus chalice or Alabaster chalice, called the Wishing Cup by Howard Carter, derives from the Tomb of Tutankhamun, tomb of the Ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, 18th Dynasty. The object received the find ...

, with Heh being depicted atop the handles File:Bas-reliëf van Ramses II, afkomstig uit Saqqara Bas-relief de Ramesses II trouvé á Sakkara - Egypte (titel op object), RP-F-00-7966.jpg, Bas-relief of Heh File:Mirror Case & Make-up Box.jpg, The mirror case found in Tutankhamun's tomb takes the form of the god Heh. File:Pectoral of Senusret II by John Campana.jpg, A pectoral belonging to princess Sithathoriunet, daughter of Senusret II, depicting Heh between two falcons and below Senusret II's cartouche File:Silla cedro Tutankhamon.jpg, A cedar chair found in the

Tomb of Tutankhamun The tomb of Tutankhamun (reigned ), a pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty of ancient Egypt, is located in the Valley of the Kings. The tomb, also known by its List of burials in the Valley of the Kings, tomb number KV ...

, depicting Heh atop the hieroglyph for gold on the backrest File:Egyptian - Scarab with Cartouche of Thutmosis IV (1397-1388 BC) - Walters 4247 - Bottom (2).jpg, A scarab seal with the cartouche of

Thutmose IV Thutmose IV (sometimes read as Thutmosis or Tuthmosis IV, Thothmes in older history works in Latinized Greek; Ancient Egyptian: ''ḏḥwti.msi(.w)'' "Thoth is born") was the 8th Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, who ruled in approximately t ...

above the god Heh, c. 1397-1388 BCE File:Egyptian - Kneeling Heh on a Basket - Walters 48425.jpg, Kneeling Heh on a Basket File:Jewellery of Tutankhamun by M. Strasser.jpg, The God Heh from Tutankhamun's jewellery.

Bibliography

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References