![Esna Tempel 13 Heka](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Esna_Tempel_13_Heka.jpg)
![Heka](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Heka.jpg)
Heka (; egy,
ḥkꜣ(w);
Coptic
Coptic may refer to:
Afro-Asia
* Copts, an ethnoreligious group mainly in the area of modern Egypt but also in Sudan and Libya
* Coptic language, a Northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century
* Coptic alphabet ...
: ''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 term has ...
of
magic
Magic or Magick most commonly refers to:
* Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces
* Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic
* Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...
and medicine in
ancient Egypt. 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 ''ḥk3w'' "magic". This hieroglyphic spelling includes the symbol for the word
''ka'' (''kꜣ''), the ancient Egyptian concept of the vital force.
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. By the time of the
Coffin Texts
The Coffin Texts are a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary spells written on coffins beginning in the First Intermediate Period. They are partially derived from the earlier Pyramid Texts, reserved for royal use only, but contain substantial ...
, 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 or Tem, is an important deity in Egyptian mythology.
Name
Atum's name is thought to be derived from the verb ''tm'' which means 'to com ...
. Later Heka is depicted as part of the tableau of the divine
solar barge
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 ( egy, mꜥnḏt) or the Boat of Millions of Years ( egy, wjꜣ-n-ḥḥw), and the vessel he ...
as a protector of Osiris capable of blinding crocodiles. Then, during the
Ptolemaic dynasty
The Ptolemaic dynasty (; grc, Πτολεμαῖοι, ''Ptolemaioi''), sometimes referred to as the Lagid dynasty (Λαγίδαι, ''Lagidae;'' after Ptolemy I's father, Lagus), was a Macedonian Greek royal dynasty which ruled the Ptolemaic ...
, 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 ( ar, إسنا , egy, jwny.t or ; cop, or ''Snē'' from ''tꜣ-snt''; grc-koi, Λατόπολις ''Latópolis'' or (''Pólis Látōn'') or (''Lattōn''); Latin: ''Lato''), is a city of Egypt. It is located on the west bank of ...
, capital of the
Third Nome, where he is the son of ram-headed
Khnum
Khnum or also romanised Khnemu (; egy, 𓎸𓅱𓀭 ẖnmw, grc-koi, Χνοῦβις) was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities, originally the god of the source of the Nile. Since the annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt an ...
and a succession of goddesses. His mother was alternately said to be Nebetu'u (a form of
Hathor
Hathor ( egy, ḥwt-ḥr, lit=House of Horus, grc, Ἁθώρ , cop, ϩⲁⲑⲱⲣ, Meroitic: ) was a major 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 ...
), lion-headed
Menhit
Menhit (also spelt Menchit) was originally a Nubian war goddess in ancient Egyptian religion. Her name depicts a warrior status, as it means ''(she who) massacres''.
Due to the aggressive attributes possessed by and hunting methods used by l ...
, and the cow goddess
Mehetweret
Mehet-Weret or Mehturt ( egy, mḥt-wrt) is an ancient Egyptian deity of the sky in ancient Egyptian religion. Her name means "Great Flood".
She was mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. In ancient Egyptian creation myths, she gives birth to the sun ...
, before settling on
Neith
Neith ( grc-koi, Νηΐθ, a borrowing of the Demotic (Egyptian), Demotic form egy, nt, likely originally to have been nrt "she is the terrifying one"; Coptic language, Coptic: ⲛⲏⲓⲧ; also spelled Nit, Net, or Neit) was an early ancien ...
, a war and mother goddess.
Other deities connected with the force of H''eka'' include
Hu,
Sia
Sia Kate Isobelle Furler ( ; born 18 December 1975) is an Australian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Adelaide, she started her career as a singer in the acid jazz band Crisp in the mid-1990s. In 1997, when Crisp disbanded, she rel ...
, and
Werethekau
Werethekau (Egyptian: ''wrt-hk3w'' "great one of magic, great enchantress"; alternately Urthekau, Weret Hekau) was an ancient Egyptian deity. She served as the personification of supernatural powers.Barbara S. Lesko, The great goddesses of Egypt, ...
, whose name means "she who has great magic".
As Egyptologist Ogden Goelet (1994)
explains, magic in ''
The Egyptian Book of the Dead
The ''Book of the Dead'' ( egy, 𓂋𓏤𓈒𓈒𓈒𓏌𓏤𓉐𓂋𓏏𓂻𓅓𓉔𓂋𓅱𓇳𓏤, ''rw n(y)w prt m hrw(w)'') is an ancient Egyptian funerary text generally written on papyrus and used from the beginning of the New Kingdom ...
'' is problematic: The text uses various words corresponding to 'magic', for the Egyptians thought magic was a legitimate belief. As Goelet explains:
''Heka'' magic is many things, but, above all, it has a close association with speech and the power of the word. In the realm of Egyptian magic, actions did not necessarily speak louder than words – they were often one and the same thing. Thought, deed, image, and power are theoretically united in the concept of H''eka''. — O. Goelet (1994)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heka (God)
Egyptian gods
Health gods
Magic gods
Medicine deities
Magic (supernatural)
ca:Llista de personatges de la mitologia egípcia#H