From The Alpha and the Omega - Volume III
by Jim A. Cornwell, Copyright © July 20, 2002, all rights reserved "Volume III - Gods/Goddesses of Ancient Egypt"

HEKA (Heq, Heh, Huh) Heh and Hauhet

To return to the Denderah Decan Zero Or 37 - Grand Temple Decan 37 (One of the eight primordial deities - Ogdoad), Ogdoad (eight primordial deities), or List of Netjeru.

    Heh was a frog or human headed god, one of the original eight gods of the Ogdoad of Khmunu (Hermopolis).    He was the god of infinity and time, the god of long life and eternity.    In his hand he is shown holding one or two palm fronds of "A Million Years" in his hands, the Egyptian sign of long life.    Sometimes he was shown wearing a palm frond on his head, as a headdress.
    As a god of infinity, his name was linked to numbers, and his determinative was an image with his arms raised, used for "one million."    It seems that "million" was a number for eternity as in the "Barque of a Million Years" was the name of the boat that the sun god Ra travelled in during the day, which the Egyptians believed would happen until the end of time, when chaos took over the land once more.
    Heka is one of the three creative powers of the sun god Ra, which are necessary for Creation to come about.    Thus the divine energy or the life force, the Sia - divine knowledge.    Heka was a man standing in front of naus where the sun-god is seen, in the sunboat, holding different ritual objects.    The word heka means "magic" or "life force in action."
    Another source shows Neheh (Heh) as a squatting man wearing a curved reed on his head and carrying symbols of life, like the crux ansata, like the one that Atum (Tum, Tem) carries.
    The hieroglyph for a snake is .
    Also see Heket (Heqet, Hehet, Hauhet) for his consort.    Heh and Hauhet came to symbolise infinity.    After the Egyptians believed that time began, Heh and Hauhet came to symbolise limitless time, and long life.

    Other sources claim a centerpiece of a princess' necklace is composed around the throne name of King Senwosret II.    It was found among the jewelry of Princess Sithathoryunet (sit-hathor-you-net) in a special niche of her underground tomb beside the pyramid of Senwosret II at Lahun.    The hieroglyphic signs might be read as a text saying, "The god of the rising sun grants life and dominion over all that the sun encircles for one million one hundred thousand years [i.e., eternity] to King Khakheperre [Senwosret II]."    The cartouche rests on the bent tops of palm fronds (signs for "year") that are held by a kneeling Heh, god of eternity and sign for "one million," then a tadpole, sign for "one hundred thousand" dangles from the god's right elbow.
    As well as being a god of time and infinity, he was also an air god.    Identified with Shu, Heh was a god of the wind who was linked to the four pillars that held up the sky.    Like Shu, he was sometimes shown with his arms raised to help hold up the sky.    As seen on the Coffin Text, Spell 76, "O you eight chaos gods, keepers of the chambers of the sky, whom Shu made from the efflux of his limbs, who bound together the ladder of Atum...The bnbn [phoenix] of Ra was that from which Atum came to be as Heh... I am the one who begot the chaos gods again, as Heh, Nun, Amen, Kek.    I am Shu who begot the gods."
    Heh was also eight different gods, like Hathor and the seven Hathors who were believed to support the great celestial cow in the heavens.    He, like Nun, was also believed to hold up the solar barque of Ra, and to life it up into the sky at the end of its voyage through the land of the dead.
    Some believe that Heh was a representation of fire at one point, though it seemed that he was regarded as representing different things over time.    While being a god of fire, he was shown as a snake headed god.    Hauhet, as a goddess personifying fire, was shown with the head of a cat.

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    This file was created on June 18, 2005.

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