Heka Egyptian God of Medicine

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Heka (Ḥkȝ)

Heka  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.

Etymology

The name Heka is identical with the Egyptian word ḥk3w "magic", appropriately for a god of magic. The hieroglyphic spelling includes the symbol for the word k3, the ancient Egyptian concept of the vital force.

Legend

The Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts depict ḥk3w as a threatening 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 Coffin Texts, Heka is said to be created at the beginning of time by the creator Atum. Later Heka is depicted as part of the tableau of the divine solar barge as a protector of Osiris capable of blinding crocodiles. Then, during the Ptolemaic period, Heka's role was to proclaim the pharaoah's enthronement as a son of Isis, holding him in his arms.

Heka also appears as part of a divine triad in Esna, capital of the Third Nome, where he is the son of ram-headed Khnum and a succession of goddesses. His mother was alternately said to be Nebetu'u (a form of Hathor), lion-headed Menhit, and the cow goddess Mehetweret, before settling on Neith, a war and mother goddess.

In Ancient Egypt Heka (Hike) was the patron of magic and therefore also of medicine. The Egyptian word for magic was "heka" (which literally means "using the Ka") and Heka was the personification of magic. His name (and the word magic) were depicted as a twist of flax and a pair of raised arms. The flax was often placed with the arms, and was thought to resembles two snakes. According to myth, Heka fought and conquered two serpents, and so two intertwined serpents became symbolic of his power. This symbol is still associated with medicine today.

He was generally considered to be the son of Menhet and Khnum and the three formed the triad of Latopolis (Esna) in Upper Egypt. He was also popular in Heliopolis where he was described as the son of Atum because of the latter´s association with Khnum.

The concept of Heka was central to the Egyptian way of life, and death. Ritual implements were used to help the deceased pass safely to the afterlife, but Heka was the means of accomplishing this task. Heka also helped Ra on his daily journey across the sky by warding off evil spirits and demons.

Although Heka had no formal worship, doctors and other healers were called "priests of Heka" and often sought his assistance. He was generally depicted as a man carrying a magic staff and a knife, the tools of a healer. He occasionally appears as a man holding two entwined serpents.