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Heka › Who Was
Definition and Origins
Heka is the god of magic and medicine in ancient Egypt and is also the personification of magic itself. He is probably the most important god in Egyptian mythology but is often overlooked because his presence was so pervasive as to make him almost invisible to the Egyptologists of the 19th and 20th centuries CE. Unlike the well-known Osiris and Isis, Heka had no cult following, no ritual worship, and no temples (except in the Late Period of Ancient Egypt, 525-323 BCE). He is mentioned primarily in medical texts and magical spells and incantations and, because of this, was relegated to the realm of superstition rather than religious belief. Although he is not featured by name in the best-known myths, he was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as the power behind the gods whose names and stories have become synonymous with Egyptian culture.
Magic was considered present at the birth of creation - was, in fact, the operative force in the creative act - and so Heka is among the oldest gods of Egypt, recognized as early as the Predynastic Period in Egypt (c. 6000 - c. 3150 BCE) and appearing in inscriptions in the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150 - 2613 BCE).
He was depicted in anthropomorphic form as a man in royal dress wearing the regal curved beard of the gods and carrying a staff entwined with two serpents. This symbol, originally associated with the healing god Ninazu of Sumer (son of the goddess Gula ), was adopted for Heka and traveled to Greece where it became associated with their healing god Asclepius, and today is the caduceus, symbol of the medical profession. Heka is also sometimes represented as the two gods most closely tied to him, Sia and Hu and, beginning in the Late Period (525-332 BCE), he is depicted as a child and, at the same time, is seen as the son of Menhet and Khnum as part of the triad of Latopolis.
He is frequently seen in funerary texts and inscriptions guiding the soul of the deceased to the afterlife and is often mentioned in medical texts and spells. The Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts both claim Heka as their authority (the god whose power makes the texts true) and, according to Egyptologist Richard H. Wilkinson, "he was viewed as a god of inestimable power" who was feared by the other gods (110).
ALTHOUGH HE IS NOT FEATURED BY NAME IN THE BEST-KNOWN MYTHS, HE WAS REGARDED BY THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS AS THE POWER BEHIND THE GODS WHOSE NAMES & STORIES HAVE BECOME SYNONYMOUS WITH EGYPTIAN CULTURE.
Heka referred to the deity, the concept, and the practice of magic. Since magic was a significant aspect of medical practice, a physician would invoke Heka in order to practice heka. The universe was created and given form by magical means, and magic sustained both the visible and invisible worlds. Heka was thought to have been present at creation and was the generative power the gods drew upon in order to create life.
In the Coffin Texts (written c. 2134-2040 BCE) the god speaks to this directly, saying, "To me belonged the universe before you gods came into being. You have come afterwards because I am Heka" (Spell, 261). Heka, therefore, had no parents, no origin;he had always existed. To human beings, he finds expression in the heart and the tongue, represented by two other gods, Sia and Hu. Heka, Sia, and Hu were responsible for creation as well as for maintenance of the world and the regulation of human birth, life, and death.
CREATOR, SUSTAINER, PROTECTOR
At the beginning of time, the god Atum emerged from the swirling waters of chaos to stand on the first dry land, the primordial ben-ben, to begin the act of creation. Heka was thought to have been with him at this moment and was the power he drew upon. Wilkinson writes:
For the Egyptians, heka or 'magic' was a divine force which existed in the universe like 'power' or 'strength' and which could be personified in the form of the god Heka...his name is thus explained as 'the first work.' Magic empowered all the gods and Heka was also a god of power whose name was tied to this meaning from the 20th Dynasty onward by being written emblematically with the hieroglyph for 'power,' although originally the god's name may have meant 'he who consecrates the ka ' and he is called 'Lord of the Kas ' in the Coffin Texts. (110)
The ka was one of the nine parts of the soul (the astral self) and was linked with the ba (the human-headed bird aspect of the soul which could travel between earth and heaven) which, at death, became transformed to the akh (the immortal soul). Heka was therefore originally the deity who watched over one's soul, gave one's soul power, energy, and allowed it to be elevated in death to the afterlife. Because of his protective powers, he was given a prominent place in the barque of the sun god as it traveled through the underworld at night.
Esna Temple
Every evening, when the sun went down, the ship of the sun god descended into the underworld where it was threatened by the serpent Apophis. Many gods are credited with sailing on the ship through the night as protectors to ward off and try to kill Apophis, and among these was Heka. In some myths, he is also referenced as protecting Osiris in the underworld and, as the power behind magical incantations and spells, would have also been present when Isis and Nephthys brought Osiris back to life after his murder.
Heka was, therefore, the protector and sustainer of humanity and of the gods they worshiped as well as the world and universe in which all lived. In this way, he was a part of the central defining value of Egyptian civilization : ma'at - the harmony and balance which allowed the universe to function as it did.
HEKA, SIA, & HU
From the time of the Early Dynastic Period, and developed during the Old Kingdom of Egypt (c. 2613-2181 BCE), Heka was linked to the creative aspects of the heart and the tongue. The heart was considered the seat of one's individual personality, thought, and feeling, while the tongue gave expression to these aspects. Sia was a personification of the heart, Hu of the tongue, and Heka the power which infused both. Egyptologist Geraldine Pinch explains:
The intellectual powers that enabled the creator to bring himself/herself into existence and to create other beings were sometimes conceptualized as deities. The most important of these were the gods Sia, Hu, and Heka. Sia was the power of perception or insight, which allowed the creator to visualize other forms. Hu was the power of authoritative speech, which enabled the creator to bring things into being by naming them. In Coffin Texts spell 335, Hu and Sia are said to be with their 'father' Atum every day...the power by which the thoughts and commands of the creator became reality was Heka. (62)
In the same way that Heka, Sia, and Hu enabled the gods to first create the world, they allowed human beings to think, feel, and express themselves. One of the ways in which people did this was through the use of magic. There was no aspect of ancient Egyptian life which was untouched by magic. Egyptologist James Henry Breasted comments on this:
The belief in magic penetrated the whole substance of [ancient Egyptian] life, dominating popular custom and constantly appearing in the simplest acts of the daily household routine, as much a matter of course as sleep or the preparation of food. (200)
Magic, in fact, defined the culture of the ancient Egyptians. It not only explained how the world came to be and how it functioned but allowed one to interact with the primordial divine forces which had created life and so influence one's own fate.Magic, in this respect, differed from the worship of the gods in the temples because it was a private interaction between a magician and the gods. This is frequently seen in the medical texts of ancient Egypt as the doctor invokes various deities to cure different diseases.
HEKA & MEDICINE
In the present day, most people do not associate magic with medicine, but for the ancient Egyptians, the two were almost one discipline. The Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BCE), one of the most complete medical texts extant, claims that medicine is effective with magic just as magic is effective with medicine. Since disease was thought to have a supernatural origin, a supernatural defense was the best course. Diseases were caused either by the will of the gods, an evil demon, or an angry spirit, and spells against these demons and spirits (or invoking the help of the gods) were common cures for sickness throughout Egypt's history.
Caduceus
Egyptian doctors (known as Priests of Heka) were not trying to trick a patient with some sleight of hand but were invoking real powers to effect a cure. This practice ( heka ) called upon the deity which made it possible (Heka) as well as other gods who were thought to be especially helpful in whatever disease presented itself. Egyptologist Jan Assman explains:
Magic in the sense of heka means an all-pervading coercive power - comparable to the laws of nature in its coerciveness and all-pervadingness - by which in the beginning the world was made, by which it is daily maintained, and by which mankind is ruled. It refers to the exertion of this same coercive power in the personal sphere. (3)
In medicine, the laws of nature as personified by the gods were invoked in order to cure a patient, but heka was also practiced in many other areas of one's life and, often, in the same way.
HEKA IN DAILY LIFE
The physician-priest who was called to one's home would use amulets, spells, charms, and incantations to cure the patient, and these same would be used by people every day in any other circumstance. Amulets of the djed, the ankh, the scarab, the tjet and many other Egyptian symbols were commonly worn for protection or to invoke the aid of a god. Tattoos in ancient Egypt were also considered powerful forms of protection and the god Bes, a powerful protective deity, was among the most popular.
Bes watched over pregnant women and children but was also a general protective deity who infused life with joy and spontaneity. This particular god illustrates well how Heka was understood by the Egyptians in that he was definitely an individual with a recognizable character and sphere of influence, but the force, the power, by which he operated and through which one could communicate with him was Heka.
Magical practices such as the wearing of an amulet, inscriptions above or beside a door, hanging vegetables like onions to ward off evil spirits, reciting a certain incantation or spell before starting on a journey or simply going fishing, all of these were invoking the power of Heka no matter what other deity was called on.
One of the best examples of this, besides the medical texts in general, is the relatively unknown spell, The Magical Lullaby, which was recited by mothers to protect their children at bedtime. In this short poem (dated 17th or 16th century BCE), the speaker orders evil spirits out of the house with a warning of the spiritual weapons she has at her disposal. No specific deity is invoked (although Bes amulets or images were frequently hung in a child's room), but it is clear the speaker has the ability to keep the child safe from harm and the authority to issue the warning; that authority would have been the power of Heka in action.
THE UNDERLYING FORM
Magic enabled a personal relationship with the gods which linked the individual to the divine. In this way, Heka can be seen as the underlying form of spirituality in ancient Egypt regardless of the era or the gods most popular at any time. Heka was honored throughout Egypt's history from the earliest times through the Ptolemaic Dynasty (332-30 BCE) and into Roman Egypt. There was a statue of him in the temple of the city of Esna where his name was inscribed on the walls. He was regularly invoked for the harvest, and his statue was taken out and carried through the fields to ensure fertility and a bountiful crop.
Temple of Esna
As Christianity became more dominant in the 4th century CE, belief in a magically infused world of the gods diminished and Heka was forgotten. This was in part due to the elevation of the god Amun during the New Kingdom (c.1570-1069 BCE) who became so transcendent he was regarded as pure spirit, eclipsing Heka, and providing a precursor for the Christian god. Even so, the concept of a force which encourages transcendence, sustains and maintains life, was not.
The Greek and Roman Stoics would later write of the Logos and the Neo-Platonists of the Nous - a force which flowed through and bound all things together but was, at the same time, distinct from creation and eternal - and so Heka lived on under these different names. The influence of the Neo-Platonists on the development of religious beliefs is well established, and so Heka continued as he always did; the invisible force behind the visible gods.
Nanna › Who Was
Definition and Origins
Nanna (also known as Nannar, Nanna-Suen, Sin, Asimbabbar, Namrasit, Inbu) is the Mesopotamian god of the moon and wisdom. He is one of the oldest gods in the Mesopotamian pantheon and is first mentioned at the very dawn of writing in the region c. 3500 BCE. His cult center was the great temple at Ur, and he is frequently mentioned in hymns and inscriptions from the Ur III Period (2047-1750 BCE) as the chief god of the pantheon with the epithet Enzu, lord of wisdom. His importance is evident in the number of inscriptions which refer to or praise him and the stories in which he features.
He was the son of Enlil and Ninlil and is their first-born after Enlil seduces Ninlil by the riverbank in the myth Enlil and Ninlil.His wife was Ningal (also Nikkal, the 'Great Lady'), a fertility goddess, and their children were Utu-Shamash (the sun god) and, in some stories, his twin sister Inanna / Ishtar (goddess of love and sexuality), Ereshkigal (Queen of the Dead), and Ishkur (also known as Adad, god of storms). An interesting aspect of this family tree is that the moon (Nanna) is the father of the sun (Utu/ Shamash ). It is thought this belief originated in the early days of a hunter-gatherer social structure when the moon was more important to a community for traveling by night and telling the time of the month; the sun only became more important once the people settled down and began to practice agriculture. The religious belief, then, mirrored the cultural development. Scholar Stephen Bertman writes:
The Mesopotamians thus conceived of day, illuminated by the sun, as emanating from the darkness of night and the lesser light of the moon. As the time of lovemaking, the night and the moon were linked to the goddess of the erotic. As a source of light, the moon was also viewed as humanity's protector against acts of criminality undertaken under the cover of darkness even as the illuminating and all-seeing sun was looked upon as a guardian of justice. (122)
Nanna is represented as a recumbent moon and associated with the bull and lion-dragon. He is further depicted as a seated man with a long beard of lapis lazuli, a crescent moon above him, or riding on the back of a winged bull. In many inscriptions he is represented simply by the number 30, referring to the number of days in a lunar month, and the crescent moon was regarded as his barge in which he sailed through the night sky.
He was an immensely popular god, one of the original Sumerian pantheon. His cult center was at Ur and his most famous high priestess was Enheduanna (2285-2250 BCE), although he also had an important temple at Harran in modern-day Syriawhere his son was Nusku, god of fire and light. Nanna, Ningal, and Nusku were worshiped as a triad, though this veneration mainly focused on the father and son.
Under the reign of Nabonidus (c. 556-539 BCE) the king's mother served as high priestess at Harran while his daughter held the same position at Nanna's temple in Ur. This arrangement consolidated Nabonidus' power in the same way that Sargon of Akkad (2334-2279 BCE) had earlier placed his daughter Enheduanna in her position at Ur. Nanna is repeatedly seen in ancient texts as a god who provides and unifies, and some of the most successful Mesopotamian rulers capitalized on this belief.
NAMES & SIGNIFICANCE
Nanna first appears under that name (whose meaning is unknown) c. 3500 BCE. He is already an important deity when he is mentioned as Sin/Suen during the reign of Sargon of Akkad and is referred to as "the illuminator." Even from this early period, he was associated with wisdom and was honored by Sargon's grandson, the great Naram-Sin (2261-2224 BCE), who took his name upon coming to the throne. Naram-Sin, considered the greatest of the Akkadian kings, was among those who understood how to use religious belief to rule most effectively.
NANNA IS REPEATEDLY SEEN IN ANCIENT TEXTS AS A GOD WHO PROVIDES & UNIFIES & SOME OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MESOPOTAMIAN RULERS CAPITALIZED ON THIS BELIEF.
The Akkadians also knew Nanna/Sin by a number of other names, which are actually epithets such as Asimbabbar/Ashgirbabbar (possibly meaning 'embellisher' or 'he who embellishes'), Namrasit ('who shines forth'), and Inbu ('The Fruit,' possibly referring to the moon's changing shape). To the Babylonians, Nanna was the son of Marduk who created him and placed him in the sky. Lunar eclipses were thought to be caused, in some eras, by gods or demons trying to steal the moon's light, and Nanna (or in some stories Marduk) had to fight against them to restore natural order. Bertman comments on how "during the new moon when Nanna/Sin's light was not visible, the god was said to be in the netherworld, where he judged the dead" (123). At one point or another throughout Mesopotamia 's long history, Nanna was king of the gods, lord of wisdom, keeper of time, guardian of the future (diviner), holder of secrets, but is always seen as the devoted son of Enlil and a protector and guardian of humanity.
NANNA IN LITERATURE
Nanna/Sin is referred to at a number of points throughout The Epic of Gilgamesh where he is mentioned as the father of Shamash and Ishtar. Gilgamesh, at one point, even composes a song for Nanna, praising him for changes in life which inspire one to do great deeds. Nanna is similarly praised in other works and, in all, is closely associated with fertility and life. His role as a keeper of time (guardian of the future) is especially interesting as he understands the past as the future. In looking at the past, Nanna was able to clearly see human destiny, collectively and individually, and those who came to him for divination could alter their future for the better by accepting his counsel. In addition to his wisdom and foresight, the god also offered many other gifts to humanity.
Part of Tablet V, the Epic of Gilgamesh
In the poem The Journey of Nanna to Nippur, the god is seen loading his boat at Ur with all good things to present to his father Enlil at the city of Nippur. Nanna fills his ship with trees, plants, and animals, and then makes his way upriver, stopping at five cities along the way where he is greeted and honors each one's god. Arriving at Nippur, he is greeted by Enlil's gatekeeper with joy and brought into his father's presence. Nanna and Enlil feast together, and then Nanna makes a series of requests. He asks for the river to swell with sweet water, for the fields to yield abundant harvest, for success in cultivating honey and making wine, and for a long life to enjoy these gifts in. Enlil grants his requests, and Nanna returns happily to Ur.
The poem is thought to represent the moon's association with fertility. Enlil was the King of the Gods, keeper of the Tablets of Destiny which foretold the fates of gods and mortals, and his decisions were final. His act of generosity in giving these gifts to Nanna meant that, through Nanna, they would be passed on to humanity and could not be revoked.
Nanna is depicted in a similar light in the poem The Herds of Nanna, in which he is praised as the "god of living creatures, leader of the land" and the great father of humanity. Although Enki was the creator god of the Sumerians, Nanna seems to have sometimes taken on this role as his worship spread across Mesopotamia. In the poem, he is again seen as the god who gives great gifts to humanity in abundance.
The work begins with the image of Nanna taking the night sky and illuminating it as the sun does at noon. He is the close confidant of his father Enlil, who "speaks with him day and night," and confers with him on the fate of human beings. Nanna's herds are then tallied and their number written on divine tablets by Nisaba, goddess of writing and scribe of the gods, and Nanna is then praised as the god of abundance who provides, among other gifts, alcoholic drink. Ninkasi was the goddess of beer, but this role is attributed to Nanna in the poem to emphasize his importance, as beer was the most popular drink in Mesopotamia.
Ishtar's Descent into the Underworld Inscription
The god also appears in The Descent of Inanna, where he is listed as one of the deities Ninshubbur is to appeal to if Inanna does not return from the underworld, and in The Curse of Agade, the famous work of the Mesopotamian Naru Literaturegenre concerning Naram-Sin. In The Curse of Agade, after Naram-Sin has enraged Enlil through his ingratitude, Nanna is among the gods who try to act as mediators to spare humanity (and Naram-Sin specifically) from Enlil's wrath. His role as a protector and defender of humanity did not end with one's death, however, but continued on in the afterlife.
NANNA & NINGAL
The Queen of the Dead in Mesopotamian mythology was Ereshkigal, older sister of Inanna, who ruled the underworld but, generally, passed no judgment on the dead. The dead, however great or modest their lives, all went to the same dark, dreary realm under the earth when their life was finished, and there they all shared the same fate as they ate dust and drank from puddles. This had been the standard belief among the people of Mesopotamia for millennia, but during the Ur III Period, Nanna was elevated to the role of judge of the dead. Scholar Samuel Noah Kramer writes:
The moon god Nanna decreed the fate of the dead. In the nether world...were to be found "bread-eating heroes" and "[beer] drinkers" who satisfy the thirst of the dead with fresh water. We learn, too, that the gods of the nether world can be called upon to utter prayers for the dead, that the personal god of the deceased and his city's god were invoked in his behalf, and that the welfare of the family of the deceased was by no means overlooked in the funerary prayers. (132)
This is quite a departure from the traditional view of the afterlife as "the land of no return" in which the dead were all made equal and lost their interest in the world of their former lives. Nanna became the bridge between the living and the dead through his judgment of their lives and intervention on the part of their families. Even so, as Kramer notes elsewhere, the Sumerians, for the most part, held to the belief that all were equal in the dreary world of the afterlife which was only a poor reflection of mortal existence.
Ningal may also have had a part in the judgment of the dead, or at least as a prompt to good behavior, as a number of artifacts have been found which are known as "eyes of Ningal." These are crafted eye models usually cut from precious or semi-precious stone but also formed from clay. Sometimes these are only eyes and sometimes a figure in which the eyes are enlarged and accentuated with what appears a lemniscate, symbol for infinity (a sideways figure 8). It is unclear what the significance of these eyes was for the ancient Mesopotamians, but it is possible they reminded an owner that the eyes of the gods were on them.
Among the most interesting are a pair carved from onyx and dedicated by the king Nabonidus to Ningal. Even though eye carvings have been found associated with many other deities, these are unique, and those which seem to resemble them are also thought to have been dedicated to Ningal. The eyes could have been protective talismans or, as noted, reminders that the eyes of the Great Lady and her divine husband were always upon the living. Many of these artifacts have been recovered from the ruins of Tell Brak (ancient Nagar) in modern-day Syria, not far to the east of Harran, and were most likely amuletic objects honoring Ningal or talismans reminding one of the protection - and eventual judgment - by Nanna. At Harran, Nushku was regularly invoked in the execution (by fire) of those convicted of practicing the dark arts after Nanna and Ningal had presided over the defendant's trial.
It is not surprising to find Nanna in a position of judgment since he is included in early Sumerian god lists as among the first who decree the fates of humanity. The earliest group consisted of seven deities: Anu, Enlil, Enki, Ninhursag, Nanna/Sin, Utu/Shamash, and Inanna. All seven of these would change and grow and assume different roles and responsibilities throughout Mesopotamian history, but Nanna remains more or less the same from his inception. As with many Mesopotamian gods, Nanna was incorporated into the Assyrian pantheon and, when the Neo-Assyrian Empire fell in 612 BCE, a great number of these deities lost favor. Nanna continued to be recognized, however, and was still worshiped in the region of Syria as late as the 3rd century CE.
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