Days at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo: From Heh to eternity “ Happy Egyptian New Year 6268, Happy Coptic New Year 1742”

Happy Egyptian New Year 6268, Happy Nayrouz, Happy Coptic New Year 1742!

Today is the day ancient Egyptians celebrated the beginning of their new year.

11 September marks "1 Tut," the first day of Ancient Egyptian Year 6268, according to the ancient Egyptian calendar. It is also the first day of Coptic Year 1742 AM.

As I do every year, I'll repeat the reminder that the Ancient Egyptian/Coptic New Year begins on 1 Tut, which usually falls on 11 or 12 September in the Gregorian calendar.

The ancient Egyptian calendar is still used in Egypt today to mark the agricultural seasons, and despite the millennia and the climatic changes since, it remains the best calendar for describing our climate.

The Coptic calendar determines the dates of religious feasts, particularly in the Coptic Orthodox Church.

The Ancient Egyptian year begins with the month of Tut, named after Thoth (Djehuty), the ancient Egyptian deity of wisdom, writing, calculation, astronomy, and timekeeping.

But this year, it won't be about Tut — because what better day to talk about Heh than the first day of an Egyptian year?

Much less familiar, yet his influence was invoked, directly or indirectly, by the mightiest kings of ancient Egypt from the Old Kingdom to the New Kingdom: Heh, the ancient Egyptian deity and personification of infinity and eternity.

Heh had a female counterpart, Hauhet.

Together they personified infinity and boundlessness — the endless expanse within which creation could take place.

Heh — also written as Ḥeḥ and sometimes rendered as Hehu — was one of the eight ancient deities of the Ogdoad, the group of deities worshipped at Hermopolis, or Khemenu, near modern-day Mallawi in El-Minya Governorate.

Khemenu (Ḫmnw), the ancient Egyptian name for the city, literally means "Eight-Town," a reference to the eight ancient deities of the Ogdoad whose cult centre was located there.

From there comes the Hermopolitan, or Ogdoad, creation myth — one of the oldest creation myths in ancient Egypt.

The Ogdoad consisted of four male-female pairs: Heh and Hauhet, Nun and Naunet, Amun and Amaunet, and Kuk and Kauket.

The Ogdoad represented the chaotic, undifferentiated state before creation — a dark, watery abyss with no shape or distinction. Within that primordial water and darkness, a mound of earth, the primaeval mound, was said to emerge, and from it — depending on the version of the myth — either a cosmic egg or a lotus flower arose.

From the egg — in the version most associated with Hermopolis — hatched the sun god, sometimes identified as Ra, sometimes as Thoth in his role as a self-created being: the first act of light and order breaking out of the darkness and water.

The Egyptian word "Heh" was associated with the concept of "millions," or an indefinitely vast number, and its personification came to embody the ideas of infinity, eternity, and an immeasurably long span of time.

In ancient Egyptian numerology, Heh was also used to represent the number 1,000,000, making him a particularly appropriate divine personification of an immeasurably large number.

Yes, ancient Egyptians knew the concept of a million and considered it so vast a number that they associated it with eternity itself.

Heh could be represented as a handsome kneeling man, usually with a divine beard and lappet wig. His female counterpart, Hauhet, could be represented as a woman with a cobra's head.

Heh's frog head was associated with the frog's symbolism of fertility, creation, and regeneration, particularly because frogs appeared in abundance after the annual Nile inundation.

Hauhet, meanwhile, was represented with a serpent or cobra head — an animal whose ability to shed its skin naturally lends itself to ideas of renewal and regeneration.

The deeper theological meaning of both deities, however, was their association with infinity and boundlessness.

One of the most recognizable representations of Heh is that of a kneeling male figure, sometimes with one knee raised, holding notched palm ribs in his hands.

He may also be shown beneath or supporting a basket-like symbol associated with the concept of "all."

And here is where Heh becomes particularly fascinating for anyone interested in time and calendars.

The palm rib held by Heh was primarily associated with counting and measuring time. In ancient Egypt, the palm rib was used as a traditional device for recording the passage of years, with notches marking units of time.

That makes the palm rib wonderfully appropriate in the hands of Heh: the deity of millions of years, holding the very object used to count them.

The symbolism of the palm tree itself also fits beautifully with the idea of continuity and enduring life.

Date palms are perennial trees capable of living for many decades while continually producing new growth. But the more direct ancient Egyptian symbolism of the palm rib in Heh's hands is its connection to the recording and counting of years.

In the same depiction, the shen ring makes an appearance. Symbolizing the cycle of eternity, protection, and completeness, the shen ring is one of the most widespread and recognizable ancient Egyptian symbols.

The oldest known depiction of a shen ring comes from an ivory label or box-lid fragment discovered in the Early Dynastic royal tomb of Pharaoh Den at Abydos, dating to around 2950 BCE and is currently at the British Museum.

That also suggests it was already embedded in the ancient Egyptian belief system since the Predynastic era.

Evidence for the veneration of Heh goes back to the early Old Kingdom.

Representations of him became particularly common in amulets, prestige objects, and royal iconography, where his imagery came to be associated with the king's desire for longevity and eternal kingship.

Here are King Djoser's famous alabaster vases from the 3rd Dynasty (c. 2670 BCE), now at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

The larger vase on the left features one of Heh's earliest known depictions, in his famous kneeling form.

But that question is answered simply by the evidence: the ancient Egyptians of Predynastic Egypt, predating Djoser by well over two thousand years, had already mastered the quarrying and crafting of calcite-alabaster — commonly known as Egyptian alabaster — mostly from the Eastern Desert.

Calcite-alabaster was used in Egypt from the Early Predynastic period, in the 5th millennium BCE.

Archaeological evidence indicates that techniques for intensively working both soft and hard stone for construction and decorative purposes began developing during the second phase of the Predynastic period, the Naqada culture, roughly 4000–3000 BCE.

Both vases were reportedly used to celebrate the 30th jubilee of King Djoser's ascension to the throne, in a ritual known as the Heb-Sed feast. Yes — the Heb-Sed feast marked the king’s 30th year on the throne.

It was a new discovery for me that the ancient Egyptians already had a concept of official jubilee celebrations — which is remarkable.

The earliest depiction of the Heb-Sed feast goes back to none other than King Narmer, the unifier of ancient Egypt, of the First Dynasty.

That's why some Egyptologists believe Narmer and his predecessors inherited the practice from Predynastic Egypt, developing it into something resembling a modern jubilee — Djoser especially, who built an entire court for it beside his pyramid.

The two alabaster vases were discovered among 40,000 vessels, including jars and pottery, in the subterranean galleries beneath King Djoser's Step Pyramid.

According to some Egyptologists, most of these vases actually belonged to older kings from the First and Second Dynasties — if not the Predynastic era — and Djoser took their artifacts and had them buried with him beneath his pyramid.

I agree with those Egyptologists — and it's not only the vases. I also believe that Heh himself, like the ancient Egyptian calendar, the Heb-Sed, and the alabaster craftsmanship, was inherited from that same Predynastic past.

Back to the New Kingdom, and the famous 18th Dynasty: Heh continued to be an important deity, a symbol of eternity in life before death.

Here is the faience-inlaid wooden jewelry box presented by Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his wife, Tiye on the occasion of Heb-Sed feast to his in-laws, Yuya and Tuya.

The box, bearing the name of Amenhotep III, had a double Heh depicted on its lid — but unfortunately, I didn't photograph it while it was open, and being on the shorter side, I wasn't able to see what the lid actually showed.

Yuya and Thuya actually had another fancy jewelry box with Heh depicted on the lid. I couldn't get a photo of it, though—it was closed, and my height was definitely not working in my favor.

Throughout ancient Egypt, Heh's pose — a kneeling figure, sometimes with one knee raised, holding notched palm ribs — was copied by other deities.

Here is Isis in that same position on the black wooden sarcophagus of Yuya — grandfather of King Akhenaten and great-grandfather of King Tutankhamun — of the 18th Dynasty 

Here is also Isis in the same Heh position but this time on the back of the golden coffin of his wife Tuya.

The New Kingdom coffins and jewelry box were found in Yuya's tomb, KV46, in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, discovered in 1905 by James Quibell.

They are currently on display at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

King Tutankhamun also used direct Heh iconography in his quest for eternity in the afterlife.

Here is Heh in his kneeling position with palm ribs, on the back of one of King Tut's gilded Wooden Alabaster-Inlaid Cedar Chai on the right.

I apologize for the quality of the photo.

Heh also appears in his handsome human form on one of King Tut's mirror boxes.

Just as the young king appears as Horus with a solar disk above his head on the front and back of his famous double-cartouche perfume box, the sides of the box feature a relief of Heh, the deity of eternity, holding the king's cartouches above and around his head.

I'm sorry for this poor shot of the double-cartouche perfume box, made of gilded wood inlaid with colored glass paste — lapis-blue glass, turquoise-blue glass, jasper-red glass, lapis lazuli, and carnelian.

I feel even worse for not photographing the sides to capture Heh, but honestly, my attention wasn't on the perfume box at all — it was on King Tutankhamun's golden diadem, displayed just above it as you can tell.

Heh appears here on one of Tutankhamun's famous pectoral, not as a main figure on the pendant itself, but as a supporting figure depicted on both the pendant and the necklace straps.

The Pectoral is commonly known as the Ptah and Sekhmet pectoral, after its two main figures, who are shown protecting and blessing Tutankhamun, whose face is rendered in black.

Made of gold, inlaid with silver and glass, the pendant shows Heh standing just behind Ptah, watched over by a Uraeus above him, while the king's Ka stands behind Sekhmet, watched over by a hawk representing Horus.

But if you look closely at the necklace straps as well, you will find several other deities depicted on either side, including Heh, the personification of eternity, appearing once again.

Heh was featured on the Triple Scarab Pectoral as a counterpoise, or menkhet — a second pendant on the opposite side of the piece, showing the deity of eternity in his human form, holding two notched palm ribs representing millions of years.

The pectoral was found within the mummy's wrappings in 1925.

Once again, Heh was featured in alabaster — this time on a chalice, the far-right one in the photo, famously known as the "Lotus Chalice," or as Howard Carter called it, "The Wishing Cup."

Here is a close-up of Tut's alabaster Lotus Chalice.

The chalice is carved from a single piece of alabaster in the shape of a white lotus in full bloom, identifiable by its rounded petals. The supports for the handles are shaped like blue lotus flowers, flanked by buds growing upward, with the god Heh seated on a basket (the neb symbol) at the tips of the petals.

In each hand, Heh holds a palm rib notched for counting the years; each rib rests on the back of a tadpole sitting on a shen ring. At the upper end of each palm rib is an ankh symbol, the sign of life.

Aside from direct depictions of Heh in Tut's collection, we also find the shen ring used repeatedly as a symbol of eternity, meant to ensure eternal life for the young king.

A prime example is the magnificent golden wooden throne of King Tutankhamun.

Most people focus on its stunning depiction of Tutankhamun and his wife, Queen Ankhesenamun, on the back of the chair — one of the most intimate royal scenes to survive from ancient Egypt — and overlook the other remarkable details on this surprisingly small throne, made for so vast a nation in the height of the New Kingdom.

Both armrests of the throne take the form of winged uraei, or rearing cobras, wearing the double Pschent crown of Egypt and guarding the king's cartouche names

Made of wood covered in gold and silver, and ornamented with semi-precious stones and colored glass, the winged uraeis clutch shen rings to bless Tut with eternity on both armrests of the throne found in antechamber of KV62 in 1922.

To King Tut's famous gilded coffins, the shen ring of eternity appears on two coffins four times.

For those who don't know, Tut's mummy was placed inside — literally — a coffin inside a coffin inside a coffin inside a sarcophagus inside a shrine inside a shrine inside a shrine inside a shrine. Ancient Egyptians were using the nested "Russian doll" technique before the Russians even invented it, or before they'd even left Siberia. And I haven't even gotten to the masks or the wrappings around the mummy.

Here is the middle golden, gilded coffin, inlaid with multicolored glass paste and semi-precious stones, with the shen ring visible on it.

Here is one of two shen rings on either side of the coffin depicting the late King in an Osirian pose—holding the crook and flail (Heka and Nekhakha) across his chest—wrapped in the feathered Rishi motif.

Here are three shen rings appearing on the innermost solid gold coffin of the 18th Dynasty king.

Crafted from solid gold averaging 2.5 to 3.5 mm in thickness and weighing approximately 110.4 kilograms (243.4 lbs), the coffin's surface is heavily detailed with low-relief chasing and inlaid with lapis lazuli, turquoise, carnelian, and polychrome glass paste.

Ancient funerary artists also included two shen rings on each of King Tut's four canopic coffinettes, but they're easy to overlook because of the coffinettes' small size.

I only found this by accident, in a photo where the shen ring appears on the coffinette's side — but you must zoom in to see it.

That is the Ceremonial Crook (Heka) Scepter of Tutankhamun, and if you zoom in, you can see the shen ring on the coffinette in the back.

To the wrappings around the mummy of the boy king.

Found by Howard Carter directly on the chest of Tut’s mummy, the golden and Cloisonné Vulture Pectoral represents the protective goddess Nekhbet as it forms a protective cradle around the king.

The vulture’s talons grasp two shen rings the symbols of infinite cosmic protection and eternal cycle.

There were four usekh protective collars — broad, thin sheet-gold pieces in the same style — placed within the linen wrapping. They were positioned directly over the thorax, inside the mummy's wrappings. Their outstretched wings shield the pharaoh's chest, while their talons clutch shen rings, granting the eternal, divine protection of Heh, or Neheh, during his journey through the underworld.

Here is King Tut's Horus Collar of Sheet Gold.

Made of thin, flexible sheet gold, it is meticulously detailed using repoussé and chasing techniques to depict Horus.

This usekh depicts Nekhbet and Wadjet — a vulture body with a serpent head/emblem — representing the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Here, you can see the talons of Nekhbet, the vulture, clutching shen rings.

These collars were among the innermost usekh broad collars, which Carter found placed directly within the linen wrappings of 18th Dynasty King Tutankhamun's mummy, in 1925.

The left collar was the "Two Ladies" (Nebty) Collar, representing Nekhbet and Wadjet of Upper and Lower Egypt, both clutching shen rings of eternity. The right collar, the Nekhbet Collar, featured Nekhbet alone, her wings outstretched in protection as she clutches shen rings of eternity.

Both collars were crafted primarily from gold, using chased sheet gold and elaborate cloisonné techniques, with colored glass used for the polychrome inlays.

The Nekhbet Collar was made using cloisonné work, composed of approximately 250 individual plaques with opaque colored-glass inlays.

Found sewn directly onto the linen nemes (or khat) — the royal headcloth laid over the crown of the pharaoh's head — was that gold vulture representing Nekhbet of Upper Egypt.

Made of a thin, single sheet of gold, the vulture clutches two shen rings of eternity.

The shen ring also appears on the famous Libyan-glass Khepri amulet, made from material that came from outer space 29 million years ago.

In this richly detailed pectoral, Khepri borrows the falcon Horus's wings to protect the king, while clutching shen rings in its talons to bring him eternity.

The pectoral was found stored inside a decorated wooden chest in the Treasury at Tut’s tomb in the valley of the Kings.

In the Treasury too, Howard Carter found this pair of Tut's earrings inside a jewelry box — pieces he may have worn in his daily life.

Here are his famous duck-headed earrings, dark in color, where the ducks clutch shen rings.

These small earrings say a great deal about Egyptian mythology. The head, made of dark, translucent blue glass, represents a mallard — a marsh duck — invoking the lush, life-giving marshes of the afterlife; the Sekhet-Aaru, or Field of Reeds, where life is eternally renewed aka paradise.

Meanwhile, the wings sweep upward to form a complete protective circle, resembling a hawk whose talons hold the shen ring, granting eternal, divine protection — neheh — over the king.

Found in another decorated wooden chest in the Treasury room of Tut's tomb; a trapezoidal gold cloisonné pectoral depicting Tutankhamun in Osiris form, protected by Isis in Nekhbet's vulture form and Nephthys in Wadjet's cobra form.

Together they flank the king, blessing him with shen rings to grant him eternity in the underworld — though the hieroglyphs identify the two goddesses by name as Isis and Nephthys, not as Nekhbet or Wadjet.

The Falcon Pectoral of Tutankhamun depicts Horus in the form of a falcon with outspread wings around the sun disk, holding shen rings — the symbols of eternal protection — in his claws.

It is made of gold, lapis lazuli, turquoise, carnelian, and light blue glass. It was found in the ivory and ebony box in the Treasury room. On the left, Tut's amethyst and lapis lazuli bracelets which were found in another chest.

Some of the boxes and chests found in Tut’s tomb also carried the shen ring motif — most famously, King Tutankhamun's "warrior" wooden chest, inlaid with ivory, showing Tut crushing Egypt's enemies.

The shen ring appears in the clutches of the Two Ladies, Nekhbet and Wadjet, twelve times across the chest, blessing the king — including in the main scene, on the long side and lid, where Tut rides a chariot over Egypt's enemies.It also appears four times on both side panels, where Tut is depicted as a sphinx, slaying ancient Egypt's enemies: the Syrians to the north and the Nubians to the south as well as on the lid besides the two twin rearing cobras.

I photographed the side showing Tut as a sphinx, crushing ancient Nubians and ancient Syrians.

Shen rings also appear on the small outer coffins of Tutankhamun's lesser-known daughters.

Born and died prematurely as fetuses, the two girls bore no name except the word "Osiris," inscribed on those small wooden coffins found in the Treasury room.

Somehow, I feel the shen ring did its job — Tutankhamun became one of Egypt's eternal symbols, despite having no great achievements to his name in a short reign controlled by the palace men who restored the old order.

The veneration of Heh, and belief in the shen ring's power to grant the king eternity, continued long after Tut and the New Kingdom.

Here are the shen rings appearing on the famous silver coffin of King Psusennes I — the first of its kind.

Right below the crossed hands holding the crook and flail, the coffin depicts Khnum-Ra, the personification of Ra united with Osiris in the underworld, wings spread wide, grasping shen rings of eternity in his talons.

That scene was repeated, unchanged, on the golden cover of his mummy.

Here are four pairs of funerary mummy-wrapping amulets belonging to Psusennes I, featuring the usual suspects — uraei, the Horus falcon, Khnum-Ra (I'm guessing), and the Two Ladies in falcon form, Wadjet and Nekhbet, all clutching shen rings of eternity in their talons.

Nothing speaks more clearly to the decline in craftsmanship and economy of the Third Intermediate Period, compared to the New Kingdom, than the fact that Psusennes imported silver for his coffin, yet skimped on these tiny amulets.

Knowing that Psusennes I had no qualms about stealing from other kings' tombs, I'm glad he never found Tutankhamun's.

Here is the shen ring appearing on King Psusennes I's golden cuff bracelet.

It features a lapis lazuli scarab (Khepri) in high relief, flanked by openwork golden falcon wings inlaid with glass paste, carnelian, and green feldspar. Khepri pushes a gold sun disk upward with its forelegs, while its rear legs rest on a shen ring set with carnelian — symbolizing solar rebirth held within eternal protection.

The shen ring also appears on a Horus falcon amulet, clutching shen rings to bless the royal cartouche of King Amenemope, believed to be Psusennes I's son.

The drop in craftsmanship during the Third Intermediate Period, compared to the New Kingdom, is impossible to miss.

The tombs of Psusennes and Amenemope were discovered by French archaeologist Pierre Montet in 1940.

Ironically, Psusennes and the rest of the Tanis kings now occupy the space once famous as Tutankhamun's section in the Egyptian Museum of Cairo.

The practice of placing gilded funerary cutouts in the mummy's linens — part of the broader Osirian funerary rites — was not exclusive to Egyptian royalty.

Those who could afford it, among the middle and upper classes, adopted the practice for at least two millennia, spanning from the First Intermediate Period through the Middle Kingdom, and on into the Late Period and Ptolemaic-Roman eras, when full-scale workshops in necropolis areas like Saqqara mass-produced gold-foil, gilded-copper, and cartonnage cutouts.

Here is a collection of Late Period and Ptolemaic funerary mummy cutouts (c. 664–30 BCE) including Ba-Birds, made of beaten gold foil, gilded copper, and painted cartonnage (plastered linen backing).

These pieces were commissioned for wealthy private burials seeking to emulate royal Osirian rituals.

The figures include protective falcons (Horus) and vultures (Nekhbet), each clutching shen rings to safeguard the thorax, alongside human-headed ba-birds representing the soul, hovering over the body to ensure eternal rebirth, or neheh.

They were excavated from major Egyptian necropolises, including Saqqara, Akhmim, and the Fayoum region, and are currently on display at the Egyptian Museum of Cairo, upper floor.

During the Late and Ptolemaic periods—when animal cults truly boomed—devout Egyptians made a point of including the shen ring on the votive jars they offered at temples. Falcons, embodying Horus, Re-Horakhty, or Sokar, were among the most popular.

Shown here are two falcon-headed votive jars from the Ptolemaic Era, featuring Khepri clutching a shen ring.

I will stop here because it seems to take an eternity to finish talking about Heh and the rings of eternity.

Happy Egyptian New Year 6268!

Happy Coptic New Year 1742! Happy Nayrouz