Geb: Known As The God Of The Earth In Egypt

Meet with us the Egyptian god Geb. Discover how he is represented in this mythology, his family, powers and most popular legends.

Geb, God Of The Earth

Geb was popularly known as the god of the earth by the Egyptian mythology. Although his name translates as “weak” or “lame,” this Egyptian god is considered one of the powerful kings of the Egyptian gods. He protected the sun god while he was a passenger on the great sun ship, and was also tasked with guiding the deceased into the afterlife and providing provisions – food and drink – to the traveling souls.

Geb’s name was often invoked to heal sick people, especially those suffering from diseases created by natural elements, such as scorpion stings and colds. Geb’s roles in Egyptian society were unlimited as one of the most powerful gods; his equally powerful myth lives on in today’s society.

The legendary god is often considered ambivalent to his human worshippers, creating earthquakes with his laughter and unreasonable droughts. As a god of the earth, he made the vast, inhospitable deserts that isolated Egypt from the rest of the ancient world. But he could also be a kind god. After all, he created the lush, fertile lands surrounding the Nile River. Under the god’s influence, believers would be blessed with bountiful harvests and enough crops to fatten their livestock.

Origin

Although the exact origins of the Geb myth are illusory, many scholars agree that the religious fervor of the god was centralized in the city of Heliopolis. Located near Egypt’s modern capital, Cairo, Heliopolis originated, adopted and spread the Ancient Egyptian creation myth from which all subsequent narratives sprang. Condensed, the creation myth describes the beginning of existence through a hermaphroditic deity, Atum. Atum is the original king and creator of the gods.

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Legends and Stories

The Egyptian god of the earth is affiliated with many legends involving ancient society. In the creation myth of Heliopolis, Geb is created by his parents and then falls in love with his sister, Nut, goddess of the sky. Shu, Geb’s father and god of the air, is angered by this and physically separates the two by placing himself between them. This legend explains why the air (Nut) separates the earth (Nut) and the sky (Nut).

Another legend surrounding the Egyptian god Geb refers to the conflict between two of his sons: Set and Horus. The brothers fought to take control of Egypt, and when the infighting became problematic for Geb, he appeased both sons by giving power to each: Horus was given Lower Egypt and Set held Upper Egypt. The story of Geb’s righteous judgment inspired many Egyptians and influenced modern mediation techniques.

Family

Geb was born after the union of two powerful deities. However, unlike most gods, his parents were created by the Egyptian creator god, Atum. Atum appeared as a self-generated deity who brought light to the chaos of Nun, the endless, murky waters of nothingness. Atum embodied both masculinity and femininity, and thus could create life on his own. After establishing light, Atum made Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, a dark goddess with dominion over moisture.

Shu and Tefnut gave birth to two sons of their own, Geb and Nut. The god of the earth and the goddess of the sky fell in love with each other and produced equally powerful deities. Among their children are Osiris, god of the dead; Isis, goddess of sovereignty; Set, god of brute force; Nephthys, funerary goddess. In some legends, he is also credited as the father of Horus, although the cults of Ancient Egyptian mythology differ as to paternity.

The powerful Egyptian god of the earth, along with members of his immediate family, form the Enead, translated as “group of nine.” These nine all-powerful deities represent the animating forces that helped create the natural and political order of Ancient Egypt.

Appearance of Geb

The Egyptian god of the earth is typically shown as a dark-skinned or green man with leaves on his skin and wearing a crown, either northern or southern. His skin tone probably represents the fertile soil of the Nile and the growth of vegetation, the colors of life of the ancients. In addition, he also appears with the crown of Atef – a crown of white feathers associated with Osiris – or with a goose, his chosen sacred animal. Sometimes his head is represented as that of a snake to represent his affiliation with the creatures and his symbolization of the earth.

A common image of the earth god shows the earth god stretched out below his wife – Nut, the goddess of the sky – and his father – Shu, god of the air. Geb is seen reclining on one elbow while one arm rests on a knee bent upward. The image represents the intimate relationship of the earth with the sky and air. It also depicts Geb’s limbs as the valleys and hills of the earth, which the ancient Egyptians often referred to as “the house of Geb”.

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The earliest physical representation of Geb dates back to the Third Dynasty of Ancient Egypt (2670 BC), during the reign of King Djoser. A fragmentary relief sculpture found at Heliopolis depicts the Egyptian god as a mysterious bearded anthropomorphic entity. Later depictions attribute Geb to the likeness of a ram, a bull or a crocodile. The latter is found in a vignette from the Book of the Dead, a collection of ancient spells that assure the soul of the deceased a safe passage to the afterlife.

Symbology

The main symbol of Geb was the goose. Legends say that the god was able to transform himself into a bird, giving Geb the name “The Great Cackler”. The goose symbolizes the exuberant life found in parts of the Fertile Crescent. Some Egyptologists have even suggested that Geb’s association with the goose was due in part to his relationship with the divine creator goose. The controversial myth states that the creator goose laid an egg from which the world, the sun and the earth hatched.

Geb was also strongly associated with snakes. Reliefs and other Ancient Egyptian art depict Geb as part man, part serpent to emphasize this relationship. One of the literal translations of serpent was “son of the earth.” In the Book of the Dead, Geb was described as the father of the serpent creature Nehebkau.

Gods similar to Geb

Most ancient polytheistic religions have deities assigned to watch over, embody, or symbolize the earth. Like the popular Western idea of “Mother Earth,” Geb embodied the earth and was responsible for geography, earthquakes, droughts, soil fertility, and anything else related to the composition of the earth. These responsibilities have often been broken down and divided among various nature deities through later cults, religions, and mythologies. For example, in Celtic mythology, Viridios was the god of vegetation, while Nantosuelta was the Gallic goddess of the earth.

Other deities similar to Geb include Hinduism’s Dhara – god of the earth elemental; Emesh – the Sumerian god of vegetation and forests; Houtu – ancient Chinese deity of deep earth and soil; and Veles – the major Slavic god of earth, waters and forests. Geb is also sometimes identified with the Greek god Cronus.