Geb

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Name

Geb

Earth and goose ^[1]

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Names - Alternate

Seb, Keb, Qeb

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Appearance

Geb appears as a man either brown or green in color laying on His side beneath His Sister and Wife, Nut, though They remain forever seperate by Their Father, Shu. It is not uncommon for vegetation to be depicted growing out of Geb's side or for Him to be depicted as a goose.

Geb laying down

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Parents

Shu and Tefnut

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Consorts

Nut, His sister.

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Children

Wesir, Heru-wer, Set, Aset and Nebt-het.

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Epithets

The Great Cackler

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Roles

Unlike other more familiar cultures of the world, the Earth was personified by a male deity: Geb. Geb was not only believed to be the God of the Earth, but the very Earth, itself. It was often said that mountains were his bones and that when He laughed, earthquakes occurred.

He was often considered to be one of the First Kings of the Land after Ra and eventually passed His throne to His Son, Wesir.

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Worship Centers

Being that whole Earth was His body, Geb had not centers of worship.

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Festivals

Geb is honored during several festivals during the Kemetic year.

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Creation Story and Myths

It was revealed to Ra that His grand-children, Nut and Geb would bear a child who would usurp His throne over the Two-Lands. Ra was determined to prevent this prophecy from ever coming to fruition, so He had forbidden Nut and Geb from being together by ordering His own son, Shu, the Father of Nut and Geb to separate them for all of eternity. Strong as Shu had been by lifting His daughter high into the sky and away from Her Brother, Nut and Geb managed to find a way to come together and so it would come to pass that Nut would carry the children of Her Brother, Geb.

Discovering that Nut was with children, Ra was enraged. He had long thought of how He could prevent His Grand-daughter from giving birth to the heir to His throne and so, Ra, Creator of and Lord over the Entire Universe, decreed that there should not be a single day within the 360-day year that Nut would be allowed to give birth.

Distraught, Nut had supplicated Djehuty, Wisest of the Gods, for an answer to her predicament. He pondered Her problem and told Her not to fret as He would find an answer for Her. Djehuty went to see Khonsu, who ruled the phases of the moon, and played a game of Senet in which Khonsu was cajoled into betting some of his light. Djehuty being the Wisest of the Gods won the game of Senet and used the light He won from Khonsu to fashion the five days Nut needed to give birth to Her five children. Wesir was the first of the five children of Nut and Geb, being followed, in order, by Set, Heru-wer, Aset, and Nebt-het.