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Geb was the Egyptian
Egyptian mythology

Ancient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over at least 3,000 years, from the Predynastic Egypt until the adoption of Coptic Christianity in the early centuries Common Era....
 god
God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
 of the Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
 and a member of the Ennead
Ennead

Ennead , an ancient Greek translation of the Egyptian word, Pesedjet, consists of a grouping of nine deity, most often appearing in the context of Egyptian mythology....
 of Heliopolis
Heliopolis (ancient)

Heliopolis , meaning sun-city, was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt, and capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian Nome . Its name also refers to an unrelated Heliopolis of Cairo, also known as ??? ???????, Masr al-gidedah ....
. The name was pronounced as such from the Greek period onward, (formerly erroneously read as Seb (cf. E.A.Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians. Studies in Egyptian Mythology (London, 1904; republ.Dover Publications, New York, 1969) or as Keb. The original Egyptian was "Gebeb"/"Kebeb", meaning probably: 'weak one', perhaps:'lame one'.






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Geb was the Egyptian
Egyptian mythology

Ancient Egyptian religion encompasses the various religious beliefs and rituals practiced in ancient Egypt over at least 3,000 years, from the Predynastic Egypt until the adoption of Coptic Christianity in the early centuries Common Era....
 god
God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
 of the Earth
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
 and a member of the Ennead
Ennead

Ennead , an ancient Greek translation of the Egyptian word, Pesedjet, consists of a grouping of nine deity, most often appearing in the context of Egyptian mythology....
 of Heliopolis
Heliopolis (ancient)

Heliopolis , meaning sun-city, was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt, and capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian Nome . Its name also refers to an unrelated Heliopolis of Cairo, also known as ??? ???????, Masr al-gidedah ....
. The name was pronounced as such from the Greek period onward, (formerly erroneously read as Seb (cf. E.A.Wallis Budge, The Gods of the Egyptians. Studies in Egyptian Mythology (London, 1904; republ.Dover Publications, New York, 1969) or as Keb. The original Egyptian was "Gebeb"/"Kebeb", meaning probably: 'weak one', perhaps:'lame one'. It was spelled with either initial -g- (all periods), or with -k-point (gj). The latter initial root consonant occurs once in the Middle Kingdom Coffin Texts, more often in 21st Dynasty mythological papyri as well as in a text from the Ptolemaic tomb of Petosiris at Tuna el-Gebel or was written with initial hard -k-, as e.g. in a 30th Dynasty papyrus text in the Brooklyn Museum dealing with descriptions of and remedies against snakes and their bites.

Role and development


The oldest representation in a fragmentary relief
Relief

A relief is a sculptured artwork where a modelled form is raised, or in sunken-relief lowered, from a flatish background plane without being disconnected from it....
 of the god was as an anthropomorphic being accompanied by his name, dating from king Djoser
Djoser

Netjerikhet or Djoser is the best-known pharaoh of the Third dynasty of Egypt. He commissioned his official, Imhotep , to build the first of the pyramids, a step pyramid for him at Saqqara....
's reign, IIIth Dynasty, and was found in Heliopolis. In later times he could also be depicted as a ram
Ram

Ram, ram, or RAM as a non-acronymic wordAs a non-acronymic word Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:...
, a bull
Bull

A bull is an adult male of various large mammal species including elk, moose, bovinae , elephants, whales, pinniped, and sea lions.Things...
 or a crocodile
Crocodile

A crocodile is any species belonging to the family Crocodylidae . The term can also be used more loosely to include all members of the order Crocodilia: i.e....
. Frequently described mythologically as 'father' of snake
Snake

Snakes are elongate legless carnivore reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears....
s and depicted sometimes (partly) as such. In mythology he also often occurs as a primeval ruler/king of Egypt
Egypt

Egypt is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia. Covering an area of about , Egypt borders the Mediterranean Sea to the north, the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west....
. Geb could be seen as earth containing the dead, or imprisoning those not worthy to go to the North-Eastern heavenly Field of Reeds. In the Heliopolitan Ennead (a group of nine gods created in the beginning by the one god Atum
Atum

Atum is an important deity in Egyptian mythology, whose cult centred on the city of Heliopolis . His name is thought to be derived from the word 'tem' which means to complete or finish....
, Geb is the husband
Husband

A husband is a male spouse in a marriage. The term may also include a male partner in a civil union or civil partnership in certain legal and social contexts....
 of Nut
Nut (goddess)

In the Ennead mythology, Nut , was the goddess of the sky. Her name means Night. Some of the titles of Nut were Coverer of the Sky, She Who Protects, Mistress of All, and She Who Holds a Thousand Souls....
, the sky
Sky

The sky is the part of the atmosphere or of outer space visible from the surface of any astronomical object. It is difficult to define precisely for several reasons....
 or visible firmament, the son of the earlier primordial element
Element

The name element may refer to:In chemistry, electronics or the geosciences:* Chemical element, an atomic structure* Electrical element...
s Tefnut
Tefnut

In Egyptian mythology, Tefnut is a goddess of water and fertility, indeed her name means moist waters . She was created by Atum from his mucus, a mythology that may be related to the alternative translation of her name - spat waters....
 ('orphaness', later also conceived of as moisture
Moisture

Moisture generally refers to the presence of water, often in trace amounts.The moisture content is often an important aspect of various Food including cheese and many dried goods such as tea where excess moisture can promote Bacteria, Bacterial decay, Mold, or Rot over time....
 [e.g.: 'tef']) and Shu
Shu (Egyptian deity)

In Egyptian mythology, Shu is one of the primordial gods, a personification of air, one of the Ennead of Heliopolis . He was created by Atum from his breath, resulting from an act of masturbation or autofellatio in the city of Heliopolis....
 ('emptiness' or perhaps 'raiser'[namely of the firmament as air
AIR

Air is the part of Earth's atmosphere that humans breath and as such Air .Air may also refer to:...
]), and the father to the four lesser gods of the system - Osiris
Osiris

Osiris was an Egyptian mythology, usually called the god of the Afterlife.Osiris is one of the oldest gods for whom records have been found; one of the oldest known attestations of his name is on the Palermo Stone of around 2500 BC....
, Set
Set (mythology)

In Ancient Egyptian religion, Set is an ancient god, who was originally the god of the desert, Storms, Darkness, and Chaos. Because of the developments in the Egyptian language over the 3,000 years that Set was worshipped, by the Greek period, the t in Seth was pronounced so indistinguishably from th that the Greeks spelled it a...
, Isis
ISIS

ISIS is an industry standard interface for technologies, developed by Pixel Translations in 1990 .ISIS is an open standard for scanner control and a complete image-processing framework....
 and Nephthys
Nephthys

In Egyptian mythology, Nephthys is the Greek form of an epithet . Nephthys, therefore, is a member of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis , a daughter of Nut and Geb....
. In this context, Geb was said to have originally been engaged in eternal sex
Sex

In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetics traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into male and female types ....
 with Nut, and had to be separated from her by Shu, god of the air. Consequently, in mythological depictions Geb was shown as a 'man' reclining, sometimes with his phallus
Phallus

Phallus can refer to a penis, or to an object shaped like a penis. The word comes from Vulgar Latin "phallus", from Ancient Greek "fa????" phallos, penis....
 still pointed towards the sky goddess
Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
 Nut. As time progressed, the deity became more associated with the habitable land
Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun. Earth is the largest of the terrestrial planets in the Solar System in diameter, mass and density. It is also referred to as the World and Wiktionary:Terra.Note that by International Astronomical Union convention, the term "Terra" is used for naming extensive land masses, rather...
 of Egypt and also as one of its early godly rulers. As a chtonic deity he (like e.g. Osiris and Min
Min (god)

Min is an Ancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in predynastic times . He was represented in many different forms, but was often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a flail....
) became naturally associated with the underworld
Underworld

In the study of mythology and religion, the underworld is a generic term approximately equivalent to the lay term afterlife, referring to any place to which newly the dead souls go....
 and with vegetation
Vegetation

refers to the flora system of a specific region....
, with barley
Barley

Barley is an annual plant cereal grain derived from the grass Hordeum vulgare. It serves as a major animal feed crop, with smaller amounts used for malting and in health food, as well as the making of alcoholic beverages beer and whisky....
 being said to grow upon his rib
Rib

In vertebrate anatomy, ribs are the long curved bones which form the ribcage. In most vertebrates, ribs surround the chest and protect the lungs, heart, and other internal Organ s of the thorax....
s, and was depicted with plants and other green patches on his body
Body

With regard to organism, a body is the integral physical material of an individual. "Body" often is used in connection with appearance, health issues and death....
.

His association with vegetation, and sometimes with the underworld, and also with royalty brought Geb the occasional interpretation that he was the husband of Renenutet
Renenutet

In Egyptian mythology, Renenutet was the anthropomorphism deification of the act of gaining a true name, an Egyptian soul, during birth. Her name simply meaning, gives Ren, with Ren being the Egyptian word for this true name....
, primarily a minor goddess of the harvest and also mythological caretaker of the young king in the shape of a cobra
Cobra

A cobra is a snake and usually a venomous member of the family Elapidae . The name is short for cobra de capello , which is Portuguese language for "snake with hood," or "hood-snake." When disturbed, most of these snakes can rear up and spread their neck in a characteristic threat display....
, who herself was the mother of Nehebkau
Nehebkau

In Egyptian mythology, Nehebkau was originally the explanation of the cause of binding of Egyptian soul after death. Thus his name, which means brings together Ka....
, a primeval snake god associated with the underworld, who was on the same occasions said to be his son by her. He is also equated by classical authors as the Greek
Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkans. It has borders with Albania, Bulgaria and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to the north, and Turkey to the east....
 Titan
Titan (mythology)

In Greek mythology, the Titans ; were a race of powerful deities that ruled during the legendary golden age. Their role as Elder Gods was overthrown by a race of younger gods, the Twelve Olympians, effected a mythological paradigm shift that the Greeks borrowed from the Ancient Near East....
 Cronus
Cronus

Cronus or Kronos, , was the leader and the youngest of the first generation of Titan , divine descendants of Gaia , the earth, and Uranus , the sky....
.

Goose

Some Egyptologists, like the Scandinavian Jan Bergman, stated, that Geb was associated with a mythological divine creator-goose
Goose

Goose is the English-language name for a considerable number of birds, belonging to the family Anatidae. This family also includes swans, most of which are larger than geese, and ducks, which are smaller....
 who had laid a cosmic egg
Egg

Egg or Eggs may refer to the following:...
 from which the sun
Sun

The Sun , a G V star, is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 98.6% of the Solar System's mass....
 and/or the world
World

World is a common name for the planet Earth seen from a human worldview, as a place inhabited by human beings. It is often used to signify the sum of human experience and history, or the 'human condition' in general....
 had sprung. This is certainly wrong and brought about by a regular spelling of the name Geb with the help of an image of a Whitefronted Goose (Anser albifrons), also called originally geb(b): 'lame one, stumbler' . An alternative old name for this same goose species was t
T

T is the twentieth letter in the modern Latin alphabet. Its name in English language is spelled tee . It is the most commonly used consonant and the second most common letter in the English language....
rp meaning equally 'walk like a drunk, stumbler'. It is beyond any doubt , that said creator goose, called mythologically 'Ngg-wr' = 'the Great (or Oldest) Honker', appeared solely in the shape of a Nile
Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
 Goose (=Egyptian Goose = Fox Goose [Alopochen aegyptiacus]), both within texts and vignets. In Underworld Books a diacritic goose-sign (most probably denoting then an Anser albifrons) was sometimes depicted on top of the head of an anonymous, standing anthropomorphic deity pointing to his identity. Geb himself was never depicted as a Nile Goose, as later certainly was the great god Amun, called on some New Kingdom
New Kingdom

The New Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian History of Ancient Egypt between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt, and Twentieth dynasty of Egypt....
 stelae explicitly:'Amun, the beautiful smn-goose (Nile goose). The only clear pictorial confusion between the hieroglyphs
Hieroglyphs

Hieroglyph or hieroglyphics may refer to:*Egyptian hieroglyphs*Cursive hieroglyphs*Dongba script*Hieroglyphics *more generally, a Character of any logographic or partly logographic writing system....
 of a Whitefronted Goose (in the normal hieroglyphic spelling of the name Geb, often followed by the additional -b-sign) and a Nile Goose in the spelling of the name Geb occurs in the rock
Rock (geology)

In geology, rock is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock....
 cut tomb of the provincial governor Sarenput II (12th Dynasty, Middle Kingdom) on the Qubba el-Hawa desert-ridge (opposite Aswan
Aswan

Aswan , Egyptian language: Swenet , Coptic language: Swan; Greek language: Syene; ) is a city in the south of Egypt, the capital of the Aswan Governorate....
), namely on the left (southern) wall near the open doorway, in the first line of the brightly painted funerary offering formula.

Geb's family


Geb's twin sister/wife was Nut. Geb and Nut's children were: twins Nephthys and Isis & Osiris and Seth (Set). Osris and Isis were husband and wife. Seth(Set) and Nephthys were husband and wife. A child (Horus) was conceived by Isis and Osiris. No children were born to Seth (Set) but Nephthys and Osiris had an "affair". Nephthys and Isis tricked Osiris one night. Nephthys never liked Seth(Set), but she always had a "thing" for Osiris. Since Nephthys and Isis were twins they were able to trick Osiris into sleeping with Nephthys one night instead of Isis. As a result, Anubis (Osiris and Nephthys's son) was born.