Geb (Egyptian mythology)

Write in hieroglyphs

mostly

Geb
Gb

or
with determinative

or

Negaga-wer
Ng3g3-wr
The great Schnatterer

Give with goose, what-scepter and ankh-sign

Geb is the earth god in Egyptian mythology . He is considered the brother of the sky goddess Nut as well as the son of the air god Schu and the fire goddess Tefnut as the bearer of the sun eye .

presentation

Geb is represented in human form and with green skin. Most of the images show him with his sister and wife Nut, but sometimes also standing with a staff in his left hand and the symbol for life ( Ankh ) in his right hand, as well as with a goose on his head, which is why he is also called "Big Schnatterer" becomes. The goose with which he was associated was the Egyptian goose , a duck bird domesticated in ancient Egypt .

In mythology

Geb and the sky goddess Nut

With Nut he begat the gods Osiris , Isis , Seth and Nephthys . According to ancient myths , Geb and Nut became the father of the sun and are therefore the ancestors of all Egyptian gods .

meaning

Next to Aker , Tatenen and Sokar , Geb was the most important earth god. It gave people natural resources, but also caused earthquakes. Grains and plants grow on its back. Geb was the source of water and everything that produced the earth, and thus the god of fertility. He ruled after his grandfather Atum and father Shu, who retired to the heavenly realms. Geb, her successor, thus also stood for the divine legitimacy of kingship. The Egyptian king ( Pharaoh ) himself was called the "heir of Geb" and allegedly sat on the "throne of Geb". Geb also produced an egg from which the bird deity Benu hatched.

Cult places

Geb was worshiped in Heliopolis as the hereditary prince and judge or "father" of the gods. Other places of worship were Memphis and Kom Ombo . There is also a representation of the god in the Amun temple in Hibis .

In Greek mythology

The Greeks equated Geb to their god Hades .

literature

Hans Bonnet : Geb. In: Lexicon of the Egyptian religious history. Nikol, Hamburg 2000, ISBN 3-937872-08-6 , pp. 201-203.
Richard H. Wilkinson : The world of the gods in ancient Egypt: Faith, power, mythology. Theiss, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-8062-1819-6 .
Geraldine Pinch: Egyptian Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt. Oxford University Press, USA 2004, ISBN 0-19-517024-5 .

Web links

Commons : Geb - collection of images, videos and audio files

Notes and individual references

↑ Janet Kear: Man and Wildfowl . T. & AD Poyser, London 1990, ISBN 0-85661-055-0 , p. 22.
↑ this specifically refers to Osiris

[1] Janet Kear: Man and Wildfowl . T. & AD Poyser, London 1990, ISBN 0-85661-055-0 , p. 22.

[2] this specifically refers to Osiris