Geb

In Heliopolitan cosmogony Geb is son of Shu (air) and Tefnut (moisture) and husband of Nut (sky). Shu separated Geb and Nut to create the ordered world from the primeval waters, placing Geb as the earth-principle beneath the sky. Geb is described in early royal and mortuary texts as an original divine ruler of the ordered cosmos who later passed kingship (in mythic succession narratives) to the next generation — notably Osiris — and thereafter sat as a judge in the divine tribunal. His genealogical role establishes him as progenitor of major deities (Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephthys) and of certain chthonic beings (e.g., snake-figure Nehebkau in some Coffin Text contexts).

Geb is typically shown anthropomorphically as a reclining bearded man, often depicted beneath the arched body of Nut with phallic emphasis to signify their union and separation; vegetation or green patches sometimes mark his body to signal fertility. Periodically he appears in animal-associated forms (ram, bull, crocodile in some vignettes) and is depicted with serpentine iconography (snakes around the head or as progeny). Earlier readings that equated Geb with a white-fronted goose reflect the use of the bird-sign g(b) as a phonogram in writing his name; Egyptological work indicates the white-fronted goose sign is orthographic/phonetic rather than evidence that he was cultically represented as that goose.

Geb embodies terrestrial and chthonic functions: his laughter was believed to cause earthquakes; his personified body is the substrate for crop growth (barley 'growing upon his ribs'); he is feared as father of snakes and linked with underworld power. In mortuary literature Geb is invoked in metaphors of imprisonment and release of the dead (e.g., 'Geb opening his jaws'), and texts describe an attribute rising from the ground (the wsr.t staff) on which enemies could be bound. After relinquishing kingship he serves a juridical role within the divine tribunal administering fate and order among gods and the dead.