Egyptian

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Egyptian

Geb

The God of the Earth

Domain: Earth & Vegetation
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Element: Earth
Relics of Power: Scepter of the Fertile Earth

Speak with Geb

The full Codex

5 sections of this entry are open to everyone: the summary, the people, the symbols, the lineage and the sources. The other 9 (Name and epithets, In the ancient sources, The myths, Worship and archaeology, How the god was depicted, What scholars debate, After antiquity, Did you know?, Codex relic) are part of the full Codex: PRO opens the whole study of all 500 deities, and without a subscription you can read one full entry a day, just like in the app.

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The People

People

Ancient Egyptians

Region

Nile Valley, Egypt

Period

c. 3100 BC – 400 AD

The Egyptian gods were worshipped for over three millennia along the banks of the Nile, with monumental temples at Karnak, Luxor, and Heliopolis. The pharaohs were held to be divine, and life revolved around cosmic order (Maat) and preparation for the afterlife. The cult endured until the rise of Christianity in Roman Egypt.

At the Opet festival, Amun's sacred barque sailed from Karnak to Luxor amid celebrating crowds. In the temples, priests woke, dressed, and fed the god's statue every day, and the Beautiful Festival of the Valley carried the deities to visit the shore of the dead.

At a glance

Geb personifies the earth in Egyptian tradition. A son of Shu and Tefnut and partner of Nut, the sky, he belongs to the divine genealogy associated with Heliopolis. The Pyramid Texts present him as a father who acknowledges the dead king and as the holder of a throne that can be inherited. On the Shabaka Stone, Geb arbitrates the dispute between Horus and Seth over the rule of the Two Lands. Funerary images show his body beneath Nut's arch, separated from her by Shu. These witnesses are ritual, theological, and visual; they do not form a continuous biography of the god.

The ancient sources on this deity are scarce. This study gathers only what is on record.

5 min read · Reviewed on October 14, 2026 · How we research

Sacred symbols

The earth, the goose, the barley and the serpent

Family

Parents

ShuTefnut

Siblings

Nut

Geb

Unions

Nut

Children

Osiris Isis SethNephthys

Genealogy according to Textos das Pirâmides, enunciações 2–10 e 429; Pedra de Shabaka; British Museum, Papiro de Greenfield; UCL, Gods and goddesses in ancient Egypt: creation

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

Anonymous; translation by Samuel A. B. Mercer, The Pyramid Texts, utterances 2–10. read
Anonymous; translation by Samuel A. B. Mercer, The Pyramid Texts, utterances 427–435. read
Anonymous; translation by Miriam Lichtheim, Shabaka Stone: The Memphite Theology. read
Anonymous, Greenfield Papyrus, Book of the Dead, vignette 87. read

Studies

University College London, Digital Egypt, God and goddesses in ancient Egypt: creation. open
The Global Egyptian Museum, Geb. open
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Sarcophagus of Wereshnefer. open
British Museum, Ancient Egyptian gods and goddesses. open

Name and epithets

The conventional form Geb represents an Egyptian name transliterated Gb; goose and leg signs appear in the writing of the name.

In the ancient sources

Pyramid Texts, Old Kingdom; versions preserved in royal pyramids. Geb acknowledges the king, appears in the language of inheritance, and addresses Nut. Shabaka Stone, known as the Memphite Theology, c.

The myths

The Earth Beneath the Sky. In the genealogy of the Ennead of Heliopolis, Shu and Tefnut are the parents of Geb and Nut. Geb corresponds to the earth and Nut to the sky.

Worship and archaeology

The evidence used here establishes funerary invocations and depictions of Geb, but it is insufficient to reconstruct a festival calendar, a priesthood, or a sanctuary exclusive to him.

How the god was depicted

The vignette of the Greenfield Papyrus, catalogued by the British Museum, shows Geb half reclining with extended limbs; Nut forms an arch over him, and Shu supports the goddess.

What scholars debate

A Continuous Myth or Scattered Witnesses?. The sources do not tell a single biography of Geb. The Pyramid Texts contain formulas for the dead king, the Shabaka Stone presents a decision about kingship, and funerary obje…

After antiquity

Present-day collections help readers understand Geb through concrete objects: the British Museum describes his figure in the Greenfield Papyrus, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art identifies his name in a cosmological c…

Did you know?

On the Shabaka Stone, Geb first divides the Two Lands and then revises his decision in favor of Horus. On the sarcophagus of Wereshnefer, arms above two legs represent the earth and allude graphically to Geb's name.

Codex relic

Scepter of the Fertile Earth. A scepter that makes vegetation sprout and whose tremor echoes as earthquakes, the 'laughter of Geb'.

The rest of this scroll is sealed

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