Geb: The Earth Beneath Everything We Know and Depend On
I have been learning a little about the many ancient Egyptian gods, and this time I am finding out a little about Geb.
Geb was seen as the god of the earth itself. He was often depicted lying beneath the sky goddess Nut, his body forming the ground beneath all living things.
Everything people knew, their homes, their fields, their lives, rested upon him.
Geb was also part of a divine family that shaped many of the central Egyptian myths. He was the son of Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture, and the brother and husband of Nut.
They were separated by Shu, when she pushed them apart by lifting Nut away from Geb to create space between earth and sky.
As Egyptian belief developed, Geb became closely associated with fertility and growth. Crops grew from the earth, life emerged from it, and it returned to it after death.
He was also linked to the afterlife, as the earth received the dead. He was not only the source of life, but also the place of return. It is the idea that everything begins and ends in the same place.
Do you think people felt a deeper connection to gods like Geb because they could physically see and depend on what he represented?
Image info:
The Egyptian God Shu separating Nut from Geb
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