Who is Geb, the Egyptian god of the earth?

Geb was the god of the earth in ancient Egypt. In the creation story of Heliopolis he is the son of Shu, the air, and Tefnut, moisture, and the brother and husband of Nut, the sky. Their children were Osiris, Isis, Set and Nephthys. Egyptian art shows Geb lying on the ground beneath the arched body of Nut, with Shu between them holding her up. The throne of Egypt was called the throne of Geb.

Who he was in Egypt: Geb belonged to the Ennead of Heliopolis, the family of nine gods headed by the creator Atum. He was the earth itself, and also a king among the gods: Egyptian tradition counts him among the first divine rulers, and his son Osiris took the kingship after him. The kings of Egypt were called his heirs. A text from Memphis tells how Geb judged the quarrel between Horus and Set, first dividing Egypt between them and then giving the whole inheritance to Horus.
His signs: Geb is shown as a man, often stretched out beneath Nut, propped on one elbow with a knee raised, so that his body stands for the land. On his head he may wear a goose, because the goose is the hieroglyph that writes his name.
How Gerald Massey read him in 1907: Massey writes the name Seb, an older reading of Geb that many writers of his time used. He reads Seb as one of the elemental powers, the soul of life in the earth, worshipped as the god of earth and father of food, with the goose that lays the egg as his animal sign, which Massey calls a zootype. He makes Seb the arbiter who settles the quarrel of Horus and Sut, his spelling of Set, and the keeper of the dead in the earth. In Book XII and his list of parallels he argues that Seb, foster-father of the child Horus, is the original of Joseph, the foster-father of Jesus.
What scholars say now: Geb’s roles as the earth, as father of Osiris and Isis and as judge between Horus and Set are well attested, so Massey’s picture of the earth god and arbiter is close to today’s. But in the Egyptian accounts Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, is Geb’s grandson, not his foster-child, and Massey’s claim that Joseph in the gospels was modelled on Geb is not accepted by Egyptologists or biblical scholars. A guardian who protects a divine child is a theme found in many traditions, and a likeness of theme is not evidence of borrowing.
Where you meet him today: The Greenfield Papyrus in the British Museum shows Geb stretched out beneath the arched body of Nut while Shu holds her up, a picture of the world’s creation. The Shabaka Stone, also in the British Museum, carries the text from Memphis in which Geb judges between Horus and Set.
In Massey’s words: “Seb was divinized, and therefore worshipped as the god of earth and father of food.” (Gerald Massey, Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World (1907), Book III, p. 122)
In the app: Trainer › Word Trainer. In the app, the Word Trainer sets Massey’s Seb beside Geb, and the Symbol Trainer explains the goose he wears on his head.

Last updated October 25, 2026.

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