Domains & Iconography
Domains: earth, kingship inheritance
Iconography: man reclining, goose
Earth & Lineage
Geb personifies the earth—his body the ground of cultivation and tomb alike. As husband of Nut and father of Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys, he anchors the Ennead’s middle generation; in narratives of kingship he cedes inheritance to Osiris and Horus, legitimizing rightful rule.
Signs & Omens
Texts attribute earthquakes to Geb’s laughter and speak of his permission or withholding of land. Oath formulas and boundary texts sometimes invoke his stability; agricultural hopes depend on his fertile green, while necropolis belonging depends on his embrace below.
Iconography
Depicted reclining beneath Nut, often with green skin or vegetation motifs and with a goose emblem on the head or nearby. Paired scenes (Geb below, Nut above) appear on coffins and temple ceilings, teaching a cosmos held apart by Shu’s air to make room for life.
Legacy
From coffin decoration to cosmological ceilings, Geb persists as felt earth—reliable and capricious by turns. Museums preserve goose‑marked figures and reliefs that keep this grounded theology visible: rule and farming rest on the earth’s consent.