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GEB

Role: God of the earth

Appearance: Green-skinned man, with leaves all over his body and a goose on his head. Sometimes he was shown laying on his side under his wife, the sky goddess Nut.

Sacred animals: goose

Relations with other gods: Nut (wife), Shu (father), Tefnut (mother), Osiris and Set (sons), Isis and Nephthys (daughters)

 

In ancient myths, Geb (the earth) and his wife Nut (the sky) were snuggled up to each other so closely that there was no space between them for the sun to travel. So Re, the god of the sun, ordered their father Shu (god of the air) to come between them, separating the pair with a violent storm. Shu held Nut up away from the ground to create air space in which the sun could travel. Darkness came daily, whenever Shu let let her down, but every morning she was lifted off of Geb all over again.

As the god of the earth, it is Geb who causes earthquakes whenever he laughs.

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