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Geb was a god of the earth and fertility. He was also a god who imprisoned the
dead in his body. He could be a malevolent being as well as beneficial deity.
Originally he was a local god, worshiped as a goose, though the specific city
where he was first worshiped is unknown, it seems to have been around the Iunu
(On, Heliopolis) region.
Known as 'The Great Cackler', Geb sometimes took on the form of a goose, but was usually shown as a man. Sometimes he was depicted wearing the headdress of a goose, but more often he was shown as a reclining man - sometimes ithphallyic - laying far underneath his sister-wife, the goddess Nut . Sometimes he was coloured green to show that, as with the ithphallyic form, he was a god of fertility. He was also sometimes shown wearing the crown of Lower Egypt or the atef crown.
As an earth god, the earthquakes were thought to be his laughter. It was believed that he supplied the minerals and precious stones, and so was also a god of the mines. The earth itself was referred to as ("The House of Geb").
As the god of the surface of the earth from which spring up trees, and plants, and herbs and grain he played a very prominent part in the mythology of the underworld, and as the god of the earth beneath the surface of the ground he had authority over the tombs wherein the dead were laid. In hymns and other compositions he is often styled the rpat ie. the hereditary, tribal chief of the gods, and he plays a very important part in The Book of the Dead ... and on his brow rested the secret gates which were close by the Balance of Ra, and which were guarded by the god himself.
-- The Gods of the Egyptians , E. A. Wallis Budge
Yet he wasn't just a god of the surface of the earth, but
a god of everything in and underneath the earth. It is in this that Geb was
related to the deceased - as the dead were buried in underground tombs, they
were buried inside Geb himself. He was thought to watch the weighing of the
heart in the Halls of Ma'at. As Nut was often represented on the cover of the
sarcophagus, Geb was represented by the base, so the deceased was enclosed in
the twin deities - Nut above and Geb below. Geb, though, had a darker aspect
in relation with the dead. He was thought to hold the souls of the damned, keeping
them prisoner in the earth.
In the tale of Geb and Nut , the twins angered the sun god Ra, their grandfather,
by being so close together in a permanent embrace, making love. He called on
their father, Shu , to rip the twins apart. Shu parted them, stamping on Geb
while raising Nut high up above him. It turned out, though, that the sky goddess
was pregnant, and she eventually gave birth to Geb's children - Osiris, Horus
the Elder, Set , Isis and Nephthys .
Another tradition believed that Geb and Nut produced the World Egg from which the sun was born in the form of a bnw -bird - a phoenix. Isis is referred to as 'The Egg of the Goose', referring to this.
One text tells us how Geb caused the golden box in which Ra's uraeus was kept to be opened in his presence. Ra had disposed of the box, together with his cane and a lock of his hair, in a fortress on the eastern frontier of his empire as a potent and dangerous talisman. When opened, the breath of the divine serpent within killed all of Geb's companions then and there, and gravely burned Geb himself. Only the lock of Ra's hair, applied to the wound, could heal Geb. So great, indeed, was the virtue of this divine lock of hair that years later when it was plunged for purification into the lake of At Nub it immediately turned into a crocodile. When he was restored to health Geb administered his kingdom wisely and drew up a careful report on the condition of every province and town in Egypt.
-- Egyptian Mythology , Veronica Ions
The Egyptians believed that Geb was the third divine pharaoh,
Shu before him and Osiris after, and the one who supported Horus' right to the
throne. Thus Geb was known for his protective qualities. One spell in The Book
of the Dead refers to this, stating "I am decreed to be the Heir, the Lord
of the Earth of Geb. I have union with women. Geb hath refreshed me, and he
hath caused me to ascend his throne." Since the Egyptians believed that
the pharaoh was the living image of Horus, the pharaoh was known as the "Heir
of Geb".
He was adored in Iunu, Djeba (Utes-Hor, Behde, Edfu) and Kom Ombo, though no
temple to him has been found. He was, though, seen as a previous ruler of Egypt
and the personification of the earth itself. He was a god of the earth who provided
the Egyptians with everything from precious stones to the food that they ate,
and the plants that grew along the Nile. He was a god of everything on the earth,
with powers reaching below the earth and to the land of the dead, imprisoning
those evil souls who deserved eternal imprisonment, and watching over the justified
dead. From a local god to a great deity of Egypt, Geb was a fertility god who
personified the earth itself.
Gengen Wer was a primeval Egyptian goose god whose onomatopoeic name means Great Honker and who is a force of creative energy.
The imagery is that of the goose carrying the egg from which life emerges. In order to be part of this creation, a continuing cycle in the Egyptian mind, a person in the Underworld might be described as closely guarding or actually being the egg within the Great Honker.
This goose, also called the crackler ('Negeg' in ancient Egyptian) is a form under which Amun can appear as a creator-god.