Categories
Reading Hieroglyphs

Geb in Hieroglyphs

Letโ€™s read some Hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช!ย Today ๐“‡๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“‡ณ we are going to learn about the god ๐“Šน โ€œGeb ๐“…ฌ๐“ƒ€๐“€ญ!”

These hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช pictured below spell out the name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– of the god ๐“Šน โ€œGeb ๐“…ฌ๐“ƒ€๐“€ญ.โ€ Geb ๐“…ฌ๐“ƒ€๐“€ญ is the god ๐“Šน of the Earthโ€™s ๐“‡พ๐“‡พ surface, which the ancient Egyptians called the Upper Earth. Anything that occurred on the Earthโ€™s surface was considered to be Gebโ€™s ๐“…ฌ๐“ƒ€๐“€ญ domain! For example, it is said that Gebโ€™s ๐“…ฌ๐“ƒ€๐“€ญ laughter is what caused earthquakes to happen! Geb ๐“…ฌ๐“ƒ€๐“€ญ was also responsible for allowing crops to grow!ย 

Geb in Hieroglyphs
The name of the god Geb in Hieroglyphs on a sarcophagus at the Brooklyn Museum

Here are the two most common ways to write Gebโ€™s name ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ– in hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช: 

๐“…ฌ๐“ƒ€๐“€ญ

๐“…ฌ๐“ƒ€

Letโ€™s break down each of the symbols! 

The โ€œgoose ๐“…ฌโ€ is a biliteral phonogram that represents the sound โ€œgbโ€ which would have possibly been pronounced like โ€œGeb.โ€ It can also act as a determinative in certain cases.  

The โ€œfoot ๐“ƒ€โ€ symbol is a uniliteral phonogram that represents the sound โ€œb.โ€ Here, the โ€œfoot ๐“ƒ€โ€ symbol is acting as a phonetic complement, meaning itโ€™s emphasizing the โ€œbโ€ sound from the previous symbol, and was most likely not pronounced. 

The โ€œseated god ๐“€ญโ€ is a determinative symbol and isnโ€™t pronounced! It acts as โ€œpunctuationโ€ at the end of the name of a male god!

The hardest part about some of the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช is distinguishing them from each other! The โ€œgoose ๐“…ฌโ€ and the very popular โ€œpintail duck ๐“…ญโ€ symbols are almost indistinguishable from each other! Not going to lie, sometimes I have difficulty telling the two symbols apart!ย ย 

This is my personal photograph and original text. DO NOT repost. 

Follow me @ancientegyptblog on Instagram and TikTok to learn all about ancient Egypt, hieroglyphs, mythology, culture and more!