Geb and Shu

Geb and Shu in Dyn 3?

The caption to fig 35 in Stephen Quirke's 'The Cult of Ra' reads:  "Fragment of relief from a shrine, with a depiction of Geb....."  The fragments were found in a dumping ground on the site of Iunu. "This pit, presumably a pious burial of sacred material, was full of fragments of sculpture and hieroglyphic reliefs. The kings named on these range in date from Netjerikhet....to Nakhthorhebyt, last indigenous ruler of Egypt.....The name of Netjerikhet appears in a group of limestone chippings from a shrine of unknown size, possibly quite small. It is even conceivable that the Netjerikhet shrine had been moved in antiquity from some other site...." (Quirke 2001: 84)

"The name of Shu, a sky deity and a member of the Heliopolitan ennead of gods was restored by Sethe (W.S. Smith 1949: 133-4) from the fragments of a decorated shrine built by Netjerikhet at Heliopolis. Otherwise, Shu is not attested until the Pyramid Texts of the late Fifth Dynasty." (T. Wilkinson: 2001 (1999): 295)

"The earth god Geb is shown in human form on a relief fragment from a limestone chapel of Netjerikhet from Heliopolis (now in Turin). It has been suggested that the original decoration shown all nine members of the the Heliopolitan ennead, since the figure of Seth is also preserved (cf. Baines 1991: 96). However it is also possible that the shrine was dedicated to the 'corporation', and earlier grouping of gods......"  (T. Wilkinson 2001 (1999): 284)

Are Geb and Shu really attested in Dyn 3 as Stephen Quirke and Toby Wilkinson state?

W.S. Smith 1949: 133-4, is cited, and Smith writes:

"Over one of these figures is the Seth animal and over the other:......b, in which I would see the name of the god Geb.  In front of each seated figure is written:  di anx Dd wAs Aw ib Dt, and in front of and behind each are five vertical lines of inscription, each identical inscription thus repeated four times (see Fig. 50).  There must have been at least four of the seated figures and perhaps more.  Sethe (Urkunden I, 153-4) has also restored the name of Shu (in space left blank in Fig. 50 on right of No. 5).  Therefore it seems we have here the Ennead of Heliopolis."  (Smith 1949: 134)

Smith cites Sethe (Urkunden I:154):

Three of the Turin fragments:

Some 40 fragments were deposited at the Turin Museum in 1904, and apparently most of these have not yet been published - 12 of the fragments are shown in W.S. Smith's 1949 book.

The text accompanying the restoration of the fragments in the Turin Museum reads:  "Frieze with part of the divine Ennead of Heliopolis (Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephtis). The composition is made up of five columns of texts followed by images of the divinities seated on thrones.  The images of Geb and Seth have been preserved and are identifiable by their names written above their heads."

Sethe finds three gods on the Turin fragments, Shu, Geb and Seth, but only Seth is more or less certain with the 'recumbent Seth animal' (Gardiner sign E21), above the head of what is probably the god Seth.  If the seated figure on fragment no. 6 is Geb, then the 'goose' sign (gb) should be over Geb's head in the same way the recumbent Seth animal is above Seth.

However, for Geb, only what may be the front part of a foot that may be part of the 'leg' sign, D58 (b), appears above the seated male figure with the long curved beard (frag. no. 6).  If the seated male figure is Geb, and the sign above his head is D58 (b), then it still needs the 'goose' sign, G38 (gb) for the name to read 'Geb'.  Sethe has drawn the 'goose' sign in front of the 'leg' sign in his 'restoration', a possibilty if the name is 'Geb', but there is no space in front of the 'leg' for a 'goose', which means the 'goose' would have to be further up and to the left, but unfortunately the stone is broken away here.  If the 'goose' was directly above the leg as for example in the Pyramid Texts of Unis, there hardly seems space for it.

Geb, PT 256 §301   

Shu is even more questionable.  In the Turin Museum's restoration, the fragment (no. 3) showing Seth, is way behind Geb (no. 6), and between these is fragment no. 5, and to the right of this fragment is a space where Sethe believed Shu would have been, but that part is completely missing. 

Sethe's so called 'restoration' is probably based on the assumption that the fragments are part of a line up of the nine deities of the 'Big / Great Ennead' (pDt aAt) of Iunu - Atum, Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth, and Nephthys (Sethe Vol 2: 374  §1655ab).

If this is a line up of the Big / Great Ennead's deities, then behind Geb should be Osiris, not Shu, as Sethe / Smith assume, as they are usually mentioned / shown in the order ... Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Osiris, Isis, Seth ..., and so to the right of fragment 5, it should be Isis, but as the piece is completely missing its not possible to say who the deity is.

The 'Big / Great Ennead' and the nine deities are first attested in the archeological record at the end of Dyn 5 in the Pyramid texts of Unis (PT 219 §167....177), and are explicitly mentioned together as the 'Big Ennead' in the Dyn 6 Pyramid Texts of Merenra (PT 600 §1655b).  As far as I know, before the end of Dyn 5 there is no secure attestation of any of the nine deities of the 'Big / Great Ennead' of Iunu, apart from Seth and Osiris, and the first secure occurence of the name of Osiris is no earlier than mid Dyn 5.  (if the tomb of Hemet-ra is dated to late Dyn 4 / early Dyn 5, Osiris is even earlier)

The only mention of Geb in a non royal context in the Old Kingdom, is from an inscription in the tomb of xnw, "an offering the king gives, and Geb....." (Htp di nswt Gb.....), dated to the late Dyn 5 reign of Djedkara, or from early Dyn 6.

In the 'Pyramid Texts' of Unis, Geb 'created' the king (W 158; PT 247 §258), and the king's inheritance was from Geb and Atum (W 167; PT 256 §301) The king was Geb's 'seed' (W 208; PT 303 §466), the heir of his father Geb (W 211; PT 306 §477).  'Inheritance', 'heir', 'seed', in the context of the dead king, is the king identified with Osiris - Osiris Unis - Osiris was the son of Geb.

If the fragments are from Netjerikhet's Dyn 3 shrine at Iunu, which they probably are, as elements of Netjerikhet's Horus name, Hrw nTr(j) X.t, are on at least two of the fragments discovered at Iunu, and if the fragments show part of the line up of the deities of the 'Big / Great Ennead' of Iunu, this means the kings may have already in Dyn 3, been identified with Osiris in death.

An ennead is mentioned on the 'Palermo Stone' under the early Dyn 5 king, Sahura:  "The king of Upper and Lower Egypt [Sahura.  For (the following) he set up a monument:] The ennead [in] the house of divine writings, the senut shrine and for Horus in the royal palace (or) the roof-temple of Horus...."  Also under under Neferirkara:  "The ennead in the house of divine writing......the estate / town 'Neferirkare is beloved of the ennead'..."  (Strudwick 2005: 73)

The 'Big / Great Ennead' of Iunu was not the only ennead - an 'Elder Ennead' (psDt wrt, also known as the 'Little Ennead' (psDt nDst)), also existed, and together these two were known as the 'Dual Ennead'. (Allen 2005: 429)

The 'ennead' on the 'Palermo Stone' is written simply with the ideogram for 'god' ', R8 (nTr), repeated nine times, which may refer to any one of the various enneads.  The 'Big / Great Ennead' (pDt aAt) has R8 (nTr), repeated nine times + O29 (aA) + X1 (t), and the 'Little Ennead' (pDt nDst), R8 (nTr), repeated nine times + G37 (nDs) + X1 (t). Its not known which 'ennead' the earlier mentions of 'ennead' on the 'Palermo Stone' refer to, but its associated with the 'house of divine writings' and the 'senuti shrine' connected with Iunu, and the 'Big Ennead' was the 'Big Ennead' of Iunu.

In the Dyn 6 Pyramid Texts of Pepi and Pepi Neferkara, the king is one of that 'great body' (Xt aAt) that was born before in Iunu (P 338 (N 548); PT 486;  Sethe Vol 2: 81 §1041a).  The 'great body' here, may be an allusion to the ennead.

Earlier in Dyn 3, the name of the Horus king, Netjerikhet, (nTr Xt) may mean 'Divine of body', the Horus name of his successor, Sekhemkhet (sxm Xt), Horus 'powerful of body', and the Horus name of Menkaura, Kakhet (kA Xt), (whose) 'body is that of a bull'.  Hornung believes that 'body' in these names, refers to an earlier grouping of deities, the 'corporation' (Xt) a 'body' of deities that was perhaps replaced by the ennead.

Iunu is attested as early as Dyn 3, and is mention in a text on the outside of a Dyn 3 beer jar that may have once held papyri - a summary of the contents written on the outside of the jar reads "Year of: The Following of Horus;  11th occasion of the count of the herds of Iunu"  (Strudwick 2005: 74)

Imhotep, who may have been responsible for Netjerikhet's Dyn 3 funerary complex, held the title, ‘Great Seer [...]’.  Rahotep, a probable son of Sneferu, held the title, ‘Great Seer of Iunu' (wr mA iwnw) or possibly ‘Who sees / looks at the Great One of Iunu'.

The bas of Iunu (meaning the 'deities of Iunu') are mentioned on the 'Palermo Stone' under the Dyn 5 kings, Userkaf, Sahura, and Neferikara.  A 'Coffin Text' from the Middle Kingdom explains who the 'Bas of Iunu' are:  "I know the Bas of Iunu;  they are the Sun, Shu and Tefnut"  CT 154

In the New Kingdom 'chapter for opening the mouth of Ani' (Chap. 23), from the 'Book of Going Forth by Day', Ani identifies himself with 'Sah (sAH, 'Orion') the Great' who dwells with the 'Bas of Iunu'.

According to the earliest Pyramid Texts from the end of Dyn 5, Horus's bright eye was in Iunu (W 139);  Atum in Iunu (W 155);  head to (Nut) the Heliopolitan in the sedan chair (W 155);  the two foremost bas of the bas of Iunu (W 207);  four akhs who are in Iunu (W 208);  Unis was born in Iunu (W 212).

Although evidence for Iunu from early Dyn 4 exists, and most probably in Dyn 3, explicit evidence for the 'Big Ennead' of Iunu, with its nine deities, is lacking before the end of Dyn 5.  If the evidence for three members of the 'Big Ennead', Seth, Geb and Shu, on the Turin fragments, was more compelling, it would have supported the possibility of a 'Big / Great Ennead' as early as Dyn 3, but the evidence for this is tenuous. 

Chris Tedder - September 2007