Corn Mummies are an interesting part of Egyptian religious practices. While millions of animal mummies ππΉπ ±πΎπͺ have been found at sites all over Egypt ππ ππ, mummies ππΉπ ±πΎπͺ made of grains ππΏπ ±πΈπ¦ like wheat and barley have also been found – these have been nicknamed βcorn mummiesβ by Egyptologists.Β
Corn mummies are found in cemeteries that are usually dated from the Third Intermediate Period through Roman times though they first π appeared during the Middle Kingdom. This particular corn mummy is (in the first picture) from the Late Period – Ptolemaic Period (400 β 200 B.C.E.).
Corn Mummies are meant to be a representation of the god πΉ Osiris πΉπ¨π and Egyptologists came to this conclusion because the βcoffinsβ that contain the corn mummies ππΉπ ±πΎπͺ almost always contain Osirisβ πΉπ¨π name and his titles/epithets in hieroglyphs πΉππͺ, but also a βmummyβ stuffed with grain that has a head of Osiris πΉπ¨π.
Another reason Egyptologists made the connection to Osiris πΉπ¨π was the cyclic nature of growing grains ππΏπ ±πΈπ¦- in Egyptian religion, anything that was cyclical was related to the birth π, death π ππ±, and then rebirth ππΏπ ± cycle of the human experience/Egyptian religion.
Even though the corn mummies are dedicated to Osiris πΉπ¨π, they are almost always found in cases with a falcon head. The falcon πππ‘π head is representative of the god πΉ Sokar ππ‘ππ , who is often connected to Osiris πΉπ¨π. Their connection goes all the way back to the Old Kingdom, and The Pyramid Texts are the one of the first instances in which they are shown to have a connection. This particular corn mummy contains hieroglyphs πΉππͺ that mention the combination god πΉ Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, who was popularly worshipped πΌπΏπ’ as a funerary god πΉ during this time period.