Corn Mummies are an interesting part of Egyptian religious practices. While millions of animal mummies ๐๐น๐ ฑ๐พ๐ช have been found at sites all over Egypt ๐๐ ๐๐, mummies ๐๐น๐ ฑ๐พ๐ช made of grains ๐๐ฟ๐ ฑ๐ธ๐ฆ like wheat and barley have also been found – these have been nicknamed โcorn mummiesโ by Egyptologists.ย
Corn mummies are found in cemeteries that are usually dated from the Third Intermediate Period through Roman times though they first ๐ appeared during the Middle Kingdom. This particular corn mummy is (in the first picture) from the Late Period – Ptolemaic Period (400 โ 200 B.C.E.).
Corn Mummies are meant to be a representation of the god ๐น Osiris ๐น๐จ๐ญ and Egyptologists came to this conclusion because the โcoffinsโ that contain the corn mummies ๐๐น๐ ฑ๐พ๐ช almost always contain Osirisโ ๐น๐จ๐ญ name and his titles/epithets in hieroglyphs ๐น๐๐ช, but also a โmummyโ stuffed with grain that has a head of Osiris ๐น๐จ๐ญ.
Another reason Egyptologists made the connection to Osiris ๐น๐จ๐ญ was the cyclic nature of growing grains ๐๐ฟ๐ ฑ๐ธ๐ฆ- in Egyptian religion, anything that was cyclical was related to the birth ๐, death ๐ ๐๐ฑ, and then rebirth ๐๐ฟ๐ ฑ cycle of the human experience/Egyptian religion.
Even though the corn mummies are dedicated to Osiris ๐น๐จ๐ญ, they are almost always found in cases with a falcon head. The falcon ๐๐๐ก๐ head is representative of the god ๐น Sokar ๐๐ก๐๐ , who is often connected to Osiris ๐น๐จ๐ญ. 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 ๐น๐๐ช that mention the combination god ๐น Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, who was popularly worshipped ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ข as a funerary god ๐น during this time period.
