Sarcophagus

“ In the midst of this sarcophagus is a well, the mouth of which is level with the ground, and half closed by two flag-stones; to this is given the name of the well of blood, because the heads of those who are executed in the dungeon are thrown into it. ”

“ It is possible that it may first have contained cinerated remains and not have been a sarcophagus proper.
Fig. 49.
The sarcophagus at the British Museum was found in Haydon Square, Minories, the site of a part of a cemetery where in 1797 “many curious fragments of Roman pottery as well as glass vessels were discovered, and two complete urns with bone ashes, etc., were taken up.” This stone sarcophagus contained a lead coffin, now also in the British Museum. At the Society of Antiquaries is an accurate drawing of both made at the time of the discovery. ”

“ Of later Roman sarcophagi, there is an immense series enriched with figures in high relief, of which the chief are the Niobid example in the Lateran, the Lycomedes sarcophagus in the Capitol, the Penthesilea sarcophagus in the Vatican, and the immense sarcophagus representing a battle of the Romans and the barbarians in the Museo delle Terme. ”

“ By the roadside was a huge undecorated sarcophagus, in excellent preservation, standing on a raised platform of masonry; single and alone in a wide expanse, no village or remnant of human works near it. The masonry in front had been wilfully damaged, enough to make the sarcophagus lean, but not to fall, and the ponderous cover was removed from its place—total length, eight feet by five, and four in height, the hollow cut out from the body left the thickness of a foot all round it. ”

“ There was an insidious pleasure mingled with it, an intangible titillation of the nerves; but that only alarmed me the more. The poisons that are most to be feared are those which captivate the senses; they convey no warning to the body, and betray the mind, however watchful, by effecting a paralysis of will. Perhaps—unwittingly—I had been very near death. The notion was disturbing. I began to regard the sarcophagus much in the light of an infernal machine possessing dangerous potentialities for ill. ”

“ Why should imperishable treasures, gold, silver, and precious stones be enclosed in lead? Why not in stone? And the sarcophagus had been hermetically sealed too, witness the chisel and saw marks on the lid, of Ottley's making. I examined them attentively, then sat down and stared at the sarcophagus again. It was coffin shaped. Why? If it had been intended for a mere treasure chest surely—I was struck suddenly by a fact and a remembrance. The sarcophagus manifestly measured four feet high at least. ”

“ In digging the foundation, the workmen discovered a golden sarcophagus, ornamented with three circlets on which were inscribed, "I have expended—I have given—I have kept—I have possessed—I do possess—I have lost—I am punished." ”

“ Its accuracy of proportion is also fine, as each dimension is a whole number of palms, with a fluctuation of only one part in a thousand. In front of the sarcophagus stood the alabaster table of offerings, for the ka of Usertesen II, now in the Gizeh Museum. Strange to say, there is not a trace of a coffin, or a lid to the sarcophagus; and, indeed, as this chamber is not under the middle of the pyramid, it may be questioned whether the real interment is not yet to be reached by some other passage. ”

“ The arrangement of the sarcophagi was not always the same; but they were almost invariably placed at right angles, in the manner represented (page 464) in the ground-plan and elevation which we have given of them. The sarcophagus itself was generally composed of a single block of [464] stone, hollowed out roughly for the reception of the body ”

“ The upper surface of a sarcophagus is transformed into a chess-board, beside which man sits, his head resting on his hand, and his countenance full of careful thought as to what moves he should make next. ”

“ The term sarcophagus is to us so clear and precise in its significance, that we do not stop to think that its etymology reveals it as literally meaning body-devourer. Tradition taught that a stone of this type was to be found near Assos in Lycia, Asia Minor, and also in some parts of the Orient. If attached to the body of a living person it would eat away the flesh. Another type, already noted by Theophrastus in the third century B.C., had the power of petrifying any object placed within receptacles made from it. ”

“ Some are very much injured, others are in better preservation. One of the most curious of these was opened by Colonel Vyse. We looked down into a deep well or pit, about fifty feet deep, and there we saw a large black sarcophagus. ”

“ On the sixth day after the removal from the sarcophagus, I took the bandages that I had removed from Sebek-hotep and very carefully wrapped the deceased in them, sprinkling powdered myrrh and gum benzoin freely on the body and between the folds of the wrappings to disguise the faint odor of the spirit and the formalin that still lingered about the body. When the wrappings had been applied, the deceased really had a most workmanlike appearance; he would have looked quite well in a glass case even without the cartonnage, and I felt almost regretful at having to put him out of sight for ever. ”

“ In some instances these sarcophagi are excavated breast high from the ground, and are of a length and height just sufficient for the sliding in of a coffin. Of these there is one in a garden near Sayda, in tolerable preservation. The chamber is subterranean; and although the inscriptions [100] over the mouth [348] of each sarcophagus are still legible, yet the stucco which coated the walls is, from the moisture which oozes through the ceiling, quite discoloured, and, in many places, crumbled away. ”

“ On a sarcophagus in the Lateran Museum is a bas relief in which Our Lord, as the representative of the Eternal Father, is seen standing between Adam and Eve, and giving to the former a sheaf of grain, the symbol that by the sweat of his brow he should eat bread, and to the latter a lamb, that she may work diligently with her hands in the domestic employment of spinning—the allotted labour of woman in every age. ”

“ For myself I am by no means satisfied that the Christian sarcophagi of rich and beautiful sculpture are as late as the dates generally given to them. I judge by the fashion of the hair worn by the ladies. Now there is a sarcophagus at Arles with the twelve apostles on it, six on each side of Christ, and a portrait of the deceased. ”

“ But the plan of immersing the remains of the deceased in a jar of methylated spirit was obviously impracticable. However, I bethought me that we had in our collection a porphyry sarcophagus, the cavity of which had been shaped to receive a small mummy in its case. I tried the deceased in the sarcophagus and found that he just fitted the cavity loosely. I obtained a few gallons of methylated spirit, which I poured into the cavity, just covering the body, and then I put on the lid and luted it down air-tight with putty. ”

“ The faces in particular show more expression than would be tolerated in art of the previous century. We are unable as yet to assign an author or even a school to the sculptor of this sarcophagus; he comes to us as a new and striking phenomenon in the history of ancient art. The reliefs which adorn the other sides of the sarcophagus are almost equally interesting. On one side we see Alexander again, in the company of a Persian noble, hunting a lion. The short sides also show us scenes of fighting and hunting. ”

“ The only sarcophagus that has been found in London which bears any resemblance to that under consideration is the one from Haydon Square, Minories, and that only in the fact of its being ornamented on its front and side; the lid too, which is sharply ridged, is decorated with a foliated pattern. It is formed of ragstone, and more roughly made than that from Clapton. In the centre is a bust in bas-relief, and on either side a striated pattern, such as may be frequently observed on examples from abroad. At York, sarcophagi have been discovered with inscriptions upon them on plain labels ”

“ Fig. 50.—Facsimile of Hieratic Papyrus Prisse
The sarcophagus, which is preserved in the Louvre, was found in a rock-tomb near the site of ancient Sidon. The interpretation of the inscription upon it has exercised the skill of a host of scholars, and given rise to an enormous body of literature. Eshmunazar, whose mask and mummy are sculptured on the sarcophagus, speaks in the first [Pg 141] person. He calls himself "king of the Sidonians, son of Tabnit," and tells how he and his mother, the priestess of Ashtaroth, had built temples to Baal Sidon, Ashtaroth, and Emun. ”

“ At the bottom, within a frame ornamented with emblems of mortality, a sarcophagus with the skeleton of a man raised from it. Two Deaths are standing near, one of whom blows a trumpet, the other points upward with one hand, and holds a scythe in the other. On one side of the sarcophagus are several females weeping; on the other, a philosopher sitting, who addresses a group of sovereigns, &c. who are looking at the skeleton. ”

“ At last we rounded a sudden angle of the low cavern we were following. Here we came to vaults that evidently belonged to some noble family, for they were quite spacious and there was but one sarcophagus in each vault.
"My ancestors and my family lie here," said Tomeron.
We reached the end of the cavern and were confronted by a blank wall. At one side, was the final vault, in which an empty sarcophagus stood open. The sarcophagus was wrought of the finest bronze and was richly carven. ”

“ We see depicted in them the telling of the news of the death, with the results in the mournful attitude of the two seated figures. The mourning women must be taken, not as the representation of any persons in particular, but generally as the expression of the feeling of a city. Such figures are familiar to us in the art of the second Attic school; we could easily find parallels to the sarcophagus among the 4th-century sepulchral reliefs of Athens. We can scarcely be mistaken in attributing the workmanship of this beautiful sarcophagus to some sculptor trained in the school of Praxiteles. ”

“ In every church there is a sarcophagus in imitation of our Saviour's tomb, and many of these sarcophagi are of elaborate workmanship with gorgeous gilt and otherwise ornamented. The lid is adorned with a painting representing our Saviour in death. At dawn this lid is carried into the chapel, and by 3 P. M. the sarcophagus is in its place on the daïs ready to receive the body of our Lord. Shortly before the service is concluded, all the worshippers have their tapers lighted, the flame being procured from a candelabrum in front of the sacred icon. ”

“ In the year 835 the Archbishop of Milan, Angilbert II., caused a large porphyry sarcophagus to be made in which he laid the body of St. Ambrose between the other two under the altar. In 1864 some excavations and repairs revealed in situ a magnificent sarcophagus nearly four and a half feet in length, three in width, and nearly two in height, without the covering, placed lengthwise. Further excavations brought to view two other tombs, one to the right and one to the left, lined with marble and placed east and west, not as the sarcophagus, north and south. ”

“ But, fortunately, the sculpture of the sarcophagus itself is little injured.
There are two saints, male and female, at its angles, each in a little niche; a Christ, enthroned in the centre, the Doge and Dogaressa kneeling at his feet; in the two intermediate panels, on one side the Epiphany, on the other the Death of the Virgin; the whole supported, as well as crowned, by an elaborate leaf-plinth. The figures under the niches are rudely cut, and of little interest. ”

“ The remains of sculptures, bas-reliefs, sarcophagi, and epitaphs are very much decayed. What remains of the statues indicates a high state of art. The most important thing in the Museum is a sarcophagus of white marble, which, although much dilapidated, is still very beautiful. The exterior is full with fine reliefs, especially on one side, where a figure, in the form of an angel, is represented holding two garlands of fruit together over its head. On the lid of the sarcophagus are two figures in a reclining posture. The heads are wanting ”

“ This is no other than to fly down obliquely, with her victim clasped in her arms, to the pleasant little sarcophagus which she has previously prepared for it, for though flight upwards, or in a straight line, with such a burden, is out of the question, her strength is equal to this. It is necessary, however, that she should balance the body nicely, and make a fair and uninterrupted start, in order not to be overweighted and again fall. ”

“ Sarcophagus, sär-kof′a-gus, n. a kind of limestone used by the Greeks for coffins, and so called because it was thought to consume the flesh of corpses: any stone receptacle for a corpse: an 18th-century form of wine-cooler:—pl. Sarcoph′agī, Sarcoph′aguses. [L.,—Gr. sarkophagos—sarx, flesh, phagein, eat.]
Sarcophilus, sär-kof′i-lus, n. a genus of carnivorous marsupials containing the Tasmanian devil.—n. Sar′cophile, any animal of this genus.—adj. Sarcoph′ilous, fond of flesh. [Gr. sarx, sarkos, flesh, philein, to love.] ”

“ The chambers commonly contain two or three; but sometimes one sarcophagus is superimposed upon another, and in this way the number occasionally reaches to six.660 Mostly, the sarcophagi are plain, or nearly so, but are covered over with a sloping lid. Sometimes, however, they are elaborately carved, and constitute works of art, which are of the highest value. An account will be given of the most remarkable of these objects in the chapter on Phoenician Æsthetic Art. ”