sarcophagus

sarcophagus. A stone (or more rarely terracotta) coffin. The term is particularly applied to large and richly decorated examples from the ancient world. According to Pliny the name (Greek: ‘flesh-devouring’) was derived from the custom of making or lining coffins with a slate stone found in Asia Minor that had the property of destroying the flesh of the corpse. In the 3rd and 4th centuries ad sarcophagi were the most common form of sculpture produced in the Roman Empire. Many surviving examples—more or less mass-produced—are mediocre, but some are of high quality and great historical interest, notably the sarcophagus of Junius Bassus (Vatican Grottoes, Rome). As an inscription informs us, Junius Bassus was prefect of Rome and was baptized a Christian on his deathbed in 359; the sarcophagus is richly adorned with relief carvings of subjects from the Old and New Testaments, and rather than being a memorial to an individual, it can be seen as a declaration of church teaching, marking the growing dominance of Christianity (it was not officially tolerated until 313, but by the end of the century it was the virtually compulsory religion for Roman citizens). On earlier sarcophagi the carvings are usually of pagan subjects and such sculptures were highly influential on Renaissance artists. In the Neoclassical era the sarcophagus form was revived.