Sar-copha-gus.
A stone coffin. Sarcophagi were anciently in general use, at least with the wealthy, among the Orientals, particularly those inhabiting the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, and were often ornamented with elaborate and expensive sculptures. Large numbers yet remain in that part of Syria which formerly belonged to Tyre and Sidon, though the ancient cemeteries have for ages supplied the later inhabitants with stone for economic uses. The sarcophagus of King Ashmunazer, discovered at Sidon in 1855, is interesting as containing the longest Phoenician inscription known to exist, until the Moabite stone, since discovered, antedated it. See pen. The sarcophagus of Setei-Menephthah was discovered by Belzoni in a deep recess of a tomb. It is of Oriental alabaster, and is covered with some thousands of figures, evidently a funeral procession. It was long in the museum of Sir John Soane, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. It had been broken open by robbers, probably many centuries before the visit of Belzoni. The body was gone, and the lid broken into five pieces. In Fig. 4576, a represents a Chaldaean clay coffin or vault-cover found at Mugheir, eight feet below the surface of the soil. b shows the interior on an enlarged scale. On a platform of sun-dried brick is laid a mat, on this the skeleton or pair of skeletons, surrounded by utensils or ornaments. A huge cover of burnt clay inclosed the whole. In the particular instance illustrated, the contents, besides the skeleton, were a sun-dried brick for a pillow; a copper [2029] bowl; small cylinders of meteoric stone; pieces of bamboo; baked clay jars and utensils for food and water; remains of datestones in a shallow dish. c is another kind of Chaldaean sarcophagus, formed of two large open-mouthed jars, two and a half to three feet in depth and two feet in diameter. The mouth of the smaller is inserted in that of the larger, and luted with bitumen. In each coffer is a small hole for the escape of the gases of putrefaction. This form is common at Mugheir and Tel-el-Lahm. — Journal of the Asiatic Society, XV. 413, 414. |
| Chaldoean sarcophagi. |
