Sarcophăgus
(
σαρκοφάγος). Literally,
“fleshdevouring.” A name given to a kind of limestone quarried at Assos in
Troas, and remarkable for possessing the peculiar power of consuming or eating away the
flesh and bones, with the exception of the teeth, of a body enclosed within it, in the short
period of forty days (Pliny ,
Pliny H. N. xxxvi.
27). On account of this property it was extensively employed for making coffins, when
the corpse was buried entire without burning; and
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Sarcophagus.
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thence the term came to be used in a general sense for any kind of coffin or tomb,
without regard to the materials of which it was made (
Juv.x.
172). See
Sepulcrum.