SARCOPHAGUS, the name given to a coffin in stone, which on account of its caustic qualities, according to Pliny (H.N. xxxvi. 27), consumed the body in 4o days (Gr. aapKocklcyos, literally "flesh-eating," from aapE, flesh, 4ayeIv, to eat) ; also by the Greeks to a sepulchral chest, in stone or other material, which was more or less enriched with ornament and sculpture. One of the finest examples known is the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun (c.
1550 B.c.) made of granite and ornamented with angels with out spread wings. Of later date are the green porphyry sarcophagus and the terra-cotta sarcophagus from Clazomenae; both of these date from the early 6th century B.c., and are in the British Mu seum. The finest Greek examples are those found at Sidon in 1887 by Hamdy Bey, which are now in the Imperial Museum at Con stantinople. (See GREEK ART.) Of Etruscan sarcophagi there are numerous examples in terra cotta; occasionally they are min iature representations of temples, and are sometimes in the form of a couch on which rest figures of the deceased; one of these is in the British Museum. The earliest Roman sarcophagus is that of Scipio in the Vatican (3rd century B.c.), carved in peperino stone.
Of later Roman sarcophagi, there is an immense series enriched with figures in high relief, of which the chief are the Niobid ex ample in the Lateran, the Lycomedes sarcophagus in the Capitol, the Penthesilea sarcophagus in the Vatican, and the immense sar cophagus representing a battle between the Romans and the barbarians, in the Museo Belle Terme. In later Roman work there was a great decadence in the sculpture, so that in the following centuries recourse was had to the red Egyptian porphyry, of which the sarcophagi of Constantia (A.D. 355) and of the empress Helena (A.D. 589), both in the Vatican, are fine examples. Later, during the Byzantine period, there is a large series, either in mu seums or in the cloisters of the Italian churches. They are gen erally decorated with a series of niches with figures in them, divided by small attached shafts with semicircular or sloping covers carved with religious emblems, one of the best examples being the sarcophagus of Sta. Barbara, dating from the begin ning of the 6th century, at Ravenna, where there are many others.