Sarcophagus

A sarcophagus is a stone container for a coffin or body. The word comes from Greek "sarx" meaning flesh, and "Phagos" meaning to eat, so sarkophagos, which means "eater of flesh". The 5th century BC Greek historian, Herodotus, noted that early sarcophagi (the plural) were carved from a special kind of rock that consumed the flesh of the corpse inside. In particular coffins made of a limestone from Assus in the Troad had the property of consuming the bodies placed within them and so this limestone (also known as lapis Assius) was called sarkophagos lithos (flesh-eating stone). All coffins made of limestone have this property to a greater or lesser degree, and the name eventually came to be applied to stone coffins in general.

Sarcophagi were usually carved, decorated or built ornately. Some were built to be freestanding above ground, as a part of an elaborate tomb or tombs. Others were made for burial, or were placed in crypts. In Ancient Egypt, a sarcophagus was usually the external layer of protection for a royal Egyptian mummy, with several layers of coffins nested within.

The word sarcophagus is also commonly used to describe the large concrete structure erected around the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor to isolate it from the environment.

The root of the word carnivore similarly means "eater of flesh", though the meaning is different.

See also