Stone sarcophagus of Pharaoh Merenptah. Merneptah (or Merenptah) was the fourth ruler of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Ancient Egypt.

A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. A funeral is a Ceremony marking a person's Death. Funerary customs comprise the complex of Beliefs and practices used by a Culture to remember A cadaver or corpse is a dead Body. "Cadaver" is normally used as a more formal term for a body being used in medical training or research The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek sarx meaning "flesh", and phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos the word came to refer to the limestone that was thought to decompose the flesh of corpses interred within it. Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Limestone is a Sedimentary rock composed largely of the Mineral Calcite ( Calcium carbonate: CaCO3 ^[1][2]

Common forms

Roman-era sarcophagi at Worms, Germany. Worms (voɐms is a City in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River

Sarcophagi were most often designed to remain above ground, hence were often ornately carved, decorated or elaborately constructed. Some were built to be freestanding, as a part of an elaborate tomb or series of tombs, while others were intended for placement in crypts. For the New York prison see The Tombs. A Tomb is a repository for the remains of the dead. In terms of European architecture a crypt (from the Latin crypta and the Greek κρυπτη, kryptē) is a stone chamber or In Ancient Egypt, a sarcophagus formed the external layer of protection for a royal mummy, with several layers of coffins nested within, and was often carved out of alabaster. A royal family is the extended family of a monarch. Generally the head of a royal family is a king or queen regnant A mummy is a Corpse whose Skin and Flesh have been preserved by either intentional or Incidental exposure to Chemicals extreme A coffin (also known as a casket in North American English) is a funerary Box used in the display and containment of deceased remains – either for Alabaster is a name applied to varieties of two distinct Minerals Gypsum (a hydrous sulfate of Calcium) and Calcite

Sarcophagi – sometimes metal or plaster as well as limestone – were also used by the ancient Romans until the early Christian burial preference for interment underground, often in a limestone sepulchre, led to their falling out of favor^[2]. Ancient Rome was a Civilization that grew out of a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 10th century BC A Christian burial is the Burial of a deceased person with ecclesiastical rites typically in Consecrated ground A sepulchre, or sepulcher, is a type of Tomb or Burial chamber

Other meanings

The word sarcophagus is also commonly used to describe the large concrete structure erected around the remains of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant to isolate it from the environment, following the Chernobyl disaster. The VI Lenin Memorial Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station (Чернобыльская АЭС им The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear reactor accident in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Soviet Union.

The fly family Sarcophagidae derives its name similarly, and the roots of the word similarly translate to "flesh eater", though the meaning is different. Flies of the Diptera family Sarcophagidae (from the Greek sarco- = Flesh, phage = eating the same roots as the word " Sarcophagus

In the popular television series Stargate SG-1, a sarcophagus is a device which can heal a human body placed inside - even bringing a person back from the dead.

See also

The Etruscan "Sarcophagus of the Spouses", at the National Etruscan Museum. Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to the culture and way of life of a people of ancient Italy The " Sarcophagus of the Spouses " (Italian Sarcofago degli Sposi) is a late 6th century BC Etruscan Anthropoid Sarcophagus This page is on the museum itself for the architectural history of the house see Villa Giulia.

Detail of a stone sarcophagus in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum showing a hunting scene.

• List of Egypt-related topics
• List of burials in the Valley of the Kings

Death related

• Coffin
• Ossuary
• Tomb
• Burial
• Funeral
• Canopic jar
• Mummy

Places

• Great Pyramid of Giza
• Cologne cathedral
• Catacombs of Rome
• Wentworth Woodhouse
• Clazomenae
• Aachen Cathedral
• Hatshepsuts Temple
• Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor #4

People

• Alyattes II
• Balbinus
• Minos

Other

• Alabaster
• Jewish symbolism

References

External links

• Chernobyl. Dark side of sarcophagus. - video (233 MB)