This Roman marble sarcophagus (coffin) was created around 200 CE for a wealthy husband and wife, who are depicted reclining on the lid as if they were on a couch. Burial in sarcophagi (plural) was a common Roman funeral practice from about 150 to 250 CE. Since these coffins were meant to be seen and often included images of the deceased, they also functioned as memorials. The couple’s faces are unfinished, perhaps because the sarcophagus was pre-made and had not yet been purchased. Once sold, the buyer would have requested the addition of specific facial features to represent the deceased. 

The decoration on the body of the coffin is carved in high relief, and many figures are almost fully three-dimensional. The four sides of the sarcophagus are decorated with mythological scenes from the life of Achilles, the Greek warrior made famous in the tales of the Trojan War recorded in Homer’s Iliad. The adventures of an ancient war hero don’t seem to relate to the lives of a rich Roman married couple, but some tales of gods and heroes were viewed as symbols of overcoming difficulties, even death. They could also show off a person’s knowledge of famous authors. These stone coffins were produced to order or pre-made and decorated with popular mythological scenes.

• The front side of the sarcophagus (the side from which the couple looks out at us) is carved with a detailed scene of Achilles dragging the corpse of the Trojan hero Hector behind his chariot. (This was a shockingly disrespectful act of vengeance, but Achilles eventually returned Hector’s body to his father for burial.) 
• The unfinished back of the sarcophagus shows a battle between Greeks and centaurs, mythological horse-humans whose wise elder, Chiron, was Achilles’s tutor. 
• One short end of the sarcophagus shows Achilles arming himself for war.
• The other short end shows Odysseus, the clever hero of Homer’s Odyssey, discovering Achilles hiding among the daughters of King Lycomedes. Achilles’s goddess mother Thetis wanted to keep him from going to war, where he was prophesied to die but win lasting glory. She sent him to hide disguised as a young woman in the court of the distant king. Odysseus found Achilles and convinced him to join the Greeks in their war against Troy. Although Achilles did die in that battle, his glory endured and his story was preserved as courageous inspiration on this sarcophagus, as well as many other objects.