NARRATOR: This big marble piece is a sarcophagus. Let's say you own a sarcophagus factory. You're known far and wide for your craftsmanship. When your clients die, their coffins must be ready to receive them. So in advance, you go as far as you can to construct the marble container to house their bodies. Once it's time, you'll personalize the coffin and add distinguishing features to the faces of the reclining figures on top. 

But in this case, for unknown reasons, the sarcophagus was never personalized for its owners. On the outside, craftsmen have carved one of the most dramatic events of the Trojan War. On the front, a scene appropriate for a coffin marking the temporary triumph of Achilles and the death and debasement of his enemy, Hector. Achilles too will die. His vulnerable heel pierced by a poison arrow. Antiquities curator, Karol Wight.

KAROL WIGHT: So Hector is being tied to the chariot and Achilles is about to drive that chariot in front of the walls of Troy, which is a great defilement of Hector's body. This was the worst insult that you could heap upon your enemy.

NARRATOR: On the sides of the sarcophagus, you'll see other scenes from the life of Achilles. Stories from the Trojan War, this shared heroic myth helped the Greeks define themselves as a people.