A sarcophagus is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and displayed above ground, though they may also be buried. The word “sarcophagus” comes from the Greek σάρξ sarx meaning “flesh”, and φαγεῖν phagein meaning “to eat”, hence sarkophagus means “flesh-eating”; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos. Since lithos is Greek for stone, lithos sarcophagos means ‘flesh-eating stone’.
