Phoenician Sarcophagus of a Youth, 5th-4th Century BCE
Phoenician Sarcophagus of a Youth is a beautiful piece of art that uses two different cultural styles and blends them into one beautiful piece of art. The sculpture appears simple and uniform at first, but with a closer look, the intentions of the sculptor are realized after discovering the complexity, attention, and variations of elements.
A Sarcophagus is a stone coffin that is often rectangular and decorated with relief sculpture. The word sarcophagus comes from Greek origin and translates to “flesh eating stone”. The word came to refer to a particular kind of limestone that was thought to decompose the flesh of corpse that was inside it. Sarcophagi were most often designed to remain above ground, which is why the sculptor took such great care and put such amazing detail into each and every Sarcophagus. Phoenician Sarcophagus of a Youth stands 7 feet tall that weighs over 2,000 pounds. We know this unique coffin was developed for the burial of nobility because of the Phoenicians use of marble from the Greek island of Paros, instead of the traditional use of limestone. While the bulk of the Sarcophagus is sculpted in overall detail, nowhere is this detail more clear than in the facial expressions of the individuals and animals. Even though the sculpture stands 7 feet tall there is a significant emphasize on the head. In comparison to the rest of the body, the head is much bigger than what it should have been. In this particular sarcophagus the hair flows in a curly manor with specific attention to each strand. Looking at other Greek sarcophagus, each sculpture pays close attention to the detailing of hair whether it is human or animal. There is also Greek reference in the eyes. This sarcophagus has eyes but in every Greek sarcophagus that I saw, there is no pupil or iris. The Greeks believed that at the moment of death the spirit left the body which would be why there is no life within his eyes. There...