Sarcophagus Wall- Achilles on the Island of Sycros

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The magnificent Hagia Triada sarcophagus is a stunning stone coffin intricately painted in vibrant frescoes; one style of later Ancient Greek sarcophagi in ornate pottery is showcased in Klazomenian sarcophagi, crafted around the Ionian Greek city of Klazomenai, where most examples were discovered, between 550 BC (Late Archaic) and 470 BC. They are fashioned from coarse clay in shades ranging from rich brown to soft pink. Added to the basin-like main sarcophagus is a broad, rectangular frame, often coated with a white slip and then meticulously painted. The enormous Lycian Tomb of Payava, now housed in the British Museum, is an imperial tomb monument of about 360 BC designed for outdoor placement, a grand exemplar of a common Lycian style. Ancient Roman sarcophagi—sometimes metal or plaster as well as limestone—were highly popular from around the reign of Trajan, and often intricately carved, until the early Christian preference for burial underground, often in a limestone sepulchre, led to their falling out of favor. However, there are many significant Early Christian sarcophagi from the 3rd to 4th centuries. Most Roman examples were designed to be placed against a wall and are adorned on three sides only. Sarcophagi continued to be used in Christian Europe for prominent figures, especially rulers and leading church officials, and by the High Middle Ages often featured a recumbent tomb effigy lying on the lid. More modest sarcophagi were placed in crypts, of which the most renowned examples include the Habsburg Imperial Crypt in Vienna, Austria. The term tends to be less frequently used to describe Medieval, Renaissance, and later examples. In the early modern period, a lack of space made sarcophagi impractical in churches, but chest tombs or false sarcophagi, empty and usually bottomless cases placed over an underground burial, became popular in outdoor locations such as cemeteries and churchyards, especially in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries, where memorials were mostly not highly decorated and the extra cost of a false sarcophagus over a headstone served as an indicator of social status. This particular sarcophagus vividly portrays an episode from the myth of Achilles, a legendary Greek hero of the Trojan War. Alluded to in Homer's epic poem Iliad and included in other archaic Greek works, the episode is meticulously recorded in detail in some later versions of the story, particularly the Achilleid by Statius. The narrative of how Achilles disguised himself as a girl at the court of the king of Skyros, fell in love with a princess, and married her before leaving for Troy, became a popular theme in art and literature from Classical times until the middle of the 20th century. The dramatic disguises and gender transpositions at the heart of the story were particularly popular in opera, with over 30 different operas on the theme between 1641 and 1857.