The interior of the Taje exceeds the promise given by its external magnificence: on a platform in the centre of a circular hall, are the sarcophaguses of Shah Jehan, and his beloved empress Mumtaz Mahal], enclosed within a carved screen of the most elaborate tracery and exquisite finish. These sarcophaguses, and the surrounding walls and screens, are covered with flowers and inscriptions of the most delicate mosaic work, in every variety of cornelian, agate, jasper, lapis lazuli, and other precious marbles.

The swinging lantern reveals a burial chamber; below him lies a sarcophagus, and it appears to be undisturbed. […] He examines the sarcophagus by the light of the lantern. It is a sumptuous piece of work, decorated with reliefs that show scenes from the life of Achilles. […] Trembling with excitement, Fabrizio [Lazzaro] orders his assistants to lift the heavy sarcophagus lid. The chamber itself seems to be holding its breath. What he finds surpasses his expectations. Inside the sarcophagus lies one of the greatest treasures of the ancient world; Fabrizio has hit the jackpot; he has found the vase.

'They move stuff out of the sarcophagus?' / 'I know, crazy people, they're killing themselves from radiation.' […] '[S]o the materials, plutonium, catalysis, are assembled at a site near the sarcophagus?' […] '[W]hat we know is this, they collect the plutonium, etc, from Chernobyl, what they don't have yet – is the know-how. To put the bomb together.'

There is an open sarcophagus-shaped wine-cooler beneath, standing on a plinth. The inside of the wine-cooler may either be lined with lead, or it may contain a block-tin case, with handles, to lift out. Ice is frequently put into these wine-coolers, in order to surround the decanters or bottles set in them, when the wine is to be cooled. Castors are sunk into the plinth of the sarcophagus, that it may be drawn out from beneath the sideboard, and pushed in again at pleasure. […] A sarcophagus with a hinged lid below, fixed on a hollow plinth with castors, is partitioned and lined with lead, so that ice can be put round each separate bottle.

A George VI mahogany sarcophagus wine cooler, with nulled mouldings and brass ring handles, the turned stem on leaf carved and moulded legs and brass castors.

All waiting: the new-coffined dead, / The handful of mere dust that lies / Sarcophagused in stone and lead / Under the weight of centuries: / Knight, cardinal, bishop, abbess mild, / With last week's buried year-old child.

Was it the Mummy of King Cheops—still sarcophagused in the labyrinthine recesses of the star-y-pointing Pyramid, to mock generations of Egyptologists, past, present, and to come—that had all at once found a tongue within his desiccated jaws?

Sarcophagus

Meaning

Noun

Verb

Origin

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