Talk:Sarcophagus

How does the sacrophagus actually eats up the flesh of a human body? Its amazing isnt it if the stone, limestone, will actually absorb the moisture of the flesh and slowly make the body part of the enclosure?

Hmm..

Hmm........

Yeah, same question here. What's this about "consuming the flesh" ?? Does it mean only that the body dries out or something more complicated? Inquiring minds, etc. 64.48.158.115 19:54, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Yep. I have to echo the same question. More detail is in order. Anyone know anything about this? —CKA3KA (Skazka) (talk) 08:17, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

I was taught that what happens is that as the body decomposes and liquefies, the liquid seeps through the somewhat porous limestone eventually, leaving the bones behind. Hence the limestone is "eating" specifically the flesh but not the bones. How long this process takes I have no idea and I can't cite any sources. --BAW (talk) 16:56, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Removed bit about eating flesh.

Since there have been no objections so far, I've removed the following paragraph from the article:

The 5th century BC Greek historian Herodotus noted that early sarcophagi were carved from a special kind of rock that consumed the flesh of the corpse inside. In particular, coffins made of a limestone from Assus in the Troad known as lapis Assius had the property of consuming the bodies placed within them, and therefore was also called sarkophagos lithos (flesh-eating stone). All coffins made of limestone have this property to a greater or lesser degree, and the name eventually came to be applied to stone coffins in general.

It's intriguing, so I've put it here in case anyone can find a credible source for it.

I also removed the phrase "(the "goo-goo")" from the last paragraph. I looked at the page for the fly family Sarcophagidae, and there was no reference to its being called the "goo-goo." If this is true, then it needs a citation AND it needs to be placed in the article for Sarcophagidae, not the article on the sarcophagus. —CKA3KA (Skazka) (talk) 18:47, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

plural

Should the plural really be sarcophagi? The -us to -i form is Latin, and this page confirms that sarcophagus is from the Greek. It seems to me that applying the Latin plural is meaningless, and there should either be some Greek form, as in octopodes, or we should go by the rules of English (this being the English language wikipedia, not the fake Latin one) and say sarcophaguses, although it doesn't really roll off the tongue.75.73.32.46 (talk) 14:28, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

Sarcophagi is always the plural I've seen used in articles about sarcophagi. Nev1 (talk) 14:33, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

But why? It doesn't make any sense75.73.32.46 (talk) 19:01, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

sarcophagus are made out of clay and toothpicks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.63.6.211 (talk) 22:09, 20 September 2010 (UTC)