Following an attempt by construction workers to conceal it, Israeli archaeologists unearthed a two-ton Roman-era sarcophagus, considered “among the rarest sarcophagi ever discovered in Israel.” Hana Levi Julian quotes Gabi Mazor, an expert on the time period to which it dates:
One side of the sarcophagus lid is adorned with the carved image of a man leaning on his left arm. He is wearing a short-sleeved shirt decorated with embroidery on the front. A tunic is wrapped around his waist. The figure’s eyes were apparently inlaid with precious stones that have disappeared and the hair is arranged in curls, in a typical Roman hairstyle.
On the other side of the lid is a carved relief of a metal amphora (a vessel used for transporting liquids such as wine) from which there are intertwining tendrils bearing grape clusters and grape leaves.
The sarcophagus itself, which was more severely damaged, . . . is decorated with, among other things, wreaths and images of bulls’ heads, naked Cupids, and the head of the monstrous female figure Medusa which includes remains of hair together with snakes, part of a commonly held belief in the Roman period that she protects the deceased. . . . Such sarcophagi were usually placed in or next to a family mausoleum. The high level of decoration attests to the family’s affluence, which judging by the depicted motifs was probably not Jewish.
Read more on Jewish Press: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/unique-1800-year-old-sarcophagus-uncovered-at-ashkelon-building-site/2015/09/03/0/