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The Collaborative International Dictionary
lapis Assius

Sarcophagus \Sar*coph"a*gus\, n.; pl. L. Sarcophagi, E. Sarcophaguses. [L., fr. Gr. sarkofa`gos, properly, eating flesh; sa`rx, sa`rkos, flesh + fagei^n to eat. Cf. Sarcasm.]

  1. A species of limestone used among the Greeks for making coffins, which was so called because it consumed within a few weeks the flesh of bodies deposited in it. It is otherwise called lapis Assius, or Assian stone, and is said to have been found at Assos, a city of Lycia.
    --Holland.

  2. A coffin or chest-shaped tomb of the kind of stone described above; hence, any stone coffin.

  3. A stone shaped like a sarcophagus and placed by a grave as a memorial.