Tuesday, March 14, 2017

The Blenheim Sarcophagus

The History Blog:
A 1,700-year-old Roman sarcophagus has been discovered on the grounds of Blenheim Palace where it was being used as a flowerpot. An antiques expert who was visiting the estate on other business spotted the beautifully carved bas-relief on a planter filled with soil and tulips and bolted to a lead cistern. He recognized the carving as a Dionysian scene likely of ancient Roman origin and remembered a previous sale of a garden planter that turned out to be a Roman sarcophagus, because it seems estate appraisers in England glean sarcophagi in the hedgerows.

1 comment:

JEL said...

Now now. It wasn't a flower pot, it was a planter. Give the Marlboroughs credit for having some class!

Ted