A class ago , at England’sBlenheim Palace , official find a priceless piece of chronicle hide in plain vision when an oldtimer expert identified a marble flower planter — used to develop tulips in a castle garden — as part of a romish sarcophagus . The relic was clean and restore , and recentlyput on public displayinside the business firm , The New York Timesreports .
Located in Oxfordshire , England , Blenheim Palace is the chief residence of the Dukes of Marlborough . It ’s one of England ’s big house , and was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 . As for the Roman sarcophagus , it came to Blenheim Palace sometime during the nineteenth C . Originally , the marble relic was used to hoard water from a local spring ; in later years — as ahead of time as the twentieth century — it was integrated into a rock-and-roll garden . There the sarcophagus sat for X , attached to a lead cistern , until last class , when a visiting gaffer specialist happened to notice it while walking through the garden .
The 6 - animal foot - long sarcophagus fragment was once the front of a coffin , and is missing its base , English , and back . It ’s conceive to escort back to the 2d century CE , and features carving of king of beasts heads and Roman gods , include Hercules , Ariadne , and a tipsy Dionysus slant on a satyr . Experts do n’t know whether anyone was in reality buried in the sarcophagus , but thanks to its fine carving , they consider it belonged to someone of high social condition .
The sarcophagus is in all likelihood valuable : It has some wear and tear , but it ’s mostly in safe condition . exchangeable artifacts of less lineament have been auctioned off for as much as $ 121,000 . But despite its likely worth , officials at Blenheim Palace say they have no interest in sell the piece .
Blenheim Palaceisn’t the only householdto own a Roman sarcophagus unawares , or use it as a plantation owner . In 2012 , a papistical marble coffin — used as a flower trough by homeowners in Dorset , England — was betray at auction for $ 133,000 . And after translate about the uncovering , a retired couple in Newcastle , in northeast England , realized a marble planter in their own gardens was also a Romanic sarcophagus , dating back to the 1st or 2nd century CE . They sold it in 2013 for $ 55,400 .
[ h / tThe New York Times ]
