To My Family and Uğraş Uzun - Bilkent University

type” (Morey, 1924: 29). This type has the same lunette-gabled-lunette pediment
sequence as the third type, the difference between the two being that the
pediments on the “standard type” are interrupted by scallop shells (Koch, 2001:
170).
The “standard type” of sarcophagi began to be produced around AD 160,
and after acquiring its permanent shape in the 180’s, dominated the Docimeum
market (Koch, 2001: 32, 170). On the basis of the typology presented by H.
Wiegartz, and G. Koch and H. Sichtermann, the Melfi Sarcophagus (Fig. 8) is a
typical early example of the “standard type” (Wiegartz, 1965: 11, 34-48; Koch
and Sichtermann, 1982: 505), while the Antakya Sarcophagus is a later example
of this type.
The earliest types of columnar sarcophagi were thought to all have gabled
lids, according to a single fully preserved example belonging to the first type,
Antalya M, the “Herakles Sarcophagus” (Fig. 6) (Koch, 2001: 32). Around AD
170-80, kline lids, on which two people are reclining, became the norm for
columnar sarcophagi (Koch, 2001: 32). The kline lids were represented as
mattresses decorated with line patterns and sea animals. Putti or erotes in high
relief were usually used to decorate the foot and the head of the mattresses. In
time, these were transformed into individual sculptures, and additional figures of
hunting and boxing putti were added on the rail in front of the mattresses (Koch,
2001: 32).
On columnar sarcophagi, the heads of the reclining people on the lid are
assumed to have been carved as portraits of the deceased. There are a few
examples of preserved heads, but most of these were unfortunately left unfinished
(Koch, 2001: 73). Among the few heads with carved portraits, the Melfi
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