456 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



mind — that of generations of classical archeologists preoccupied above 

 all with problems of style and stylistic attribution. It is true that in 

 recent decades there has been a steady tendency to substitute for this 

 predominantly esthetic approach one borrowed from archeology 

 proper and based primarily on typology and systematic classification. 

 The result has been a series of iconographic and regional studies, 

 which have greatly advanced our knowledge of individual categories 

 of sarcophagus, and have produced a valuable framework of reference 

 for further research. But even studies such as these are, by definition 

 and intent, limited in their approach; in very few cases have they 

 taken into account the practical problems of output and distribution 

 that conditioned the activities of sculptor and client alike. It is these 

 that are the subject of the present article, as illustrated in an important 

 group of second- and third-century sarcophagi, one of the finest of 

 which is now at the Smithsonian Institution. 



The sarcophagus at the Smithsonian Institution is one of a pair 

 that were acquired in Beirut, Lebanon, by Commodore Jessie D. 

 Elliott, USN, and brought to the United States in 1839 aboard the 

 U. S. S. Constitution. The circumstances of their discovery are not 

 recorded ; but from a study of the sarcophagi themselves it is evident 

 that they were found together, presumably in some underground 

 burial chamber in Beirut itself or in the immediate neighborhood; 

 and that, although looted in antiquity, they had remained concealed 

 and protected until very shortly before the time of their acquisition. 

 On their arrival in the United States, Commodore Elliott presented 

 one of them to the National Institute for use as a final resting place 

 for the remains of President Andrew Jackson; its companion he 

 presented to Girard College, near Philadelphia, as a tomb for its 

 recently deceased founder, the distinguished philanthropist Stephen 

 Girard (1750-1831). Neither was in fact put to its intended use. 

 Jackson declined to be buried in a tomb which, he felt, would not be 

 in keeping with his republican principles, and Commodore Elliott 

 accordingly gave the National Institute permission to retain it as a 

 historical relic. It was first exhibited at the Patent Office, and was 

 turned over to the Smithsonian Institution in 1860, where it now 

 stands in front of the Arts and Industries Building. Its companion, 

 after standing for many years in Girard College, was recently trans- 

 ferred on permanent loan to Byrn Mawr College, where it can now 

 be seen in front of the deanery, close to the entrance to the library (1) } 



The body and lid of the Smithsonian sarcophagus (pis. 1 and 2) 

 are carved from single blocks of Greek marble, white, tinged with 

 blue in more or less definite streaks, and of a uniform crystalline 



1 Numbers in parentheses refer to notes at end of text. 



