Flesheaters

Roman metropolitan sarcophagi are often adorned with reliefs representing the lives of the heroes and heroines of Greek myth. Why were particular Greek myths so popular? How easy – or difficult – was it to identify and interpret the mythical stories represented? What emotions were the stories meant to evoke in the mourner at the tomb? And what might be the value of all these intricately carved marble sarcophagi for the writing of Roman social and cultural history?