As just reported by the BBC, a Roman sarcophagus was uncovered last month at a construction site on Swan Street, near Borough Market, in central London.

It was found within a fourth-century mausoleum occupying prime real estate:  directly beside the main road into the city, always the most desirable location in any Roman town's funerary landscape.

The sarcophagus itself — only the second such ever discovered in London — has not yet been fully freed from the dirt, so its decoration is yet unknown.  Initial tests with a metal detector, however, indicate the presence of small metal objects within, raising hopes that some grave goods may have survived.

This is one of the most heart-warming developments that I've ever had the pleasure of blogging.

Abu Dhabi's The National reports that the National Museum of Beirut has — after 41 years of closure following the outbreak of the Lebanese Civil War in 1975 — reopened its basement galleries.

Finding itself directly on the infamous Green Line that bisected Beirut during the Civil War, the museum and its objects were immediately imperiled by civil strife and looting.  Read the full report in The National of the extreme measures to which then director of antiquities Maurice Chehab went in order to safeguard the collection in the basement.  The story is astonishing.

The highlight of the collection is the world's largest series of anthropoid sarcophagi:  31 in all, all from Phoenician Sidon and carved between the 6th and 4th centuries BC.

Also figuring prominently in the reopened galleries is a fragment of a Roman sarcophagus from Beirut itself depicting Icarus standing beside the wing-crafting Daedalus, according to the Daily Mail.  The scene is fantastically rare:  I know of no other Roman sarcophagus that shows it.

As detailed by Artlyst, London's Ordovas gallery is exhibiting a collection of works on marine themes.  Titled The Big Blue, it features a fragment of an Antonine marine sarcophagus showing a Nereid and Tritons (visible at the far right in the photos below), beside works by Francis Bacon, Gustave Courbet, Max Ernst, Pablo Picasso, Piet Mondrian, Yves Klein, Damien Hirst, and others.

Although one wonders about the provenance of the piece, it is lovely to see a Roman sarcophagus celebrated for its relevance amidst such famous modern company.

The show remains on display until December 12.

Israel's Haaretz reports the discovery of a Roman sarcophagus at Ashkelon by building contractors who, fearing delays in their construction of luxury villas if its existence were reported to the authorities, instead decided to conceal it.  Using a tractor to pull it from the ground — in the process scarring the stone and damaging the relief on multiple sides — they then poured a concrete floor over the findspot to efface any signs of excavation, and hid the sarcophagus beneath a stack of boards and sheet metal.  (Additional details here and here.)

With a length of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet), this is a massive piece.  The lid features a portrait of the deceased shown reclining:  not in itself unusual, were it not for the hollow eyes, clearly originally inlaid.  This, several other decorative idiosyncrasies, and the fact that the coffin is carved from limestone rather than marble all point to a local product.

Romania's Nine O'Clock reports the discovery — the first ever — of a Roman sarcophagus at ancient Porolissum, capital of Dacia Porolissensis.

The limestone chest and lid apparently lack adornment and are clearly unfinished.  Judging from the lid's four corner acroterial projections and its double-pitched roof, however, the carver was following eastern rather than metropolitan Roman models.  This choice might seem a bit unexpected for a Latin-speaking province — but is perhaps less surprising in light of Porolissensis's Transylvanian location and proximity to eastern centers.

The large notch cut in the lid, showing signs of discoloration, is intriguing.  Perhaps a sign of reuse?  Reuse might also account for the coffin's unusual find spot:  not in the town's necropolis outside the Roman castrum, but rather "within the sacred area".  (of Liber Pater? of Nemesis?  We're not told.)

Lebanon's Daily Star reports the excavation of a Roman sarcophagus, as well as remnants of an ancient well, at a construction site in Sidon's Bustan al-Kabir neighborhood.  From the photograph below the sarcophagus appears to be of standard eastern garland type, pressed into service as a blank.

Two burial grounds, yielding skeletons, pottery, and coins with Latin inscriptions, were found at the same site a month ago.  The relationship of the sarcophagus and the burials to the well has not yet been clarified.

Istanbul's BGN News reports that Turkish authorities near Izmir recently foiled an attempt by two men to smuggle a Roman child's sarcophagus out of the country in a light commercial vehicle.

According to the report, official analysis of the recovered sarcophagus revealed that it had never before been opened.  (So what were the contents when the piece was finally uncorked? — we're not told.)  It was subsequently delivered to the Directorate of the Izmir Museums.

The fuller story is here.  That the specimen — from the pictures, a wee piece featuring garlands suspended from rams' heads — is "at least 2,000 years old" seems unlikely.

Following several years of renovation, the Saint Louis Art Museum's collection of ancient art has recently reopened with a fresh face, thanks to reinstallation by Assistant Curator Lisa Çakmak.

The Roman gallery now prominently features a fragment of a sarcophagus showing the Twelve Labors of Hercules (inv. 138:1987).

The proportions of this Antonine fragment — its 1.42 meters must represent less than half of the original length — are absolutely massive.  This was a monumental piece indeed.

Its composition also departs from the standard in unexpected ways.  Most noticeably, our hero here turns his torso to the left rather than right when bludgeoning the Hydra (contrast with the pieces in Mantua and Rome's Palazzo Altemps) — a choice that quirkily interrupts the narrative's rightward flow.