The Ford Collection sarcophagi are a collection of ancient anthropoid Phoenician
sarcophagi, considered a highlight of the
National Museum of Beirut. They are made from white marble.
They were discovered in 1901 in shaft tombs at
Ain al-Hilweh, southeast of
Sidon
Sidon ( ; he, צִידוֹן, ''Ṣīḏōn'') known locally as Sayda or Saida ( ar, صيدا ''Ṣaydā''), is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate, of which it is the capital, on the Mediterranean coast. ...
, during the excavations of the American School in Jerusalem. The finds were first published in full in 1919 by
Charles Cutler Torrey
Charles Cutler Torrey (20 December 1863 – 12 November 1956) was an American historian, archaeologist and scholar. He is known for, presenting through his books, manuscript evidence supporting alternate views on the origins of Christian and Isla ...
.
The land was owned by the American Presbyterian Mission School, who took possession of the sarcophagi and donated it to the National Museum of Beirut in 1930. The collection was then named the Ford Collection in honor of
George Alfred Ford
George Alfred Ford, born 1851 in Aleppo, died 1928 in Sidon, was an American Presbyterian missionary.
His father had been a missionary in Syria, and his grandfather, Colonel Mahlon Ford, a member of Washington's staff in the American Revolution.
...
, the previous director of the Mission School who had died two years before in 1928.
It is still today the largest collection of this type of sarcophagi in the world.
See also
*
Lady of Cádiz
Bibliography
*
Editio princeps In classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts, which could be circulated only after being copied by hand.
For ...
:
Charles Cutler Torrey
Charles Cutler Torrey (20 December 1863 – 12 November 1956) was an American historian, archaeologist and scholar. He is known for, presenting through his books, manuscript evidence supporting alternate views on the origins of Christian and Isla ...
.
A Phoenician Necropolis at Sidon The Annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research in Jerusalem, vol. 1, 1919, pp. 1–27.
References
{{reflist
Phoenician sarcophagi
Collections of the National Museum of Beirut
1901 archaeological discoveries
History of Sidon
Archaeological discoveries in Lebanon