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Nine Muses is a 3 rd Century (230 A.D.) Marble Roman Sarcophagus.

Entering into the visitor center at the Hearst Castle, we were led through a dark room. My first glimpse of the sarcophagus was this image. Nine Muses is a 3 rd Century (230 A.D.) Marble Roman Sarcophagus.

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Nine Muses is a 3 rd Century (230 A.D.) Marble Roman Sarcophagus.

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  1. Entering into the visitor center at the Hearst Castle, we were led through a dark room. My first glimpse of the sarcophagus was this image.

  2. Nine Muses is a 3rd Century (230 A.D.) Marble Roman Sarcophagus.

  3. It contains 9 Goddesses of creative inspiration, Apollo as the deceased and Athena, Goddess of Wisdom on the front with Ulysses listening to the Sirens on the sides.

  4. Although 50 of these 9 Muse sarcophaguses were carved, this is the only one in the world remaining in this well preserved condition.

  5. Zdravko Barov is one of the world’s most renouned scientists in conservation of ancient arts.

  6. Dr. Dane Jones heads the Chemistry and Biochemistry at Cal Poly and is in charge of restoration of the sarcophagus for Hearst Castle.

  7. Apollo’s head remains uncarved until someone buys the sarcophagus. Since the hair is unfinished, it has been suggested that the consumer ran out of money. Apollo and Athena

  8. The marble consists of Ca carbonates, sulfates and hydroxides. Through analysis of the marble, they have been able to trace back to the actual quarry in Greece where the marble originated.

  9. The tiny red lines under the eye could be pigment from the 3rd Century; the NITON XLt can confirm this.

  10. Dr. Jones points out a patch of white pigment, also to be analyzed.

  11. Luke, a student at Cal Poly interested in XRF, analyzes the white pigment.

  12. He then analyzes a spot without pigment.

  13. The sarcophagus appeared to be completely painted at one time with a copper-like tint.

  14. There were also small specs of black pigment on the front of the sarcophagus.

  15. Dr. Jones collects additional data to be downloaded into Grams Spectroscopy Software that can be used as an engine for manipulating and displaying mass spectral data.

  16. The NITON XLt confirms immediately that the pigment contains Sr, Pb, Zn and Fe - all elements available in the 3rd Century!

  17. A complete report of the analysis of the data will be available in the near future.

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