Based on the Christian custom of "burial", sarcophagus carving has become a spiritual sustenance for believers to commemorate the dead and look forward to the afterlife, and the relief sarcophagus left over from the early Christian period is also an important way to understand religious beliefs and customs today.
Among them, St. Peter's "Julius. The Bassas Sarcophagus is an important representative of early Christian art, and this sarcophagus is probably the most famous carved sarcophagus in early Christian relief sculpture.
Julius. Originally placed inside or below the surface of the old St. Peter's Basilica, the Basas Sarcophagus was discovered in 1597 and is now housed under St. Peter's Basilica and the modern Basilica in the Vatican. In 359 AD, the Roman administrator A Giulius died. Bassas was buried in a sarcophagus, and according to the epitaph engraved on the sarcophagus, it is known that he was baptized before his death. However, the image of the deceased is not carved into the coffin like the sarcophagus of the ancient church of Santa Maria.
The sculptural motifs are taken from the scenes of the Old Testament and the New Testament.
The front of the sarcophagus is decorated in the Western Roman style, and the coffin is divided into five niches with two layers above and below, for a total of ten blocks.