When we think about the riches of king tut and the mysteries of the egyptian pyramids we can imagine those big stone coffins that the literati call sarcophagi .
Sarcophagi are not a jewish tradition , she notes , but in roman times jews believed if they copied the romans , talked like the romans , behaved like the romans , they might have a better life .
The ottoman sultan , abdul hamid ii , ordered the sarcophagi exhumed , placed on rails and carried down to the mediterranean coast , where they were sent by ship to istanbul .
