a species of limestone used among the greeks for making coffins, which was so called because it consumed within a few weeks the flesh of bodies deposited in it. it is otherwise called lapis assius, or assian stone, and is said to have been found at assos, a city of lycia.-a coffin or chest-shaped tomb of the kind of stone described above; hence, any stone coffin.-a stone shaped like a sarcophagus and placed by a grave as a memorial.