35. Head of a Colossal Kouros, near the Dipylon Gate,

Kerameilkos, Athens, Greek, Archaic style,

c. 610 B.C.E. Marble, height: 44 cm.

National Archaeological Museum, Athens.

 

 

This fragment is a rare early example of the “kouros”, or standing male statue. Its name comes from the Dipylon Cemetery in Athens where it was found. There, in the sixth century B.C.E., statues were sometimes used as grave markers, as they are today. While female statues were modestly dressed, the male versions were nude, perhaps indicating a god or a hero. These statues developed both from a local tradition of small figurines and from the Egyptian tradition of large stone sculpture. The early date of this piece is revealed through the style, which is more decorative than realistic. The eyes and eyebrows are deeply-set, the contours of the face are flat, and the shape of the ear is indicated with concentric, curved lines. The hair is patterned in an Egyptian manner and held back with a band. Over the course of the sixth century, Greek sculpture would lose this patterned, decorative quality and become increasingly realistic and lifelike.