Kouros of Apollonas

The kouros lies where it was made, on the slope of an ancient marble quarry above the village of Apollonas, roughly ten and a half metres long and weighing perhaps eighty tonnes, still attached to the bedrock along its back. It dates to around 600 BC and was never finished: the figure is blocked out with a bearded face and one arm indicated, but the surface was never brought to detail, and a crack in the marble is the usual explanation for the abandonment. Whether it was intended as Apollo or Dionysus is disputed. Naxos supplied marble across the Aegean and two more unfinished kouroi lie at Flerio in the interior, smaller and in a gentler setting; this one is the giant.

What's there

• The giant figure - a ten-metre blocked-out statue still joined to bedrock.
• The quarry face - worked marble surfaces around the statue.
• The tool marks - traces of ancient cutting on the stone.
• The bay below - Apollonas village and its harbour from the slope.

When to go

Spring and autumn for comfort; the site is open, unshaded and hot at midday in summer. Morning light rakes across the figure and shows its shaping best.

What to expect

The statue is rough and unfinished, so visitors expecting a sculpture are often underwhelmed; the interest is in the scale and the process. Access is by a short flight of steps from a small parking area. The drive from Chora takes about an hour on winding roads.

Nearby

Apollonas village and beach are below; the Flerio kouroi and Melanes lie in the island's interior.

Key facts