The Kalymnos kouros was made as a votive offering in gratitude to Apollo, the island’s patron deity. An inscription in Ancient Greek runs down a fold of its tunic:
"Anasketos dedicates to Apollo ten percent of his wealth".

Nothing is known of Anasketos - but he may have been giving thanks for a bumper crop of barley, a staple grain of the time.

Archaeologists believe that the statue was made at a local sculpture workshop in a style influenced by East Greek and Ionian art. Ionians were natives of Greece who settled in Asia Minor (now Turkey), having been dispersed by earlier invasions and earthquakes. Ephesus and Miletus were among their cities. Many kores were made at these great spiritual centres.

The kouros was carved from a marble block then rubbed smooth and finished with earth or mineral based paints. Rare areas of rich terracotta pigment can be seen on the back of its tunic.

The name of the sculptor is not known but the quality of sculpture is very fine for its time and superior to most other kouroi. It must have been greatly valued as it is the only piece from its period found in the temple burial. It was over 500 years old when buried.

Kouros figures became extremely popular in the Archaic Greek world. Many thousands were probably made but few have survived, as marble was often recycled or burned.

Most males are naked and lifesize or much larger, their ever increasing size perhaps reflecting male uncertainty when female sexuality was feared and homosexual acts with young boys was prized. Archaeologists can only speculate why this kouros is half adult-sized and clothed.

One possible explanation might be that the dedicator wanted to refer to earlier Greek and Egyptian myths when a god (Apollo) was seen as the son of a goddess (Artemis), who rescued him from the underworld and took him as her lover.

The myth confirmed a belief in regeneration and symbolised the natural cycle of death in winter and renewal in spring, the continuity of sun and moon, seedtime and harvest. The goddess was depicted as life-size and her son/lover about half her height.
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