Collection: Delos Archaeological Museum, Temenos of Apollo at Delos, and London, British Mu
Title: Apollo of the Naxians
Context: From Delos
Findspot: Found at Delos
Summary: Votive dedication of a kouros, probably a statue of Apollo, by the Naxians to Delos
Object Function: Victory
Material: Marble
Sculpture Type: Free-standing statue: kouros
Category: Single monument
Style: High Archaic
Technique: In-the-round
Original or Copy: Original
Date: ca. 580 BC - ca. 570 BC
Dimensions: H. restored 8.5-10.0 m. Torso: H. (neck to waist) 2.20 m; H. (waist to below buttocks) H. 1.20 m; circ. (waist) 2.76. Base (in situ): L. 3.47 m; W. 5.15 m; H. 0.70 m
Scale: Colossal
Region: Cyclades
Period: High Archaic

Subject Description: This belted (but otherwise nude) male figure seems to have had a large head, long neck, and sloping shoulders. Eight locks of hair seem to have fallen down the back where they terminated in a horizontal line comprised of spiral curls.

Form & Style: The form is simple, barely modeled, almost certainly a representative work of the Naxian school of sculptors.

Condition: Fragmentary

Condition Description:

The torso is comprised of two pieces in situ at the Temenos of Apollo, part of the left hand (Delos A 4094), part of the left foot with some of the plinth (London B 322), and more of the inscribed base, also in situ at the Temenos of Apollo.

The surface of the fragments in situ are inscribed also with graffiti--the names of moderm travellers. The exposed surfaces are extremely weathered.

Material Description: Coarse-grained island marble (probably Naxian)

Technique Description:

A hexagonal insertion mark in the upper surface of the plinth is visible.

Drill holes on the chest (four on the left and two on the right) indicate that locks of hair may have been made of metal (perhaps later additions).

Inscription: The inscribed statue base (in situ). On the east side (probably original) is inscribed: [*T]*O *A*V*U*T*O *L*I*Q*O *E*M*I *A*N*D*R*I*A*S *K*A*I *T*O *S*F*E*L*A*S, "I am of the same stone, statue and plinth." On the west side a later inscription (probably from the fourth century B.C., after the statue had fallen and was recreated) reads: *N*A*C*I*O*I *A*P*O*L*L*W*N*I, "[From] the Naxians to Apollo" (probably fourth century B.C.). The original dedication probably appeared on the missing portion of the base.

Inscription Bibliography: IG 7.5 test. 1425c

Collection History: Drawn by traveller S. de Vries in 1673 showing the entire head. It has been noted by modern travellers since ca. 1420 (when Bondelmonte saw the statue lying on the ground) and has been despoiled since then.

Sources Used: Stewart 1990, 118; Boardman 1978a, 23; Richter 1970b, 51-53 no. 15, figs. 87-90 (with previous bibliography)