Kouros (Ancient Greek: κοῦρος, pronounced [kûːros], plural kouroi) is the modern term[a] given to free-standing Ancient Greek sculptures that depict nude male youths. They first appear in the Archaic period in Greece and are prominent in Attica and Boeotia, with a less frequent presence in many other Ancient Greek territories such as Sicily.[2][3] Such statues are found across the Greek-speaking world; the preponderance of these were found in sanctuaries of Apollo with more than one hundred from the sanctuary of Apollo Ptoion, Boeotia, alone.[4] These free-standing sculptures were typically marble, but the form is also rendered in limestone, wood, bronze, ivory and terracotta. They are typically life-sized, though early colossal examples are up to 3 meters tall.
The female sculptural counterpart of the kouros is the kore.
- ^ Morris, Ian (1994). Classical Greece: Ancient Histories and Modern Archaeologies. p. 90.
- ^ Neer, Richard (2012). Greek Art and Archaeology: A New History c.2500-c.150 BC. New York, USA: Thames & Hudson Inc. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-500-28877-1.
- ^ Henri Lechat, 1904, La sculpture attique avant Phidias.
- ^ J. Ducat, 1971, Les kouroi du Ptoion
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