We know a very small number of kouroi from eastern Greece, with Samos the only exception , where some fairly good examples were found. The sculptors within the sphere of interest of Ionic art created some forms with flowing outlines and with a schematic to decorative representation of their anatomy. The heads are extremely spherical, the hair-styles are stereotypic towards the back and the eyes are almond-shaped. These elements had a rather oriental origin and were incorporated into the plastic idiom of the West (Etruria, Magna Graecia) via the colonies of Phocaea.
The male forms in Ionia are often found dressed, whereas the seated type (of men and women), already known from the Daedalic style, is widely spread. The lax interest in anatomy, was balanced by a special sensitivity ino the representation of the garments of kouroi. The most interesting examples come from Chios, Samos and Miletus. The eminent group of Geneleos from Samos includes a seated and a recumbent form next to some typical korai with a cylindrical body, displaying the influence of the old oriental technique of curving on a tree trunk.

In the Cyclades the known kouroi come from Thera, Melos, Delos, Paros and Naxos. We know with certainty that only the last two islands had their own workshops. The Cycladic kouroi differ from those of Ionia, both in the head and the slender outlines and the gracious forms. Furthermore some of the korai in Acropolis are most probably connected to the Naxian workshop, whereas a related tradition is revealed in the korai-caryatids of the treasury of Siphians in Delphi. The statue of the winged Nike in a kneeling pose presents a special interest. It was found in Delos and is attributed to the sculptor Archermus of Chios, who worked in Athens as well.

In Attica the kouroi were widely spread as a grave markers. Of them the earliest ones, such as the head of Dipylon and the kouros of Sounion, still belong to the end of the 7th or at the beginning of the 6th century B.C. The types that follow are those with the heads rather broad and the hair combed in flame-like locks over the forehead (kouros of Volomandra). The kouros of Merenda -which was found with kore Phrasikleia- has a slender adolescent body and is nearer to the standards of the Cycladic workshops. It is quite probable that it is the work of the same Parian sculptor who also sculped Phrasikleia. On the contrary, the Croesus that was found in Anavyssos has a strong and muscular body, a characteristic of Attic sculpture during the second half of the 6th century B.C.


Apart from Phrasikleia as a funerary monument, the so-called kore of Berlin (formerly "goddess") with the rough, almost decorative features is also recognised. The votive kores of Acropolis often wear a tunic and a garment. These clothings form rich folds at the front of the body, which it is close-fitted on its other side. Since many foreign sculptors worked at the votives of Acropolis, it is not always easy to distinguish the Attic characteristics, which compose a clear separate type during the last third of the 6th century B.C. Some of the most interesting examples of that period are "Peplophoros", and "Antenor kore" and the known "Botticelli kore".

We know much less about other local workshops, such as that of Corinth, to which the slender kouros of Tenea belongs, that of Argos with the robust forms of Kleobes and Biton and Ptoon, which present several elements common to Attic tradition.



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