Stone Solitude

On a hillside on the northern coast of the Cycladic island of Naxos rests a blue grey marble colossus, rough hewn and almost complete. Sadly, something went wrong in the rough carving and he was abandoned in solitude. He has been resting here, set in his quarry bed for well over two and a half millennia.

Visitors come and go. I’ve seen early pre-19th century travel sketches and watercolours, old late-19th century black and white photographs, and many more recent tourist snaps of this giant unfinished statue.

He is almost 11 metres in length. The Kouros of Apollonas (the ancient town nearby) was his original name. But in the mid-19th century he was identified as the Greek god Dionysus, so is now called the Colossus of Dionysus. Whatever his name, he perpetually lies in his stone bed gazing out to sea.

Solitude: The Daily Post’s Weekly Photo Challenge.

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