The Piraeus Apollo, discovered in a votive pit during building works in the ancient harbor of Piraeus in July 1959, along with the Piraeus Athena and Piraeus Artemis, two Hermaic stelae, a mask, a shield, and other objects, by archaeologist John Papadimitriou. It is almost perfectly preserved, with minor damages and cracks, lacking only whatever would have been in the hands.
Traces of the missing objects are still visible: the left hand held a bow and the right a bowl, which may have been made of gold, confirming - along with the treatment of the hair - the identification of the figure as Apollo.
Once thought to date to the late Archaic period (530–480 BC) and to have come from a workshop of north-east Peloponnese, the figure shows an increased plasticity atypical of that tradition. He strides forward with his right leg, instead of the usual left, and his head is slightly bent to the front and right, abandoning the strictly frontal viewing position of the kouroi. His hair is rendered in a more naturalistic way than had previously been the case: it is tied with a band and forms spiraling curls over the forehead. It is now thought to belong to the Hellenistic period.
Dafas, K. A. 2019. Greek Large-Scale Bronze Statuary: The Late Archaic and Classical Periods, Institute of Classical Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies, Monograph, BICS Supplement 138
Mattusch, C. 2019 Classical Bronzes: the Art and Craft of Greek and Roman Statuary
Palagia, O. 1997 “Reflections on the Piraeus Bronzes,” in Greek Offerings: Essays on Greek Art in Honour of John Boardman
Palagia, O. 2016 Towards a publication of the Piraeus bronzes: the Apollo
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