The kouros (plural kouroi) is the standing, naked, youthful male figure produced across the Greek world from the seventh through the fifth century BCE. Hundreds were erected as grave markers, votive offerings, or representations of a hero. The Kouros of Anavyssos, found in a cemetery near Athens and now in the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, is among the most mature and best-preserved examples of the type.

At first glance the stance recalls Egyptian pharaonic sculpture: arms locked to the body, left foot forward, head straight. But the divergence has begun. Sculptors had started to deviate from the Egyptian grid and to model shoulders, knees, and muscle on actual anatomical observation. The faint expression of the face — later called the 'archaic smile' — is the visual code for animation set against the silence of the grave.

The inscription on the base names the figure: 'Stand and mourn at the tomb of Kroisos, slain by raging Ares as he fought in the front rank.' The classical balance of Greek sculpture a generation later — Polykleitos' Doryphoros, Myron's Discobolus — would grow out of motion still caught inside the stone of this archaic figure.