Monument of Karystios

In antiquity, one of the great annual celebrations on the island was the Dionysia. They were celebrated in the month of Galaxion (March - April) each year, the time when the sailors began their trips in the Aegean Sea. The most important element of the festival was the phallophoria, where the statue of a bird with a phallic head was carried on a chariot. During the Dionysia, dramatic and choral contests were also held under a sponsorship system. In the southern part of the temple of Dionysos (or Dionysus), there is a statue of the sponsor Karystios (late 4th, early 3rd century BC).