KORINTHOS – A rare find of a head of a kouros, the characteristic male statues of the 6th century BC, was confiscated by the Attica Security Police’s division of cultural heritage and antiquities, it was announced on Tuesday.

The over-life-size head, measuring 40 cm in height and preserving a section of the statue’s neck, is made of limestone and appears to be the product of a rural workshop, archaeologists said.

A man, 49, was arrested for illegal possession of the head in Nemea, southern Greece, on Monday. According to official sources, the man was trying to sell the artifact for 500,000 euros and had hidden it among a pile of rocks on a farm road.

He was entrapped and arrested, and the kouros shown to the Ministry of Culture, which confirmed it falls under legislation for the protection of antiquities.

The man appeared before the Corinth prosecutor on Tuesday.