5.25.10
An inscription too is written on the pedestal:—
To Zeus these images were dedicated by the Achaeans,
Descendants of Pelops the godlike scion of Tantalus.
Such is the inscription on the pedestal, but the name of the artist is written on the shield of Idomeneus:—
This is one of the many works of clever Onatas,
The Aeginetan, whose sire was Micon.
5.25.11
Not far from the offering of the Achaeans there is also a Heracles fighting with the Amazon, a woman on horseback, for her girdle. It was dedicated by Evagoras, a Zanclaean by descent, and made by Aristocles of Cydonia. Aristocles should be included amongst the most ancient sculptors, and though his date is uncertain, he was clearly born before Zancle took its present name of Messene.
5.25.12
The Thasians, who are Phoenicians by descent, and sailed from Tyre, and from Phoenicia generally, together with Thasus, the son of Agenor, in search of Europa, dedicated at Olympia a Heracles, the pedestal as well as the image being of bronze. The height of the image is ten cubits, and he holds a club in his right hand and a bow in his left. They told me in Thasos that they used to worship the same Heracles as the Tyrians, but that afterwards, when they were included among the Greeks, they adopted the worship of Heracles the son of Amphitryon.
5.25.13
On the offering of the Thasians at Olympia there is an elegiac couplet:—
Onatas, son of Micon, fashioned me,
He who has his dwelling in Aegina.
note This Onatas, though belonging to the Aeginetan school of sculpture, I shall place after none of the successors of Daedalus or of the Attic school.
ch. 26
5.26.1
The Dorian Messenian who received Naupactus from the Athenians dedicated at Olympia the image of Victory upon the pillar. It is the work of Paeonius of Mende, and was made from the proceeds of enemy spoils, note I think from the war with the Arcarnanians and Oeniadae. The Messenians themselves declare that their offering came from their exploit with the Athenians in the island of Sphacteria, note and that the name of their enemy was omitted through dread of the Lacedaemonians; for, they say, they are not in the least afraid of Oeniadae and the Acarnanians.
5.26.2
The offerings of Micythus I found were numerous and not together. Next after Iphitus of Elis, and Echecheiria crowning Iphitus, come the following offerings of Micythus: Amphitrite, Poseidon and Hestia; the artist was Glaucus the Argive. note Along the left side of the great temple Micythus dedicated other offerings: the Maid, daughter of Demeter, Aphrodite, Ganymedes and Artemis, the poets Homer and Hesiod, then again deities, Asclepius and Health.
5.26.3
Among the offerings of Micythus is Struggle carrying jumping-weights, the shape of which is as follows. They are half of a circle, not an exact circle but elliptical, and made so that the fingers pass through as they do through the handle of a shield. Such are the fashion of them. By the statue of Struggle are Dionysus, Orpheus the Thracian, and an image of Zeus which I mentioned just now. note They are the works of Dionysius of Argos. note They say that Micythus set up other offerings also in addition to these, and that they formed part of the treasures taken away by Nero.
5.26.4
The artists are said to have been Dionysius and Glaucus, who were Argives by birth, but the name of their teacher is not recorded. Their date is fixed by that of Micythus, who dedicated the works of art at Olympia. For Herodotus in his history note says that this Micythus, when Anaxilas was despot of Rhegium, became his slave and steward of his property afterwards, on the death of Anaxilas, he went away to Tegea.
5.26.5
The inscriptions on the offerings give Choerus as the father of Micythus, and as his fatherland the Greek cities of Rhegium and Messene on the Strait. The inscriptions say that he lived at Tegea, and he dedicated the offerings at Olympia in fulfillment of a vow made for the recovery of a son, who fell ill of a wasting disease.
