1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Paeonius

PAEONIUS, of Mende in Thrace, a Greek sculptor of the latter part of the 5th century. The statement of Pausanias that he executed one of the pediments of the temple of Zeus at Olympia is rejected by critics. But we possess an important work of Paeonius in the Victory found in the German excavations at Olympia, and set up, according to the most probable view, in memory of the battle of Sphacteria (see Greek Art, fig. 36). It bears the inscription “Dedicated to Olympian Zeus by the Messenians and Naupactians as a tithe of the spoil of their enemies. Paeonius of Mende made the statue, and was a successful competitor in the construction of the gable-figures for the temple.” The gable figures last mentioned were doubtless gilt victories of bronze which stood on the gable, not in it. Pausanias seems to have misunderstood the phrase as implying that Paeonius made one of the pedimental groups.