A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

5. The bronze statues of the Grecian heroes casting lots to determine which of them should accept the challenge of Hector. (Hom. Il. 7.175-184.) The group was dedicated at Olympia by the Achaeans in common. It consisted originally of ten figures; but when Pausanias saw it, there were only nine, the statue of Ulysses having been carried to Rome by Nero. The chieftains, armed with spears and shields, stood together near the great temple, and opposite to them, on a separate base, stood Nestor, holding the helmet into which the lots had been thrown. The name of Agalneninon was inscribed on his statue, in letters from right to left. The other statues bore no names; but one, distinguished by a cock upon the shield, was taken by Pausanias for Idomeneus ; anrd on the inside of the shield of this statue was the following inscription :--

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Πολλὰ μὲν ἄλλα σοφοῦ ποιήματα καὶ τόδʼ Ὀνάτα Ἔργον, ὅι Αἰγίνη γείνατο παῖο͂α Μίκων.

There is no authority for ascribing to Onatas more than this one statue in the group. (Paus 5.25.5. s. 8-10.)