15. The Nike of Paionios
Paeonius was a Thracian sculptor
commissoned by the Messenians to make a Nike to celebrate
either The inscription on the base reads:
"The Messenians and Naupactians dedicated this to Olympian
Zeus, a tithe from the spoils of war. Paionios of Mende made
this, and was victor [in the competition] to make
the akroteria for the temple". The Messenians, according to
Pausanias, claimed that the statue celebrated the latter
victory, but that they omitted the name of the enemy because
they were afraid of the Spartans--afraid, that is, to boast
of their victory over them: "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, 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, 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." The statue was mounted on a triangular
pedestal which stood in front of and to the left of the east
side of the temple of Zeus at Olympia.
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