Onatas was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

of the time of the

Persian Wars The Greco-Persian Wars (also often called the Persian Wars) were a series of conflicts between the Achaemenid Empire and Greek city-states that started in 499 BC and lasted until 449 BC. The collision between the fractious political world of the ...

and an exponent of the flourishing school of

Aegina Aegina (; el, Αίγινα, ''Aígina'' ; grc, Αἴγῑνα) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born on the island and ...

. Many of his works are mentioned by

Pausanias Pausanias ( el, Παυσανίας) may refer to: *Pausanias of Athens, lover of the poet Agathon and a character in Plato's ''Symposium'' *Pausanias the Regent, Spartan general and regent of the 5th century BC * Pausanias of Sicily, physician of t ...

; they included a

Hermes Hermes (; grc-gre, wikt:Ἑρμῆς, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travelle ...

carrying the ram, and a strange image of the Black Demeter made for the people of

Phigalia Phigalia or Phigaleia or Phigalea ( grc, Φιγαλεία or ΦιγαλέαSo in Polybius, '' The Histories, iv. 3. or Φιγάλεια or ΦιγαλίαSo in Pausanias), also known as Phialia (Φιαλία or Φιάλεια), was an ancient Greek ...

; also some elaborate groups in bronze set up at Olympia and Delphi. For Hiero I, king of Syracuse, Onatas executed a votive chariot in bronze dedicated at Olympia. In Delphi he was one of the sculptors who executed the Ex voto of the Tarentines. If we compare the descriptions of the works of Onatas given us by Pausanias with the well-known pediments of Aegina at Munich we shall find so close an agreement that we may safely take the pedimental figures as an index of the style of Onatas. They are manly, vigorous, athletic, showing great knowledge of the human form, but somewhat stiff and automaton-like. His artistic style contribute to the formation of the so-called Severe style. Onatas has also been linked to the Riace warriors group, also attributed to Phidias. The pair were found off the coast of Reggio Calabria in 1972.

References

* {{Authority control 5th-century BC Greek sculptors Ancient Greek sculptors Ancient Aeginetans Artists of ancient Attica