( fl last third of the 5th century BC). Greek sculptor. He specialized in chryselephantine (gold and ivory) statues. Pliny provided the most important testimony to Kolotes’ career, stating that he was a pupil of PHEIDIAS and helped his master execute the chryselephantine cult statue of Zeus at Olympia (XXXIV.lxxxvii, XXXV.liv). Kolotes also collaborated with the painter PANAINOS, Pheidias’ brother or nephew, on the chryselephantine statue of Athena at Elis (XXXV.liv). Neither of these statues survives, though the Zeus is known from representations on coins. In addition to these works, Kolotes made an ivory statue of Asklepios at Elis (untraced; Strabo: Geography VIII.cccxxxviii) and an ivory and gold (chryselephantine) table, which stood in the Temple of Hera at Olympia (untraced; Pausanias: Guide to Greece V.xx.1–2). The table, which held the olive crowns for victors in the girls’ foot-races at the festival of Hera, was decorated with reliefs of the gods and of the Olympic Games.

• Kolotes
  • Greece, ancient, §IV, 2(iii)(b): High Classical monumental sculpture
  • Greece, ancient, §X, 6(ii): Ivory and bone: Composite works
  • collaboration
    • Panainos
    • Pheidias, §2: High Classical phase, 446–430 BC