(b Mende, Thrace; fl c. 430–c. 420 BC). Greek sculptor. His famous over life-size marble Nike (c. 420 BC; Olympia, Archaeol. Mus.; see OLYMPIA, fig. 5) is the only extant work that is securely attributed to him. Pausanias (Guide to Greece V.x.8) stated erroneously that Paionios worked on the pedimental sculptures of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. However, the information given by the inscription of the monumental base of the Olympian Nike is that Paionios won the competition for the acroteria of the Temple of Zeus (c. 430–c. 420 BC), a gilded bronze Nike at the middle and tripods at the corners.

• Paionios of Mende
  • Greece, ancient, §IV, 1(i)(a): Monumental sculpture: Free-standing
  • attributions
    • Olympia, §2(i): Sculpture: From the Temple of Zeus
  • works
    • Greece, ancient, §IV, 1(v)(b): Monumental sculpture: Craftsmen and society
    • Greece, ancient, §IV, 2(iii)(b): High Classical monumental sculpture
    • Olympia, §2(ii): Sculpture: Other works