A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

28.'ONCUS. ONESICRITUS.
fIoAX&dl,u~w a qv clhuaa rTep'~seo-4 cabr,rds''vraof Onceium in Arcadia. Demeter, after being me,
"Ep-yov, 8 Aiytfv,?yEv'ro 7rai6a MIKcw'. tamorphosed into a horse, mixed among his herds,
and gave him the horse Arion, of which she was
There is no authority for ascribing to Onatas more the mother by Poseidon. (Paus. viii.'25. ~ 4, &c.;
than this one statue in the group. (Paus v. 25. comp. Steph. Byz. s. v.) [L. S.]
~ 5. s. 8-10.) ONEIROS (COvetpos), a personification of
6. The bronze chariot, with a figure of a man in dream, and in the plural of dreams. According to
it, which was dedicated at Olympia by Deino- Homer Dreams dwell on the dark shores of the
menes, the son of Hieron, in memory of his father's western Oceanus (Od. xxiv. 12), and the deceitful
victories. On each side of the chariot were riding- dreams come through an ivory gate, while the true
horses, with figures of boys upon them; these ones issue from a gate made of horn. (Od. xix.
were made by Calamis. (Paus. vi. 12. ~ 1, viii. 562, &c.) Hesiod (Theog. 212) calls dreams the
42. ~ 4. s. 8.) This work is one authority for the children of night, and Ovid (1/Vet. xi. 633), who
date of Onatas, since Hieron died B. C. 467. calls them children of Sleep, mentions three of
7. A group- dedicated at Delphi by the Taren- them by name, viz. Morpheus, Icelus or Phobetor,
tines, being the tithe of the booty taken by them and Phantasus. Euripides called them sons of
in a war with the Peucetii. The statues, which Gaea, and conceived them as genii with black
were the work of Onatas and Calynthus (but the wings. [L. S.]
passage is here corrupt), represented horse and foot ONE'SAS ('OYvrlaa), a gem engraver, whose
soldiers intermixed; Opis, the king of the Iapy- name appears on a beautiful intaglio, representing a
gians, and the ally of the Peucetians, was seen young Hercules, crowned with laurel, and on
prostrate, as if slain in the battle, and standing another gem, representing a girl playing the
over him were the hero Taras and the Lacedaemo- cithara, both in the Florentine collection. (Stosch.
nian Phalanthus, near whom was a dolphin. (Paus. Pierres Gravees, No. 46; Bracci, tav. 89.) [P. S.]
x. 13. ~ 5. s. 10.) ONESI'CRITUS ('OvrnIaKpLTos), a Greek hisOnatas was a painter, as well as a statuary; torical writer, who accompanied Alexander on his
but only one of his works is mentioned: this one, campaigns in Asia, and wrote a history of them,
however, forms another authority for his date, and which is frequently cited by later authors. He is
proves the estimation in which he was held; for called by some authorities a native of Astypalaea,
he was employed in conjunction with Polygnotus by others of Aegina (Diog. Lai/rt. vi. 75, 84; Arr.
to decorate the temple in which this picture was Ind. 18; Aelian, I. N. xvi. 39): it was probably
painted. The temple was that of Athena Areia at to this island origin that he was indebted for the
Plataeae, and the picture, which was painted on skill in nautical matters which afterwards proved
one of the walls of the portico (pronaos), represented so advantageous to him. He must have been althe expedition of the Argive chieftains against ready advanced in years, as we are told that he
Thebes; Euryganeia, the mother of Eteocles and had two sons grown up to manhood, when his atPolyneices (according to the tradition which Pau- tention was accidentally attracted to the philosophy
sanias followed), was introduced into the picture, of Diogenes the Cynic, of which he became an arlamenting the mutual fratricide of her sons. (Paus. dent votary, so as to have obtained a name of emiix. 4. ~ 1. s. 2, 5. ~ 5. s. 11): it should be ob- nence among the disciples of that master. (Diog.
served, however, that in the second passage the Lart. 1. c.; Plut. Alex. 65.) We have no account
MSS. have'OvaTras, which Sylburg corrected into of the circumstances which led him to accompany'OaTdras, on the authority of the first passage; see Alexander into Asia, nor does it appear in what
also Muller, Aeginetica, p. 107: but Bekker and capacity he attended on the conqueror; but during
Dindorf, on the contrary, correct the former pas- the expedition into India he was sent by the king
sage by the latter, and read'Ovafaia in both.) to hold a conference with the Indian philosophers
The scattered information of Pausanias respect- or Gymnosophists, the details of which have been
ing Onatas has been critically gathered up by transmitted to us from his own account'of the inMuiiller and Thiersch. Rathgeber has managed terview. (Strab. xv. p. 715; Plut. Alex.. 65.)
to extend the subject over thirty columns of Ersch When Alexander constructed his fleet on the Hyand Gruber's Encyclopiidie. [P. S.] daspes, he appointed Onesicritus to the important
ONATAS, a Pythagorean philosopher of Croton, station of pilot of the king's ship, or chief pilot of
from whose work, rIepl aeou icEl t E bou, some ex- the fleet (dpXLKUCEP~~v7s), a post which he held
tracts are preserved by Stobaeus. (Eel. Phys. i. not only during the descent of the Indus, but
38, p. 92, &c., ed. Heeren.) throughout the long and perilous voyage from the
ONCA (O-yka), a surname of Athena, which mouth of that river to the Persian gulf. In this
she derived from the town of Oncae in Boeotia, capacity he discharged his duties so much to the
where she had a sanctuary. (Aeschyl. Sept. 16i6, satisfaction of Alexander that, on his arrival at
489; Paus. ix. 12. ~ 2; Schol. ad Eurisp. Phoen. Susa, he was rewarded by that monarch with a
1062.) [L. S.] crown of gold, at the same time as Nearchus. (Arr.
ONCAETJS ('Oyitacos), a surname of Apollo, Anab. vi. 2. ~ 6, vii. 5. ~ 9, Ind. 18; Curt. ix. 10.
derived from Onceium on the river Ladon in Ar- ~ 3, x. 1. ~ 10; Plot. Alex. 66, de Fort. Alex. p.
cadia, where he had a temple. (Paus. viii. 25. ~ 331, f.) Yet Arrian blames him for want of judg4, &c.) [L. S.] ment, and on one occasion expressly ascribes the
ONCHESTUS ('OyX7laeds), a son of Poseidon, safety of the fleet to the firmness of Nearchus in
and founder of the town of Onchestus, where the overruling his advice. (Anab. vii. 20, Ind. 32.)
Onchestian Poseidon had a temple and a statue. We know nothing of his subsequent fortunes; but
(Paus. ix. 26. ~ 3; Steph. Byz. s. v.; Hom. II. ii. from an anecdote related by Plutarch it seems pro506.) Another tradition called this Onchestus a bable that he attached himself to Lysimachus, and
son of Boeotus. [L. S.] it was perhaps at the court of that monarch that he
ONCUS ('Oytcov), a son of Apollo, and founder composed his historical work (Plut. Alex. 46),