The Greek sculptor Σ κ ο π α ς (Scopas or Skopas) was a native of the Cycladic island of Paros, an island still famed for the quality of its white statuary marble. Born in the fourth century B.C. he is considered a member of the Attic School, He is know to us from the writings of many classical authors, such as Pausania, Vitruvius and Pliny the elder.
As a contemporary of the famous Praxiteles, a pioneer of representing animated human forms, Scopas is often credited with being the first to represent emotion in his carvings.
He is often cited as responsible, along with Timotheos, Bryaxis, and Leochares, for the carving on the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of The Seven Wonders of the World.
Only a single example of his work survives today, The temple of Athena Alea in Tegea, famous for its interior arrangement of Corinthian half-columns, the rest of his work is known from contemporary accounts or subsequent copies.
Scopas (of Paros) is sometimes confused with Skopas the Younger, who was active in Rome in the second century B.C.
Sources
Pausanias, Description of Greece
Pliny, Natural History
Vitruvius, Ten Books on Architecture