Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

7. Describing a City
can be a matter of scholarly dispute. 19
Most ancient cities pose a much
more complex problem: very few settlement sites have been investigated
in sufficient detail to allow a study of urban topography beyond the most
prominent public spaces. Moreover, Pausanias’ imprecise directions, combined
with his habit of ignoring residential quarters, often do not offer
enough guidance to warrant a systematic search for the remains of monuments
he is describing. Apart from Athens, which is altogether
exceptional, there are only a few cities where the urban topography
described in the Periegesis can be reconstructed with some confidence, and
Corinth is the best example. 20 Hutton’s meticulous analysis demonstrates
that Pausanias’ description there follows a plan which echoes his way of
organising the countryside, and it is likely that he treated other cities in
a similar way. The tour usually starts in the agora and then follows radial
routes as far as the city walls, describing everything that is worth noting
along the way. 21 This system was not rigid, but could be adapted to local
circumstances.
In Tegea the starting point is the temple of Athena Alea rather than the
market-place, which emphasises its status as a prominent ancient sanctuary
and the city’s most famous attraction. Pausanias does not indicate its
location south-west of the city, just outside the walls. 22
The description
continues with a few sights ‘not far from the temple’, namely the stadium,
a spring ‘north of the temple’ and a temple of Hermes three stadia from
the spring. This is followed by a discussion of the temple of Athena Poliatis
(‘of the City’) which one would expect to find inside the city walls. 23 The
remark that the spring was north of the sanctuary of Athena Alea suggests
that Pausanias is on his way towards the agora. The subsequent description
of the town begins with the monuments around the market-place and
then moves on to the theatre, which is ‘not far from the agora’. Here the
description halts for four chapters to accommodate the biography of Philopoimen.
24 After this, further notable monuments are listed, apparently
in other parts of the town, but the text offers no more than a very vague
idea of their locations. The following extract contains all the topographical
information provided in this final part of the description of the city.
The Tegeans have four images of Agyieus, one set up by each tribe. … There
is also at Tegea a temple of Demeter and Kore, whom they call Fruitbringers,
and close by is one of Paphian Aphrodite. … Not far from it are two
sanctuaries of Dionysos, an altar of Kore, and a temple of Apollo with a gilded
image. … Next to Apollo stands a stone statue of Cheirisophos.
The Tegeans also have what they call the Common Hearth of the Arkadians.
In this place there is an image of Herakles. … The high place with most
of the altars of the Tegeans is called the place of Zeus Klarios. … I also saw
the following things in Tegea: the house of Aleos, the tomb of Echemos, and,
engraved on a stele, the fight between Echemos and Hyllos.
As you go from Tegea towards Lakonia, there is on the left of the road an
altar of Pan, and another of Zeus Lykaios. 25 (Paus. 8.53.6-11)
95