Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

Pausanias: Travel Writing in Ancient Greece
outside and was therefore a particularly important location to present the
community at its best. This was already the case in the fifth century, when
Herodotos mentions two significant exhibits in the temple, namely the
fetters of the Spartan captives and the manger of Mardonios, taken as
booty from the Persian camp after the battle of Plataia. 34 When the temple
was built in the fourth century, its pediments were designed to show a
local version of the Kalydonian boar hunt and the fight between Telephos
and Achilles. 35 As in many Greek sanctuaries, a collection of noteworthy
dedications was exhibited in the temple. Pausanias mentions a sacred
couch of Athena which is given no historical significance, but the other
exhibits mentioned are all duly linked with highlights of Tegean history:
the fetters of the Spartan prisoners were still there, and there was also the
shield of Marpessa, a woman who had fought the Spartans. Pausanias also
saw the remains of the hide of the Kalydonian boar and an image of
Telephos’ mother Auge. 36 He seems to be in no doubt that the ancient
objects could have survived the fire that destroyed the earlier temple. The
archaic image of Athena and the tusks of the Kalydonian boar had been
taken by Augustus and could now be seen at Rome. By adding a description
of these venerable objects in their new location Pausanias does his
best to restore them to his version of the Tegean memorial landscape. 37
Beyond this focal point of Tegean self-presentation reminders of the
past are dotted about the urban and rural landscape, and different aspects
of one story can be attached to several locations. For example, Herodotos
reports that the Spartans received an ambiguous Delphic oracle which
seemed to promise them the land of Tegea. They attacked, bringing chains
for the prisoners they were expecting to make, but were defeated and
bound with the fetters they had brought. 38 Pausanias never tells the whole
story at length, but the full significance of the Tegean tradition becomes
clear only when Herodotos is taken into account, particularly when we are
presented with the very chains of the Spartans which the historian had
seen about six hundred years earlier. We also get a sense that there were
more than just one battle between the two neighbours, which coincides
with Herodotos’ vague reference to continued Spartan defeats. 39 With the
classical account in mind Pausanias moves around Tegea, reminding
readers of the story wherever he finds an appropriate memorial and
adding new local details. He connects a particular festival to a Spartan
winter attack and a rather confusing stratagem that brought the Tegeans
success. A statue of Ares Gynaikothoinas (‘he who entertains women’) on
the agora evokes a story of Tegean women who donned armour and helped
to bring about the capture of the Spartans with their king Charillos; we
have already come across the shield of the women’s leader in the temple
of Athena Alea. 40
Apart from votives in the temple there was also the
Halotia (Capture) festival celebrated in the stadium to commemorate the
Tegean success. As Pausanias is leaving Tegea on the road to Thyrea he
mentions the empty tomb of Orestes: this is a reference to the conclusion
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