Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

7. Describing a City
scholarly comment, with an emphasis on his tendency to ignore the history
and monuments of the Hellenistic and Roman periods. 52 At Tegea the only
monument that is explicitly Hellenistic is the statue of Philopoimen. The
story of the man who killed the tyrant of Orchomenos, if historical at all,
is also likely to be Hellenistic, and with it presumably the temple of
Artemis Hegemone. 53 Both episodes are isolated within the monumental
landscape of Tegea. Only one event in three hundred years of Roman rule
was worth recording, namely Augustus’ decision to take away the image
of Athena Alea because the Tegeans had not taken his side against Mark
Antony, and no single monument or building is identified as Roman.
Nevertheless, Pausanias is not attempting to present a fantasy image of
Greece centuries before his own time. The ruins reported in the countryside
around Tegea are a stark reminder that we are indeed seeing the
landscape of the Roman imperial period. 54 In fact, it is likely that a number
of the monuments described in Tegea were indeed of a late date, but this
was not in itself of sufficient interest, and in the text they serve as
references to earlier periods while their own date is never discussed.
Pausanias did not set himself a rule to ignore later monuments. As in
Tegea, most of his city descriptions focus on objects that cluster around
important aspects of local history. In some cities, for example Corinth or
Tegea’s northern neighbour Mantinea, this includes episodes of Roman or
Hellenistic history. In the light of the general preference for earlier periods
among Pausanias’ contemporaries, however, it is not surprising that the
major themes in most cities’ memorial landscape revolved around myths
or archaic and classical history.
The quality and interest of the material are also important aspects of
the selection process. Pausanias was particularly attracted by items that
were in some way connected to the common Greek tradition, and his
readers were likely to find a story or monument more impressive if they
could relate it to the classical texts that they all knew. Well-known
narratives gained a sense of location and intensified reality when physical
remains and traces were considered, and there was a chance that new
aspects of a story could be discovered where it had actually taken place. 55
The Periegesis therefore often focuses on features in the local memorial
landscape that could be linked to famous events or that involved wellknown
mythical or historical characters. Monuments are also particularly
attractive if they can be attributed to a well-known artist. Again,
Pausanias’ local informants were likely to agree with such preferences,
because their tradition played a crucial part in their interaction with
outsiders, and widely recognised stories were likely to have a greater
impact. 56
At Tegea, we can observe that the adaptation and selection of
local tradition to correspond to well-known texts had been going on for
some time. For example, the themes selected for the pediments of the
fourth-century temple, Telephos and the Kalydonian boar hunt, both
involve prominent Tegeans, but they are also part of mainstream Greek
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