Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

Pausanias: Travel Writing in Ancient Greece
relevance is not the only reason to include a monument. Some were worth
mentioning because of a connection with a known artist, while others
merited discussion because they were rare examples of a special technique
or special material. In any case, the visual and physical properties of a
monument could be taken into account, but mere visual impact was not
enough to secure an entry in the Periegesis. Pausanias’ selection and
interpretation of art works suggest how he saw the role of art in Greek
culture, and perhaps also what art meant to him personally. He presents art
in many contexts, but, apart from their importance as historical monuments,
he most commonly singles out objects for their religious significance and,
more generally, for their role as symbols of Greek culture.
Greek religion was inextricably linked with art, especially because
divinities were usually represented by anthropomorphic images. In his
Olympic Discourse Dio explores the origins of the human conception of the
divine and he names four main sources: human instinct, poetry, laws and
art. The discussion that follows focuses on poetry and art, and here it is
the artist who has the advantage over the poet, because his work is more
easily accessible even to those who are not able to appreciate poetry. 70 The
ancients were aware of the fact that through statues that served as cult
images the interpretation of an artist could influence many people’s
concept of the divine. 71 For Pausanias, cult images provide evidence for
the countless variants of the gods all Greeks had in common, and a few
divinities that were unique to particular communities. The choice of
representation and attributes could provide some idea about the aspects
of a god or goddess that were particularly important, and they
could illustrate local interpretations that had little to do with mainstream
Greek ideas. 72 In the Periegesis sacred art represents a crucial
aspect of the variety of cultural expression that characterises
Pausanias’ Greece.
It would be difficult to conceive of this imaginary landscape without the
many works of art that populate Pausanias’ cities and sites. Public art
gave shape and meaning to the memorial landscapes explored in the
previous chapter, both in the Periegesis and in the ‘real world’. Art was a
sign of prestige which conferred an air of culture, history and general
significance on a community, and it was no doubt a hallmark of Greekness
which would be easy to recognise well beyond the Greek world. It may not
be possible to gain much information about the exact appearance of the
many buildings, statues and paintings described in the Periegesis, but we
do get a sense of the significance and function of art in Greek cities of the
Roman world. Yet that impression is likely to be exaggerated. Pausanias
probably did indeed see almost every object he includes in his work, but it
is important to remember just how emphatically his work focuses on
public art while many other aspects of ancient city life remain almost
invisible. The Periegesis therefore creates an impression of a Greece where
even the poorest communities could often display sublime examples of
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