Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

Epilogue: ‘Solid Instruction and Refined
Amusement’?
In short, the philosopher and the historian, the critic and the naturalist, the
poet and the painter, the statuary and the architect, the geographer and the
antiquary, may find in this work an ample fund of solid instruction and
refined amusement: for Pausanias had the art of aptly uniting conciseness
with accuracy, and the marvellous of venerable traditions and mystic fables
with all the simplicity of unadorned description. (Taylor (1794) vii)
How should modern readers respond to Pausanias’ work? Today Taylor’s
idea of a wide readership among non-specialists seems surprising, and
‘amusement’ is rarely a word uttered in connection with the Periegesis.
The work as a whole is not an easy read, and even the most enthusiastic
Pausaniacs will have to admit that there is no easy shortcut to appreciating
its appeal as a literary text. While it may seem relatively easy to mine
the Periegesis for information, any closer look at the presentation and
context of every detail opens up new questions and new insights. Every
site description requires its own investigation to tease out the full implications
of Pausanias’ selection and interpretation, as far as they can be
recovered at all. Much still needs to be done to appreciate the context of
Pausanias and that of the many sites one encounters in his work. As the
culture of the Greek east of the Roman empire becomes better known,
especially through archaeological and epigraphic studies to complement
the texts of the Second Sophistic, many aspects of the Periegesis will need
re-evaluation. Readers also have to be alert to the particularly strong
impact of Pausanias reception during the last five hundred years on how
we see the text today, especially in connection with the Greek landscape.
Long-established layers of interpretation may need to be stripped away to
rediscover the author’s original intentions.
What, then, makes the Periegesis worthwhile for further study at the
beginning of the twenty-first century? It remains a core text for anyone
interested in ancient Greece, especially mainland Greece, as a geographical
and historical entity beyond the few places in the spotlight of general
attention. Anyone seeking a realistic impression of Pausanias’ work has to
venture out of Athens and the big, famous centres such as Sparta, Corinth,
Argos or even Thebes in its decline to visit the small cities of the Argolid,
of Arkadia, Achaia, Boiotia or Phokis. Small-town Greece presented a
challenge to the wealthy, educated visitors who were at home in the large,
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