Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

1. Approaching Pausanias’ Periegesis
which contain descriptions of paintings or statues. The final two chapters
deal with the long-term impact of the Periegesis. Since its re-discovery six
hundred years ago, Pausanias’ description has shaped the basic methods
and assumptions of classical archaeologists, art historians and cultural
historians, and it had an influence of the discipline of classical studies as
a whole. Last but not least, I discuss the impact of the Periegesis on
attitudes to Greece in Western Europe, and its role in Greek self-presentation
after the foundation of the modern Greek state in 1821.
Pausanias’ Periegesis is a complex work, a collection of innumerable
observations, stories and opinions, which is best understood with an
intimate knowledge of the places it describes, the historical background
and the literary tradition. The five extant large commentaries of
Pausanias show that there are always more details and interpretations
that can be added to particular passages of the text. It is, however,
important to gain an impression of the whole work, and to see it as part of
a larger cultural phenomenon. At the beginning of this study it seems a
good idea to remember the principles that also shaped the Periegesis. In
order to describe a landscape – or to discuss an ancient book – the author
needs to survey everything carefully, and then select what is worth
recording. These details need to be combined with comparative material
or information from the experts one meets on the way. Then the material
is arranged, combined with relevant information and interpreted to allow
the reader to gain an impression. Such an account of a literary work, as of
a landscape, is always personal: my tour through Pausanias’ Periegesis
includes places from which I gained a particular overview, and others
which I found surprising when I saw them for the first time. Some routes
will be well trodden, others will be less well-known, some may even be
new. I am not so bold as to claim that I am going to deal with ‘all things
Pausanian’, but I hope that, like a good travel guide, this book will enable
readers to find their way around Pausanias and to make new discoveries
of their own.
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