Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

2. Pausanias: the Man and his Time
particular passages or to peel apart the layers of observation, commentary
and interpretation in the Periegesis.
Most of Pausanias’ descriptions of routes and sites are presented in
third-person narrative, either as plain fact, for example when monuments
are described, or reporting information heard from local people or discovered
in the literary sources. Sometimes, usually when he is on the move
from one place to another, Pausanias addresses his audience directly,
using the second person. 3
Such remarks might suggest the stance of a
personal guide taking his audience by the hand to show them the way, but
they are mainly used to give short directions without creating the impression
of a real conversation, and they may simply be designed to offer some
variety of expression.
In their market-place the Messenians have a statue of Zeus Soter [the
Saviour] and a fountain Arsinoe which is named after the daughter of
Leukippos, and its water flows from a spring called Klepsydra. There are
sanctuaries of Poseidon and Aphrodite, and, most memorable, a statue of the
Mother of the Gods of Parian marble, a work of Damophon, who also repaired
the Zeus at Olympia with extreme accuracy when the ivory had come apart. 4
(Paus. 4.31.6)
This is a typical example of Pausanias’ description of a site. The detached
tone makes it easy to forget how much influence the author has on his
description: even a relatively simple passage as this extract from the
description of Messene is a carefully shaped blend of report and commentary.
The market-places of most Greek cities of the Roman imperial period
were full of monuments, especially statues, 5
and the description represents
Pausanias’ selection, as he reminds us when he points out the statue
most worth mentioning. The information about Damophon is connected to
the later description of the statue of Zeus in Olympia, and may be the
author’s own addition, based on what he knew from a visit to Elis. 6 The
author’s opinion or his own interpretation of a particular detail is often
presented without abandoning the objective tone of factual report, and
readers have to deduce for themselves how opinions were combined with
observations and literary sources to shape a particular passage.
If one goes from Corinth not towards the interior but following the road to
Sikyon, there is a burned temple on the left, not far from the city. Many wars
have been fought around Corinth, and houses and sanctuaries outside the
walls were likely to be destroyed by fire. But they [the Corinthians] say that
this temple, once dedicated to Apollo, was burned down by Pyrrhos, the son
of Achilles. 7 (Paus. 2.5.5)
Pausanias is subtly undermining Corinthian tradition by pointing out that
the presence of a ruined temple might not necessarily have anything to do
with a very ancient mythical tradition. This is particularly poignant in
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