Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

Pausanias: Travel Writing in Ancient Greece
most eminent and wealthy men in the empire, an ex-consul as well as a
famous intellectual and orator, who left a lasting mark on the Greek
monumental landscape. His wife Regilla died probably in AD 160 or 161,
and it is not clear how long it took him to start with the building of the
Odeion in her memory. 40
Bowie suggests that Book I could have been
finished as late as AD 165, but this should be seen as the latest possible
date; most other scholars prefer the early 160s or late 150s as a date for
Book I, although it has been suggested that Book I may have been
published as early as in the 130s, in the last years of Hadrian. 41 Such an
early publication date seems improbable, but it should not come as a
surprise that there is no clear indication when work on the Periegesis
began, 42 because even the planning stage required a detailed knowledge of
Greece that went beyond a mere tourist’s acquaintance with the major
sites. By the time Pausanias started to plan his work, and when he started
writing his first book, he must already have spent a lot of time travelling
in Greece, and more research was to follow once he had embarked on his
project. 43
The reference to the Odeion of Herodes Atticus also suggests that
Pausanias did not intend to edit his work once a book was completed,
because there is no practical reason why he should not just have added a
few words to Book I. In fact, this reference has been seen as an indication
that the first book was published separately, before the rest of the Periegesis,
but this suggestion is inconclusive. Surely, late corrections to the
master copy of a book were possible in a world where ‘publication’ meant
the circulation of individually produced copies, perhaps accompanied by
readings of selected passages in public or amongst interested friends. 44 By
the time he composed Book VII Pausanias must have decided not to go
back to add corrections to earlier books.
Passages that provide chronological evidence for Pausanias’ activities
after the completion of Book I all point to the later 160s and 170s. The
description of Epidauros includes new buildings constructed on the site in
Pausanias’ own time, which, according to inscriptions, were finished in the
160s. 45 The latest reference that can be dated with confidence occurs in
Book VIII. Pausanias provides a short overview of the achievements of
Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius, which include a victory over the
Germans and Sarmatians, probably in AD 175. 46 Marcus Aurelius is the
latest emperor mentioned in the Periegesis, and the absence of Commodus
from this short overview of recent emperors may suggest that this part of
Book VIII was composed before he was made joint emperor in AD 177. It
seems likely that the Periegesis was finished before the death of Marcus
Aurelius in AD 180. 47 The composition of the ten books therefore took about
twenty years and Pausanias was perhaps in his fifties and sixties at the
time. It is not necessary to assume that during these twenty years
Pausanias was exclusively working on the Periegesis. For example, he may
well have continued travelling outside Greece while his work was in
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