Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

Pausanias: Travel Writing in Ancient Greece
usually translated as ‘education’, although it implies more, namely a sense
of Hellenic culture informed by learning and active involvement in intellectual
activities. A higher education focused on rhetorical exercises,
philosophy and literature, particularly the thorough study of a canon of
archaic and classical Greek texts which served as a general frame of
reference. 57 In a circle of pepaideumenoi one could allude to these texts
without further explanation, and they would come to mind when an
appropriate argument or literary comparison was needed.
This common ground of Greek culture, paideia, informs most of the
Greek literature of the period from Nero to the end of the Severan dynasty,
which is today classified as the Second Sophistic, a label taken from
Philostratos’ Lives of the Sophists. 58 Our impression of the cultural activities
of the period is dominated by the ‘sophists’, highly paid professional
intellectuals who used their paideia to impress as public orators and
teachers of rhetoric. 59 These high-profile individuals were exceptional, but
many of their contemporaries shared their interests and ideals. Texts of
the period convey a sense of continuous peer competition focusing on, and
conducted through, paideia. The hallmark of educational distinction was
a proficiency in Attic Greek, an artificial language based on the literary
idiom of classical texts and far removed from the colloquial language of the
day. Educated men were greatly concerned with the fine details that
characterised appropriate language, and the pitfalls that could lead to
embarrassment. 60 Pausanias’ language and style have long been criticised
as inferior to the usual high standards of Second Sophistic authors. 61
Pausanias must have been aware of the ongoing debates about the correct
form of Greek language and style. 62 In fact, his prose is too artificial and
consistent to be the result of mere incompetence. Like his contemporaries,
he deliberately chose a style based on the imitation of earlier authors,
creatively combined to present something new. The result is idiosyncratic
and quite different from other Second Sophistic texts, with an emphasis
on a variety of expression and material, while the artificial hallmarks of
Attic Greek are kept to a minimum. 63
A pepaideumenos also had to be able to prove his credentials by showing
his intimate knowledge of literature, if possible well beyond the educational
canon. An encyclopaedic knowledge of facts from various fields of
ancient learning was also useful to impress one’s peers. 64 Pausanias was
aware of this competitive environment for any kind of intellectual activity,
and he meets the challenge on his own terms.
I have done the most diligent and careful work to determine the date of
Homer and Hesiod, but I do not like to write about this subject because I am
aware of the quarrelsome nature of some people, at present especially those
who specialise in epic poetry. 65 (Paus. 9.30.3)
Pausanias speaks as a pepaideumenos who is not just a mere consumer of
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