Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

3. The Importance of Travelling
Bronze Age, and the foundation of numerous Greek cities around the
shores of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea in the eighth and seventh
centuries was a part of the process that formed Greek culture as we know
it. When Herodotos speaks of sixth-century Egypt, he mentions that many
Greeks were already there at that time, some as mercenaries, some
traders, and others who had come to see the country. 3 Travelling also plays
a pivotal role in the earliest Greek literature: the Iliad deals with a large
overseas campaign while the Odyssey follows its hero on his long journey
home. Even the apparently sedentary Hesiod seems to regard a journey by
ship as a normal, if undesirable, part of a farmer’s life around 700 BC. 4
These early texts were very influential, and, as we shall see in the next
chapter, Greek literature continued to engage with the experience of
travel in a variety of ways. From the beginning the act of travelling and
the encounter with foreign lands also had a great impact on Greek
self-definition, for example in the foundation stories of cities that explained
connections to the ancient motherland, or in texts about foreign
lands that reflect and define Greek values by discussing strange cultures. 5
In Pausanias’ time the Romans guaranteed peace around the Mediterranean
and travelling was easier and safer than it had been ever before.
Aelius Aristeides’ Praise of Rome offers an enthusiastic assessment of the
situation:
Now it is indeed possible for Greek or non-Greek, with or without his
belongings, to travel easily wherever he wants to go, just as if passing from
fatherland to fatherland. The Kilikian Gates hold no terror, and neither does
the narrow, sandy route to Egypt which runs through Arab country, nor
inaccessible mountains, great stretches of river or savage barbarian tribes;
but for security it suffices to be a Roman, or one of those under your [i.e.
Roman] rule. Homer speaks of an ‘Earth common to all’, and you have made
it come true. You have measured the whole inhabited world, you have
spanned rivers with all kinds of bridges, and cut through mountains to make
way for traffic. You have filled deserts with posting stations and you have
made all areas accustomed to a settled and orderly way of life. 6 (Aristeides
26.100-1)
This eulogy may be exaggerated to fit the purpose of the speech, but
Aristeides’ audience would not have found his description unrealistic. The
imperial infrastructure did not just provide safe roads and shipping
routes: it also meant that around the whole Mediterranean a traveller
could get by with the same currency and just two languages. The Roman
empire depended on good communications and was willing to invest in
maintaining security and a good infrastructure. Rome and other large
urban centres needed a steady stream of overseas imports, and the administration
required smooth movement of personnel and information.
Travelling was part of life for members of the Roman ruling élite, including
many of the emperors and their families. As Aristeides’ comments show,
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