Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

3. The Importance of Travelling
had a sense that in the face of Roman domination the Greeks needed to
reconsider their role. He saw an opportunity in the meeting of a long
intellectual tradition with a rapidly changing and more accessible world. 46
These thoughts seem to anticipate aspects of the discourse about the role
of Greek intellectual pursuits in the Roman empire that we see in the
Second Sophistic three centuries later.
Polybios’ main concern in this passage is, however, the role of original
research in scholarly works. After all, an author’s claim to autopsia –
personal experience, or, literally, ‘seeing for oneself’ – could enhance his
credibility. As we shall see in the next chapter, this issue had long been a
concern for any author dealing with foreign lands or travel experiences.
Some ‘travel writers’ were less than truthful, and accounts of journeys
were central to many works of fiction. As a larger part of the world became
accessible, and travelling became safer and easier, fantastic stories would
have to be set in the past or in the remote corners of the world. An author
who, like Pausanias, wrote about an area which was not out of reach,
describing sites which some of his readers were likely to know, would have
to be particularly careful in his claims of personal knowledge. In fact, it is
quite clear that his research was thorough and very detailed, and he
carefully separates anything he has personally verified from information
he knows only from hearsay. 47
Pausanias’ comments about his enquiries provide valuable insights into
his research methods. He was prepared to make an effort to investigate a
potentially interesting site, even if it was difficult to reach and visiting it
required a significant detour. 48
Pausanias also demonstrates that his
interests and patience extended to rather unlikely causes:
Among the fish in the Aroanios there is one kind called speckled fish. These
fish, it is said, make a sound like a thrush. I have seen such fish caught, but
I have not heard them sing, although I stayed by the river until sunset, which
is when they were said to sing most. 49 (Paus. 8.21.2)
His patience may not have been rewarded in this case, but this willingness
to pay attention to detail and to explore anything that just might be of
interest does result in uncommonly thorough descriptions. Moreover, his
interests go far beyond the obvious, such as buildings or art works that
were famous or aesthetically pleasing. Pausanias’ attention to inscriptions
provides the best evidence of his dedication. He was mainly interested in
names mentioned in inscriptions, be they those of heroes, politicians,
artists, athletes or sometimes cities, and therefore dedications and artists’
signatures are more frequently cited in the Periegesis than historical
documents such as treaties or decrees. Most importantly, however,
Pausanias valued inscriptions as a source of information that could be
used to complement or correct local oral tradition. 50 No wonder, then, that
Pausanias went to some length to discover epigraphical evidence.
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