Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

5. A Sense of Space: Landscape and Geography
Just like Pausanias, Strabo wrote for an educated audience, but the author
of a geographical work was almost obliged to pay attention to such a
striking topography, however well-known. Pausanias’ Periegesis is clearly
not following the same rules, even if it uses geography as an organising
principle.
Pausanias fails to mention that the Isthmos of Corinth is not just an
interesting geographical feature, but also a unique landscape which offers
spectacular views. Travellers following Pausanias’ route would approach
from the Megarid in the north-east, and before descending to the Isthmos
they could take in the view, as Edward Dodwell did in autumn 1806:
In forty minutes we reached an elevated part of the mountain, which
commands a most extensive and animating view. The whole circumference
of the spacious horizon seemed occupied with classical regions of high
renown and of deep interest. Below us appeared the Isthmus, the Acrocorinthos,
the Saronic and Crissaean gulfs. The more remote prospect unveiled
the soft and undulating lines of the Attic coast and mountains, fading into
the receding distance of the Sunium promontory, which was distinguished
as a speck upon the blue aether of the terminating sky. The beautifully
varied coast of Argolis, the abrupt and pointed promontory of Methana, with
the islands of Kalauria, Aegina, and Salamis, and other insular rocks,
embellish the surface of the Saronic gulf. Beyond the Corinthian sea are
distinguished the hills of Achaia, surmounted by the loftier summits of
Arcadia glittering with snow. (Dodwell (1819) II.183, 30 November 1806)
Dodwell travelled through late Ottoman Greece where little survived of
what Pausanias had seen, and the evocative ancient place names he uses
in this passage to restore Corinth’s pivotal place in Greek historical
topography were only just beginning to take hold again. 8
The physical
landscape, however, was still the same, and where neither Strabo nor
Pausanias found it necessary to comment on the scenery, Dodwell manages
to convey a sense of an impressive view. At the same time, he
acknowledges the geographical significance of the Isthmos, and as he
scans the view from east to west he uses his vantage point to provide the
reader with a comprehensive overview that connects areas he has already
seen with places he is about to visit. 9
These three descriptions of the same area illustrate that there are many
different ways of turning a landscape into text. An author has to choose
from a set of defining characteristics, be they topographical features, flora
and fauna or aspects of human geography, such as settlements, monuments,
agricultural landscapes and road networks. Other aspects of the
landscape might not be immediately visible but they are nevertheless
important, such as connections with myth or history, or a special religious
significance. The author communicates his or her selective image of a
landscape to allow the readers to create an image in their minds which
may or may not be similar to what the writer has seen, or to what other
59