Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

5. A Sense of Space: Landscape and Geography
trees, rocks or wells which had interesting stories to tell, while impressive
aspects of scenery might not be mentioned at all.
The valley of the Styx in northern Arkadia was worth a visit because of
its important role in Greek myth as a river of the underworld by which the
gods swore their most solemn oaths. Pausanias uses a whole chapter (8.18)
to discuss traditions about the Styx, while his comments on the route take
up only a few lines.
As you leave Pheneos towards the west, the left road leads to Kleitor, and on
the right is the road to Nonakris and the water of the Styx. In ancient times
Nonakris was a town (polisma) of the Arkadians, named after the wife of
Lykaon, but in our time it is in ruins, and most of these are hidden. Not far
from the ruins is a high cliff: I know of no other that reaches such a height.
A water trickles down the cliff, and the Greeks call it the water of the Styx. 12
(Paus. 8.17.6)
This visit could not be made without considerable effort, because the route
from Pheneos to Nonakris leads through extremely mountainous territory.
Pausanias does not mention that these few lines describe a tour of at least
a day’s travel each way over passes and through narrow valleys which bear
little resemblance to a cultivated Mediterranean landscape. Nevertheless,
in this passage Pausanias does at least acknowledge the landscape
in its own right, perhaps because it was such an apt setting for the
legendary river. In his commentary, Frazer, who visited the area in
autumn 1895, tried to give readers a better sense of what Pausanias
might have seen:
The path winds up the glen, keeping at first high on the right bank. The bed
of the stream here is prettily wooded with poplars and other trees … the
water of the Styx, as seen from above, appears to be of a clear light blue
colour, with a tinge of green. This colour, however, is only apparent, and is
due to the slaty rocks, of a pale greenish-blue colour, among which the river
flows. In reality the water is quite clear and colourless. In about twenty
minutes from leaving the village [Solos] we come in sight of a cliff over which
the water of the Styx descends. It is an immense cliff, absolutely perpendicular,
a little to the left or east of the high conical summit of Mount Chelmos.
The whole of this northern face of this mountain is in fact nothing but a sheer
and in places even overhanging precipice of grey rock – by far the most awful
line of precipices I have ever seen. … The cliff down which the water comes
is merely the lower end of this huge wall of rock. Seen from a distance it
appears to be streaked perpendicularly with black and red. The black streak
marks the line of the waterfall … In the crevices of the cliffs to the right and
left of the fall great patches of snow remain all the year through. (Frazer
(1898) IV.250)
Frazer could draw on a well-established tradition of landscape description
in literature, and he is catering for the expectations of contemporary
readers. In his time the description of scenery played an important part in
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