Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

Pausanias: Travel Writing in Ancient Greece
Pausanias’ network of routes is organised around places he considers
cities, and his topography therefore evokes the traditional world of Greek
poleis as independent states with their individual relations to neighbours.
45
At the same time, Pausanias’ topographical organisation
emphasises the importance of regional centres. Most of Boiotia is described
in routes starting at the gates of Thebes, almost as if it were just
the Theban countryside. After all, Thebes was the location of some of the
most famous Greek myths and it dominated the region politically for much
of the classical period. Pausanias acknowledges that after several devastating
destructions in the Hellenistic period the contemporary city no
longer lived up to its great history, but his description unearths traces of
its former stature, and restores its position as the leader of Boiotia. These
topographical hierarchies are adapted to every region, with Argos as a
centre of the south-eastern Argolid and Sparta unsurprisingly dominating
Lakonia, while Arkadia is organised in one long circular route without a
regional centre. Pausanias’ ideas about the relative importance of sites can
override topographical realities. For example, Delphi is presented as the
focal point of Phokis, and Pausanias emphasises its links with other
Phokian cities by following a number of difficult mountain routes. His
description acknowledges the mountainous territory but it does not reflect
how the Parnassos range which dominates the region affected connections
between its cities. 46
Pausanias’ description does not provide a clear representation of the
physical world, but it does draw the readers’ attention to other aspects of
the Greek landscape: we are presented with a parallel reality which takes
into account the past and contemporary significance of different places.
While scenery and contemporary settlements were there for all to see and
discover for themselves, the meaning of particular places needed to be
unearthed and explained. For Pausanias the physical, visible landscape is
just a framework for a much more complex topography of myth, history
and sacred places.
72