Pausanias_Travel_Writing_in_Ancient Greece [Maria_Pretzler]

6. A Sense of Time: Pausanias as Historian
lights’, usually a summary of foundation myths followed by a series of
concise references which connect the community with well-known events
such as the Trojan War or the Persian Wars. 9 Additional historical material
is integrated with the description of landscape and sites: almost every
item described by Pausanias is in some way provided with a specific
historical context. These links are often established in a matter-of-fact
way, for example by a reference to a founder or aetiological story. Both
lengthy historical set pieces and city introductions have seen a good deal
of scholarly attention, because they offer some insight into Pausanias’
methods and attitudes to particular periods. It is, however, important to
see the many comments included in the descriptions of monuments and
sites as integral to Pausanias’ efforts as a historian.
Pausanias’ handling of historical information changed while he was
writing the Periegesis: he developed summaries of historical highlights as
introductions to larger sites and regions, and these were increasingly
focused on a particular set of events which he came to consider especially
important. 10 An analysis of how this aspect of the Periegesis developed is
complicated by the fact that Pausanias starts his work in Athens which
dominated the canonical classical texts and was therefore central to Greek
education and culture in the Roman period. A pepaideumenos would pride
himself in a detailed knowledge of Athenian history and monuments, at
least as far as they played a role in literature. Whole books had been
written on the monuments of the Acropolis alone, and since the late
classical period Athenian history had been the subject of a distinct subgenre,
namely Atthidography. 11
Pausanias’ description would have to
include the familiar while avoiding too many details that might seem
commonplace. Just as the text launches into the description of Attica
without an introduction there is also no attempt to provide a historical
overview. All information about the past of Athens is integrated in the
description by tying it to particular sights on the way. Early on in his first
book Pausanias offers a rare statement about his intentions concerning
historical digressions.
But as to the age of Attalos [I] and Ptolemy [II], it is more ancient, so that
tradition about them no longer remains, and those who were with these
kings in order to record their achievements in writing were neglected even
earlier. Therefore it occurred to me to describe their deeds and the manner
in which their fathers came to rule over Egypt, the Mysians and the people
living nearby. 12 (Paus. 1.6.1)
This much-quoted passage marks the beginning of one of several lengthy
excursuses on Hellenistic history in the first half of Book I. We are
introduced to a number of important rulers of the period apart from
Attalos I and Ptolemy II: Ptolemy I and VI, Lysimachos, Pyrrhos of Epeiros
and Seleukos I. Pausanias also deals with the sack of Athens by Sulla and
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