Pausanias

Pausanias was a Greek born in Lydia in 143 AD; he died in 176.

Pausanias travelled widely and was a Geographer whose works are still of invaluable assistance to scholars. The anthropologist Sir James Frazer once claimed of Pausanias: "without him the ruins of Greece would, for the most part, be a labyrinth without a clue, a riddle without an answer." His greatest work is undoubtedly the Description of Greece which comprises a detailed handbook of the ancient ruins. Prior to his travels in Greece, Pausanias had voyaged widely in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey), Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Macedonia, Epirus (now parts of Greece and Albania), and some regions of modern day Italy. The Description is based on the idea of a tour of Greece; starting in Attica, it is structurally organised into ten autonomous books; the first was probably finished sometime after 143, but before 161, no event taking place post 176 AD is mentioned in any of the books however.

Pausanias’ begins his tour of each important city with a brief outline of its historical significance; an explanatory narration then attends to primarily geographical, cartographical and topographical questions – although he does include a few anthropological glimpses into quotidian life and at times Pausanias’ details specific customs and ceremonial rites of the indigenous peoples concerned; such instances are normally introduced by examples of local legend or folklore.

One major trait in his accounts is the emphasis on artworks and artefacts. Pausanias was enthralled by the ancient magnificence of Greece and was, perhaps, most at ease when describing the religious art, iconography and architecture of Delphi. At Athens, he spent a great deal of his time analysing the pictures, portraits, and inscriptions that document the laws of Solo. On the Acropolis he focuses on another great giver of law: the great bronze statue of Athena; outside the city, he centres upon the monuments of famous Athenians fallen in battle.

The detail and accuracy of his descriptions has been repeatedly proven by both the majority of archaeological evidence found on sites which he has described and by the remains of extant buildings located throughout Greece.