Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

PAUSANIAS

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V20, Page 969 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

PAUSANIAS , See also:

Greek traveller and geographer of the 2nd See also:century A.D., lived in the times of See also:Hadrian, See also:Antoninus See also:Pius and See also:Marcus Aurelius. He was probably a native of See also:Lydia, and was possibly See also:born at See also:Magnesia ad Sipylum; he was certainly interested in See also:Pergamum and See also:familiar with the western See also:coast of See also:Asia See also:Minor; but his travels extended far beyond the limits of See also:Ionia. Before visiting See also:Greece he had been to See also:Antioch, See also:Joppa and See also:Jerusalem,) and to the See also:banks of the See also:river See also:Jordan. In See also:Egypt he had seen the pyramids and had heard the See also:music of the vocal See also:Memnon, while at the See also:temple of See also:Ammon he had been shown the hymn once sent to that See also:shrine by See also:Pindar. He had taken See also:note of the fortifications of See also:Rhodes and See also:Byzantium, had visited See also:Thessaly, and had gazed on the rivulet of " See also:blue See also:water " beside the pass of See also:Thermopylae. In See also:Macedonia he had almost certainly viewed the traditional See also:tomb of See also:Orpheus, while in See also:Epirus he was familiar with the oracular See also:oak of See also:Dodona, and with the streams of See also:Acheron and See also:Cocytus. See also:Crossing over to See also:Italy, he had seen something of the cities of See also:Campania, and of the wonders of See also:Rome. His Description of Greece" (irepei't ns r1ls `EXMbor) takes the See also:form of a tour in the See also:Peloponnesus and in See also:part of See also:northern Greece. It is divided into ten books: (i.) See also:Attica and See also:Megara; (ii.) Argolis, including See also:Mycenae, See also:Tiryns and See also:Epidaurus; (iii.) See also:Laconia; (iv.) See also:Messenia; (v.) and (vi.) Ells, including See also:Olympia; (vii.) See also:Achaea; (viii.) See also:Arcadia; (ix.) See also:Boeotia, and (x.) See also:Phocis, including See also:Delphi. See also:Book i. was written after Herodes See also:Atticus had built the Athenian See also:Stadium (A.D. C. 143), but before he had built the See also:Odeum (c.

16o-161). There is See also:

reason to believe that this book was published some years before the See also:rest. The statement in book v. (1, 2), that 217 years had elapsed since the restoration of See also:Corinth (44 B.C.), shows that Pausanias was engaged on his See also:account of See also:Elie in the See also:year A.D. 174, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. He repeatedly refers to buildings erected by Hadrian, who died in A.D. 138. He had lived in that See also:emperor's See also:time, but had not actually seen that emperor's favourite, Antinotis, who died about 130. He mentions the See also:wars of Antoninus Pius against the See also:Moors, and of Marcus Aurelius (in and after A.D. 166) against the Germans (viii. 43). The latest event which he records is the incursion of the robber-See also:horde of the Costobocs (A.D.

C. 176; X. 34, 5). Book i. having been published before ,6o, and books vi.-x. after 174, the See also:

composition of the whole must have extended over more than fourteen years. The See also:work has no formal See also:preface or conclusion. It suddenly begins with the promontory of See also:Sunium, the first point in Attica that would be seen by the voyager from the shores of Asia Minor, and it ends abruptly with an See also:anecdote of a See also:blind See also:man of See also:Naupactus. The author's See also:general aim may be inferred from his saying at the See also:close of his account of See also:Athens and Attica: " Such (in my See also:opinion) are the most famous of the Athenian traditions and See also:sights; from the See also:mass of materials I have aimed from the outset at selecting the really notable " (i. 39, 3). It is possibly in the See also:hope of giving variety and See also:interest to the topographical details of Athens that the author intersperses them with lengthy See also:historical disquisitions; but the result is that the See also:modern reader is tempted to omit the " See also:history " and to hasten on to the " See also:topography," on which the author is now a See also:primary authority. In the subsequent books he introduces two improvements. His account of each important See also:city begins with a See also:sketch of its history; and, in his subsequent descriptions, he adopts a strictly topographical See also:order. He takes the nearest road from the frontier to the See also:capital; he there makes for the central point, e.g. the See also:market-See also:place, and describes in See also:succession the several streets radiating from that centre.

Similarly, in the surrounding See also:

district, he follows the See also:principal roads in succession, returning to the capital in each See also:case, until, at the end of the last road, he crosses the frontier for the next district. In the later books he supplies us with a few glimpses into the daily See also:life of the inhabitants. He is constantly describing ceremonial See also:rites or superstitious customs. He frequently introduces narratives from the domain of history and of See also:legend and folk-See also:lore; and it is only The tomb of See also:Helena at Jerusalem, which Pausanias viii. 16, 4-5, compares with the See also:Mausoleum, is mentioned by Jose; hus, See also:Ant. xx. 4, 3; See also:Bell. ud. V. 2, 2; 3, 3; 4, 2; Wand Euseblus, H.E. ii. 12, 3. See also:Helen, the daughter of Izates, See also:king of Adiabene, sent large shiploads of provisions to Rome during the See also:great See also:famine in the time of See also:Claudius (A.D. 44-48). Her tomb is identified by universal consent with the so-called " Tombs of the See also:Kings," See also:half a mile See also:north of the See also:Damascus See also:gate.

Cf. Schiirer, Geschichte See also:

des judischen Volkes, 3rd ed., iii. 120-122; view of tomb in Picturesque See also:Palestine, i. 103. rarely that he allows us to see something of the scenery. But, happily, he notices the See also:pine-trees on the sandy coast of See also:Elis, the See also:deer and the See also:wild boars in the oak-See also:woods of Phelloe, and the crows amid the See also:giant oak-trees of Alalcomenae. Ile tells us that " there is no fairer river than the Ladon," " no reeds grow so tall as those in the Boeotian Asopus," and the See also:rain that deluges the See also:fallow See also:plain of Mantinea vanishes into a chasm to rise again elsewhere. It is mainly in the last three books that he touches on the products of nature, the wild strawberries of See also:Helicon, the date-palms of See also:Aulis, and the See also:olive-oil of Tithorea, as well as the bustards of Phocis, the tortoises of Arcadia and the " See also:white blackbirds " of See also:Cyllene. He is rather reticent as to the See also:character of the roads, but he records, with the gratitude of a traveller, the fact that the narrow and perilous See also:cornice of the Scironian way along the coast of Megara had been made wider and safer by Hadrian. He is inspired by a patriotic interest in the See also:ancient glories of Greece, recognizing in Athens all that was best in the old Greek life, and lamenting the ruin that had befallen the See also:land on the fatal See also:field of Chaeronea. He is most at See also:home in describing the religious See also:art and See also:architecture of Olympia and of Delphi; but, even in the most secluded regions of Greece, he is fascinated by all kinds of See also:quaint and See also:primitive images of the gods, by See also:holy See also:relics and many other sacred and mysterious things. He is interested in visiting the battlefields of See also:Marathon and See also:Plataea, and in viewing the Athenian See also:trophy on the See also:island of Sa'',mis, the See also:grave of See also:Demosthenes at Calauria, of See also:Leonidas at See also:Sparta, of See also:Epaminondas at Mantinea, and the See also:colossal See also:lion guarding the tomb of the Thebans on the Boeotian plain.

At See also:

Thebes itself he views the See also:shields of those who died at See also:Leuctra, and the ruins of the See also:house of Pindar; the statues of See also:Hesiod and See also:Arlon, of Thamyris and Orpheus, in the See also:grove of the See also:Muses on Helicon; the portrait of See also:Corinna at Tanagra, and of See also:Polybius in the cities of Arcadia. At Olympia he takes note of the ancient quoit of Iphitus inscribed with the terms of the Olympic truce, the tablets recording See also:treaties between Athens and other Grecian states, the memorials of the victories of the Greeks at Plataea, of the Spartans at Tanagra, of the Messenians at Naupactus, and even those of See also:Philip at Chaeronea and of See also:Mummius at Corinth. At Delphi, as he climbs the sacred way to the shrine of See also:Apollo, he marks the trophies of the victories of the Athenians at Marathon and on the See also:Eurymedon, of the See also:united Greeks at Artemisium, See also:Salamis and Plataea, of the Spartans at Aegospot ami, of the Thebans at Leuctra, and the shields dedicated in memory of the repulse and defeat of the Gauls at Delphi itself. At Athens, he See also:sees pictures of historic battles, portraits of famous poets, orators, statesmen and philosophers, and See also:inscriptions recording the See also:laws of See also:Solon; on the See also:Acropolis, the trophy of the See also:Persian wars, the great See also:bronze statue of See also:Athena; at the entrance to the See also:harbour of the See also:Peiraeus, the grave of See also:Themistocles; and, outside the city, the monuments of See also:Harmodius and Aristogeiton, of See also:Cleisthenes and See also:Pericles, of See also:Conon and See also:Timotheus, and of all the Athenians who See also:fell in See also:battle, except the heroes of Marathon, " for these, as a meed of valour, were buried on the field." In the topographical part of his work, he is fond of digressions on the wonders of nature, the signs that See also:herald the approach of an See also:earthquake, the phenomena of the tides, the See also:ice-See also:bound seas of the north, and the noonday See also:sun which at the summer See also:solstice casts no See also:shadow at Syene. While he never doubts the existence of the gods and heroes, he sometimes criticizes the myths and legends See also:relating to them. His See also:main interest is in the monuments of ancient art, and he prefers the See also:works of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. to those of later times. At Delphi he admires the pictures of See also:Polygnotus, closing the seven chapters cf his See also:minute description with the appreciative phrase: " so varied and beautiful is the See also:painting of the Thasian artist " (x. 31, 2). In See also:sculpture his See also:taste is no less severe. Even in the " uncouth " work of See also:Daedalus, he recognizes " a See also:touch of the divine " (ii. 4, 5). In architecture, he admires the prehistoric walls of Tiryns, and the " See also:Treasury of Minyas," the Athenian See also:Propylaea, the See also:theatre of Epidaurus, the temples of Bassae and See also:Tegea, the walls of See also:Messene, the Odeum at Patrae, as well as the buildingof the same name lately built at Athens by Herodes Atticus (vii. ao, 6), and finally the Stadium which that munificent Athenian had faced with white See also:marble from the quarries of See also:Pentelicus.

His descriptions of the monuments of art are plain and unadorned; they See also:

bear the impress of reality, and their accuracy is confirmed by the extant remains. He is perfectly See also:frank in his confessions of See also:ignorance. When he quotes a book at second See also:hand he takes pains to say so. He has been well described by J. G. Frazer as " a man made of See also:common stuff and See also:cast in a common See also:mould; his intelligence and abilities seem to have been little above the See also:average, his opinions not very different from those of his contemporaries." His See also:literary See also:style is " plain and unadorned yet heavy and laboured "; it is not careless or slovenly; the author tried to write well, but his " sentences are devoid of See also:rhythm and See also:harmony " (Introduction, pp. xlix., Ixix.). In considering his use of previous writers, we must draw a distinction between the historical and the descriptive parts of his work. In the former it was necessary for him to depend on written or oral testimony; in the latter it was not. In the historical passages, his principal poetic authority is See also:Homer; he frequently quotes the Theogony of Hesiod, and he often refers to Pindar and See also:Aeschylus. His writings are full of echoes of See also:Herodotus, and his See also:debt to See also:Thucydides and See also:Xenophon extends beyond the isolated mention of their names (i. 3, 4; vi. 19, 5).

He has carefully studied the Elean See also:

register of the Olympic victors; he makes large use of inscriptions, and has generally examined them with care and copied them with accuracy. In the descriptive portion the question arises whether he derived his knowledge from See also:personal observation, or from books, or from both. He does not profess to have seen everything, but he does not acknowledge that he has borrowed any of his descriptions from previous writers. He " cannot commend the men who took the measurements " of the See also:Zeus at Olympia (v. Is, 9). " A certain writer," who states that a particular See also:spring is the source of an Arcadian river, " cannot have seen the spring himself, or spoken with any one who had; I have done both " (viii. 41, so). There are fifty passages in which he either directly states or implies that he had seen the things that he describes. All of these have been carefully collected and examined by R. Heberdey (1894), who, by using a distinctive type in marking on a See also:map the places " seen " by Pausanias, and by joining those places by lines representing the routes described by him, has shown the large extent of the author's travels in Greece. The complicated coast of Hermionis has, however, been incorrectly described (ii. 34, 8 seq.), and there is some confusion in the account of the three roads leading to the north from Lepreus, in the extreme See also:south of Elis (v.

5, 3). A greater difficulty has See also:

long been See also:felt in connexion with the Enneacrunus See also:episode " in the description of Athens (i. 8, 6, and 14, 1-6). In the midst of the account of the market-place, north-See also:west of the Acropolis, the reader is transported to the See also:fountain of Enneacrunus and to some buildings in its neighbourhood, and is suddenly brought back to the market-place. It has been naturally assumed that the Enneacrunus can only be the fountain of that name in the See also:bed of the Ilissus. If so, the description of the fountain is out of place, and its insertion at this point has been ascribed either to some confusion in the author's notes or to a dislocation in the See also:text. On the other hand, it has been suggested that the description may really refer to some other fountain near the market-place, which was shown to Pausanias as the Enneacrunus. Thus it has been held by Dr DSrpfeld that the name Enneacrunus was originally applied to a spring west of the Acropolis, that the old name of this spring, See also:Callirrhoe, had been abandoned from the time when See also:Peisistratus converted it into a " fountain with nine jets," and that the names Callirrhoe and Enneacrunus were after-wards transferred to another fountain in the bed of the hisses. The See also:evidence of his own excavations has led him to place the See also:original Enneacrunus near the eastern See also:foot of the See also:hill of the Pnyx, and to identify certain adjacent remains with the buildings mentioned by Pausanias. If this opinion is correct, the account of the Enneacrunus, and the neighbouring buildings, in Pausanias, ceases to be an " episode,' and falls into the natural sequence of the narrative. (The "episode " has been fully discussed by the expounders and translators of Pausanias, and by the writers on the topography of Athens. Dr Dorpfeld's views are clearly set forth in See also:Miss J.

E. See also:

Harrison's Primitive Athens (1906). A. Malinin's See also:paper (See also:Vienna, 1906), which assumes a dislocation of the text, has been answered by Dorpfeld (Wochenschrift See also:fur kl. Philologie (1907), p. 940 seq.). The account of the See also:law courts of Athens and of the altars at Olympia may have been derived from monographs on those subjects. In both cases the author departs from his usual method of following the order of place, and deals with a See also:group of monuments belonging to the same class. But in the extant literature of antiquity (as J. G. Frazer has shown) no passage has been found agreeing in form or substance so closely with the description in Pausanias as to make it probable that he copied it. The theory that Pausanias borrowed largely from Polemon of Ilium, who flourished about 200-177 B.c., and wrote on the Acropolis and the See also:eponymous heroes of Athens, on the treasuries of Delphi, and on other antiquarian topics, was incidentally suggested by See also:Preller in his edition of the fragments (1838), and was revived by See also:Professor von Wilamowitz-Moellendorff in 1877 (See also:Hermes, xii.

346). It was subsequently maintained by A. Kalkmann (1886) that Pausanias slavishly copied from Polemon the best part of his descriptions of Athens, Delphi and Olympia, and described those places, not as they were in his own See also:

age, but as they had been in that of Polemon, some 300 years before. It is alleged that, in the notices of the monuments on the Acropolis of Athens, and of the sculptors and the See also:athlete-statues of Olympia, the See also:lower limit of Pausanias is practically 150 B.C.; it is inferred that the authority followed by him ended with this date, and it is more than suggested that his See also:sole authority was Polemon. But the See also:comparative neglect of works later than 150 B.C. might also be explained by the fact that the See also:independence of Greece came to an end in 146. And, further, it so happens that Pausanias refers to very few sculptors for the 140 years (296-156 B.C.) before the age of his supposed authority, while some of the sculptors represented at Olympia have since been placed after that date, and not a few of the Athenian monuments described by Pausanias belong to the See also:period between that date and the See also:accession of Hadrian, or, approximately, the period between about 166 B.C. and A.D. 117 (Gurlitt, Uber Pausanias, pp. 117 seq., 194 seq., 257-267). More than one See also:hundred extracts from, or reference to, the works of Polemon have come down to us, and it has been shown by Mr Frazer that " the existing fragments hardly justify us in supposing that Pausanias was acquainted with the writings of his learned predecessor; certainly they lend no countenance to the view that he borrowed descriptions of places and monuments from them." Again, it has been urged that his brief description of the Peiraeus is not true of his own time, as it had been burnt by See also:Sulla (86 B.C.), and was still lying desolate in the age of See also:Augustus, but his account of the buildings and monuments has been confirmed by an inscription conjecturally ascribed to the time of Pausanias (Frazer ii. 14 seq.). It has also been stated that the description of Arcadia must have been borrowed from far earlier writers, because See also:Strabo (p. 388) says that most of the famous cities of that land had either ceased to exist or had See also:left hardly a trace behind them; but the evidence of coins has proved that at least seven of the eleven cities described by Pausanias were still in existence long after the See also:death of Strabo.

It has further been assumed that his account of the temple of Apollo at Delphi is " irreconcilable with the remains of the See also:

building " and with the inscriptions recently discovered by the See also:French archaeologists. We are told that Pausanias describes the temple of the 6th century B.C. as if it still existed in his own time. On the contrary, he states that the first sculptures for the gables were executed by a See also:pupil of See also:Calamis, the pupil of a sculptor still at work in '27 B.C., and the shields that he saw suspended on the See also:architrave were captured from the Gauls in 279. Again, his description of New Corinth, built in 44 B.C., more than a century after the time of Polemon, is most minute and systematic, and it is confirmed by coins of the imperial age. In at least one important point Pausanias compares favourably with Strabo. While Strabo erroneously declares that not a vestige of Mycenae remains, Pausanias gives a brief but accurate description of the Lion-gate and the existing See also:circuit-See also:wall of the Acropolis, with a See also:notice of the tombs " within the wall " (ii. 16,5-7), a notice which led to their See also:discovery by See also:Schliemann. In all parts of Greece the accuracy of his descriptions has been proved by the remains of the buildings which he describes; and a few unimportant mistakes (in v. 10, 6 and 9; viii. 37, 3, and 45, 5), and some slight carelessness in copying inscriptions, do not lend any See also:colour to an imputation of See also:bad faith. It has been stated with perfect See also:justice by Frazer (p. xcv. seq.) that " without him the ruins of Greece would for the most part be a See also:labyrinth without a See also:clue, a riddle without an See also:answer." " His book furnishes the clue to the labyrinth, the answer to many See also:riddles.

End of Article: PAUSANIAS

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
PAUPERISM (Lat. pauper, poor)
[next]
PAUSIAS