chapter twelve
PAUSANIAS
J. Akujärvi
Greeks are given to regard foreign sights with greater marvel than those at home. For whereas it has occurred to distinguished historians to give the most accurate descriptions of the pyramids in Egypt, they have not made even short mention of Minyas’ treasury or the wall of Tiryns, though these are no less marvellous. (..) At this late point, near the end of book (out of ten), the narratees of the Periegesis Hellados (Guide to or Description of Greece) are likely to have caught on to the almost exclusive interest in matters of the Greek mainland—mainly its monuments and their history in a broad sense. With this statement Pausanias distinguishes the focus of his project on the sights of Greece from the interests of his predecessors in foreign mat- ters. As Greek counterparts to the pyramids of Egypt, Pausanias chooses the Cyclopean walls of Tiryns and what he calls Minyas’ treasury in Orchomenus. Like the pyramids, both are ancient impressive stone struc- tures reminding of times gone by, both historical and mythological. Con- sidering the extensive descriptions of foreign lands in (→) Herodotus’ Histories, among which the ethnography of Egypt stands out for its length and detail, Herodotus is probably one of the historians Pausanias is criti- cising here. However, apart from this piece of critique Pausanias appears to have modelled his narratorial persona on the Herodotean ‘I’.1 Unlike Herodotus before him, Pausanias does not explicitly promise to describe both small and large cities (Hist. ..–), but there is, nonethe- less, a faint echo of this Herodotean declaration in his statement that he will treat ‘all things Greek’, panta ta Hell¯enika (..).2 e hyper- bolic language of Pausanias’ statement is problematic; perhaps it is best taken as a hurried narratorial comment cutting short an incipient
1 Cf. Elsner ; Herodotean inßuence: Wernicke ; Pfundtner ; Akujärvi : –; Hutton : passim, esp. –. 2 See Musti . j. akujrvi narrative.3 ‘All things Greek’ would literally not Þt into any account, but most things Greek, both the Greece that is and the Greece that was, at least as much of either that caught Pausanias’ interest and made it through his critical Þlter, are Þtted into the Periegesis. In light of this, Pausanias’ choice of Greek contenders to foreign marvels—the walls of Tiryns and Minyas’ treasury—is signiÞcant. His description of the two monuments shows that they are mere shadows of their former selves, and reminders of times gone by. All that remains of Tiryns are its walls (..). Minyas’ treasury is the Þrst treasury ever built (..) and it presents ‘a wonder second to none in Greece or elsewhere’ (..), but now the wealth of Orchomenus could hardly rival that of a private person of moderate means (..). Space is central to the Periegesis in a way that sets the work apart from the other texts treated in this volume. It has also been of great interest to students of the text, particularly to travellers and archaeologists.4 e Periegesis continuously gestures and refers to an extra-textual reality. It provides descriptions that are by necessity, and explicitly, selective, yet detailed enough for some centres such as Athens, Olympia or Delphi, or some artwork such as the throne of Apollo at Amyclae, Zeus at Olympia, the chest of Cypselus, the paintings of Polygnotus in Delphi, to inspire attempts at reconstructing their appearance.5 Even aer extensive exca- vations it can be di cult to make the account of a site in the Periegesis agree with the results of those excavations, as is shown by the problems of identifying the sanctuaries on the Corinthian forum.6 However, the issue of how the selective image of Greek places and sights in the Perie- gesis relates to the actual geography, topography or monumental record of Greece, falls outside of the domain of narratology. e following is a necessarily brief and selective study of space in the Periegesis, both that of the sights and of the stories triggered by those sights, discussing Þrst organisation and granularity, then focalisation.
3 In the absence of other declarations, .. has been taken to give an idea of the intended geographical scope of the entire work; see, e.g., Habicht : –; Bearzot ; Hutton : –. 4 Cf. e.g. Beard ; Jacquemin ; Sutton ; Wagsta ; Pretzler : –. 5 ..–.; ..–..; ..–.; ..–.; ..–, .–.; ..– .. 6 E.g. Osanna ; Torelli ; Hutton : –.