Description of Greece
Also known as: Periegesis Hellados, Guide to Greece, Description of Hellas
A ten-book travelogue of mainland Greece that records local sanctuaries, artworks, festivals, and place-myths. Pausanias preserves regional traditions, cult practices, and hero tales, providing a critical bridge between classical literature and on-the-ground sacred geography.
Description
Pausanias’ Description of Greece (Periegesis Hellados) is a second-century CE itinerary through Attica, Corinthia, Argolis, Laconia, Messenia, Elis, Achaea, Arcadia, Boeotia, Phocis and Locris. Writing as a curious and often skeptical pilgrim, Pausanias inventories temples, votives, statues, and tombs while recording the stories locals told about them—foundation legends, hero cults, divine epiphanies, and ritual aetiologies. He cites poets and logographers yet privileges what he hears in each city, frequently contrasting variant versions and noting what he has personally seen. The work’s dense myth-lore—Theseus in Attica, Heracles and Pelops in the Peloponnese, Theban and Delphic cycles in central Greece—makes it indispensable for reconstructing regional religion and memory. Archaeology repeatedly corroborates his topography, rendering the Periegesis a cornerstone source for Greek sacred landscapes.
Historiography
Surviving in ten books through a Byzantine manuscript tradition, the text is generally well preserved, though with lacunae and occasional corruptions addressed by modern editors. Pausanias compiles earlier literary sources and local oral traditions, often reporting multiple versions with critical asides. From the Renaissance onward, antiquarians prized him for topographical accuracy; modern archaeology has validated many of his site identifications. Standard English access is via the Loeb edition (Jones/Ormerod), with Greek text and notes; the Perseus Digital Library provides searchable Greek–English.
Date Notes
Composed in the mid–late 2nd century CE under the Antonine emperors; internal references suggest gradual publication by books.
Archetypes
Major Characters
- Pausanias
- Zeus
- Athena
- Apollo
- Artemis
Myths
- Catalog of Local Foundation Myths
- Hero Shrines and Oracles
- Myths of Autochthony and Kings
- Pilgrimage through Sacred Landscapes
Facts
- Ten books cover most mainland regions: Attica through Phocis and Locris.
- Pausanias reports both what he saw and what locals narrated, often giving variant myths.
- The work records countless cult statues, votives, and tombs now lost.
- His topography is frequently corroborated by archaeological finds and inscriptions.
- He preserves rare versions of Attic legends, including early genealogies of Athenian kings.
- Peloponnesian hero cults (Heracles, Pelops, Orestes) are central to his Peloponnese books.
- Delphi’s oracular lore and monuments receive extensive description in Book 10.
- The Periegesis is a principal source for Spartan rites (e.g., Artemis Orthia).
- Pausanias cites poets and logographers but privileges local testimony.
- Modern editions standardize on the Loeb text with facing Greek–English.