Pausanias: Travel Writing in Ancient Greece (Classical Literature and Society Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)Maria Pretzler's book on Pausanias is fantastic. I first heard of Pausanias while touring through Greece this spring. Multiple times the tour guide or exhibit explanation would mention how Pausanias described things back in antiquity, such as mentioning hundreds of statues at Delphi that were present back in 160 AD that were presently gone. I had been reading up on ancient Greece for the year previous, but had never heard of Pausanias. I thought it would be cool to actually read the author himself.
Pretzler's book itself doesn't quote a lot of text or even go into a lot of detail summary of what Pausanias described, but it is more of an analysis of the book itself. Initially, I held off on reading the Pausanias because it was written maybe 500 years after the classical period, during the Roman occupation, but Pretzler shows that Pausanias was very proudly Greek and was frequently using his book to showcase and tout Greek accomplishments from their glory years. This is a major theme. More contemporary critics have derided the book as second rate for not being thorough and exacting, but Pretzler shows that this selection was purposeful.
There are also several very interesting and very scholarly sections at the end that describe how Pausanias has been received and what his impact has been since a manuscript of his work was rediscovered in 1453. I wonder if there are many more such works just waiting to be rediscovered?
The writing overall is very thoughtful and insightful. I actually had a hard time putting it down. Now I'm looking forward even more to reading the sections of Pausanias that describe the buildings and locations I visited.
As an addendum, Pretzler's book works equally well either before, after, or without ever reading Pausanias' text, though after reading Pretzler, you'll probably want to at least browse through the original text.

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This book combines a thorough introduction to Pausanias with new perspectives. It considers the influences that shaped the Periegesis, and its literary and cultural context. Pausanias' text records contemporary interpretations of monuments and traditions, and is concerned with the identity and history of Greece. Parallels with various texts of the period offer insights into Pausanias' attitudes as well as illustrating aspects of Second Sophistic culture. A discussion of Greek texts that deal with fictional or actual travel provides a background for a detailed study of the Periegesis as travel literature. Pausanias' treatment of geography and his descriptions of landscapes, cities and artworks are considered, as are his methods as a historian. The final chapters deal with Pausanias' impact on modern approaches to Greece and ancient Greek culture.

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