When did Pausanias live and write Description of Greece?
Pausanias lived between the years 110 and 180 CE. He wrote Description of Greece during the second century when Roman rule covered much of the Mediterranean world.
Questions about Description of Greece
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What regions does Pausanias cover in his ten books about mainland Greece?
The text divides into ten books covering specific regions starting with Attica and Athens before proceeding to Corinthia Laconia Messenia Elis Achaea Arcadia Boeotia Phocis and Ozolian Locris. Large parts of Greece remain unmentioned including all islands while the geographical organization creates a path for readers across the Greek peninsula.
Which ancient sites and artifacts does Pausanias describe at Thebes and Helicon?
At Thebes Pausanias views ruins of the house belonging to poet Pindar and describes shields left behind by warriors who died at the Battle of Leuctra. The grove of Muses on Helicon contains portraits of Polybius and Corinna found at Tanagra in Arcadia alongside statues of Arion Hesiod Orpheus and Thamyris.
How many manuscripts of Description of Greece survived and what happened to the original archetype?
Eighteen surviving manuscripts were known during the 1830s with copies dating from fifteenth or sixteenth centuries. All these copies depend on a single manuscript now missing called an archetype that Niccolò Niccoli owned in Florence around 1418 before it disappeared after 1500 from San Marco library in Florence.
When was the first printed edition of Description of Greece published and who translated it into English?
The first printed edition appeared in Venice in 1516 produced by Aldus Manutius firm while Marcus Musurus edited this version though he had died the previous year. English translations began much later with Thomas Taylor publishing in London in 1794 followed by William Henry Samuel Jones creating a widely known version available through Loeb Classical Library.