Pausanias
Second-century traveller whose Description of Greece preserves invaluable accounts of myths, monuments, and rituals
The Meaning of Pausanias
Pausanias was a Greek traveller and geographer of the second century CE who composed the Periegesis Hellados (Description of Greece) in ten books, systematically recording the monuments, sanctuaries, artworks, and local traditions of mainland Greece. His method combined firsthand observation with extensive research into local histories and mythological traditions. For modern scholars and archaeologists, Pausanias is irreplaceable: his descriptions have guided the identification of ruins from Olympia to Delphi to the Athenian Agora. He records cult practices, local variants of myths, and descriptions of artworks — many long since destroyed — with careful, sceptical attention. Without Pausanias, much of what we know about Greek sacred landscapes would be entirely lost.
Parents
None recorded
Symbols
Fun Fact
Archaeologists still use Pausanias's 1,900-year-old descriptions to locate and identify ancient ruins
Words We Inherited
English words and phrases that trace back to this myth. See our full guide to English words from Greek mythology.
Explore Further
Strabo
💭 conceptGeography, ethnography
Greek geographer whose seventeen-book Geography records mythological traditions alongside physical descriptions
Herodotus
💭 conceptHistory, ethnography, Persia
Father of History whose Histories records mythological traditions alongside the Persian Wars narrative
Diodorus Siculus
💭 conceptHistory, universal chronicle
Sicilian historian who compiled a universal history preserving many otherwise lost mythological traditions
The Greek World
💭 conceptSacred geography, divine landscape
The mountains, islands, rivers, and cities of the Greek mythological world — every place charged with divine meaning, from Olympus in the clouds to the rivers of the dead beneath the earth.
Geography
💭 conceptLanguage and science
An English word for the study of the earth's surface, places, and peoples, derived from the Greek geographia meaning earth-writing or earth-description
Ptolemy Hephaestion
💭 conceptParadoxography, obscure myth
Alexandrian writer whose New History preserved bizarre and otherwise unknown mythological variants
Minoan Culture
💭 conceptHistory
The Bronze Age civilisation of Crete that preceded and profoundly influenced Greek mythology and religion
Mycenaean Culture
💭 conceptHistory
The Late Bronze Age Greek civilisation whose warrior aristocracy forms the historical basis of Homeric epic
Apollodorus
💭 conceptMythography, compilation
Author of the Bibliotheca, the most comprehensive surviving handbook of Greek mythology
Palaephatus
💭 conceptRationalism, myth interpretation
Ancient rationaliser who explained myths as misunderstood historical events in On Unbelievable Tales
Nonnus
💭 conceptEpic poetry, Dionysus
Late antique poet who composed the Dionysiaca, the longest surviving epic poem from Greco-Roman antiquity
Library of Apollodorus
💭 conceptLiterature
A comprehensive ancient handbook cataloguing Greek myths, genealogies, and heroic narratives