Description of Greece
Description of Greece (Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις, romanized: Helládos Periḗgēsis) is a work by the ancient geographer Pausanias (c. 110 – c. 180).
| Author | Pausanias |
|---|---|
| Original title | Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις |
| Country | Ancient Greece |
| Language | Greek |
| Subject | geography |
| Published | the second century AD |
| Text | Description of Greece at Wikisource |
Pausanias' Description of Greece comprises ten books, each of them dedicated to some part of Greece. His tour begins in Attica (Ἀττικά) and continues with Athens, including its suburbs or demes. Then the work goes with Corinthia (Κορινθιακά), Laconia (Λακωνικά), Messenia (Μεσσηνιακά), Elis (Ἠλιακά), Achaea (Ἀχαϊκά), Arcadia (Ἀρκαδικά), Boeotia (Βοιωτικά), Phocis (Φωκικά), and Ozolian Locris (Λοκρῶν Ὀζόλων). The work more than just described topography: it includes a cultural geography of ancient Greece in which Pausanias not only described architectural and artistic objects, but also reviewed the historical and mythological underpinnings of the culture that created them.