Pausanias

Pausanias was a Greek traveller and geographer of the second century AD, probably from Lydia in Asia Minor. He wrote during the reigns of Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius.

His Description of Greece (Periegesis Hellados) in ten books is the most important ancient guide to the monuments, artworks, and sacred sites of mainland Greece. Pausanias visited the major sites in person — Attica, the Peloponnese, Boeotia, Phocis — and describes temples, statues, paintings, tombs, and curiosities with the systematic thoroughness of a modern guidebook writer. He also records local myths, historical traditions, and religious practices, often preserving material found nowhere else.

Modern archaeology has vindicated him dramatically: excavations at Olympia, Delphi, and dozens of other sites have confirmed his descriptions with remarkable precision. He saw what he said he saw. The Description of Greece remains the indispensable companion for anyone studying the archaeology, art, and religion of ancient Greece.