‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher
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Lydia Langerwerf
Abstract
The second century author Pausanias has been characterised as a historian, a pilgrim and a travel writer. This chapter traces his treatment of the wondrous in his Periegesis Hellados in order to think beyond these modern identifications. His multifaceted and complex treatment of myths, miracles and wonders demonstrates his engagement with classical Greek authors, in particular Herodotus and Aristoteles, and with contemporary treatises on fact and falsehood. We will see that the variety of Pausanias’ response to myth and miracle stories masks a deliberate and consistent concentration on the ambivalent relation between the wondrous and historical or scientific truth. Rather than visiting the sites of miracles and wonders as a pilgrim, Pausanias often pursues this ambivalence as a sceptical pepaideumenos. The resulting narrative is, however, much more than a collection of wonder stories. Attempting to strike a balance between the credible and the wondrous, Pausanias presents himself as a masterly arbitrator, a histor in Homeric and Herodotean sense, in deciding what is true and what is not.
Abstract
The second century author Pausanias has been characterised as a historian, a pilgrim and a travel writer. This chapter traces his treatment of the wondrous in his Periegesis Hellados in order to think beyond these modern identifications. His multifaceted and complex treatment of myths, miracles and wonders demonstrates his engagement with classical Greek authors, in particular Herodotus and Aristoteles, and with contemporary treatises on fact and falsehood. We will see that the variety of Pausanias’ response to myth and miracle stories masks a deliberate and consistent concentration on the ambivalent relation between the wondrous and historical or scientific truth. Rather than visiting the sites of miracles and wonders as a pilgrim, Pausanias often pursues this ambivalence as a sceptical pepaideumenos. The resulting narrative is, however, much more than a collection of wonder stories. Attempting to strike a balance between the credible and the wondrous, Pausanias presents himself as a masterly arbitrator, a histor in Homeric and Herodotean sense, in deciding what is true and what is not.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
-
I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
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II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
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III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgments V
- Table of Contents VII
- Introduction: In search of the Miraculous IX
-
I. Miracles
- Ctesias’ Indica and the Origins of Paradoxography 3
- The Epidaurian Iamata: The first “Court of Miracles”? 17
- Medicine and the paradox in the Hippocratic Corpus and Beyond 31
- ‘One might rightly wonder’ – marvelling in Polybios Histories 63
- Omens and Miracles: Interpreting Miraculous Narratives in Roman Historiography 85
- Miracles and Pseudo-Miracles in Byzantine Apocalypses 111
-
II. Workings of Miracles
- Wonder-ful Memories in Herodotus’ Histories 133
- Wonder(s) in Plautus 153
- Telling Tales of Wonder: Mirabilia in the Letters of Pliny the Younger 179
- Paradoxographic discourse on sources and fountains: deconstructing paradoxes 205
- Lucian’s Alexander: technoprophecy, thaumatology and the poetics of wonder 225
-
III. Believing in Miracles
- Perceiving Thauma in Archaic Greek Epic 259
- Turning Science into Miracle in the Voyage of Alexander the Great 275
- ‘Many are the wonders in Greece’: Pausanias the wandering philosopher 305
- Miracles in Greek Biography 327
- Apuleius on Raising the Dead Crossing the Boundaries of Life and Death while Convincing the Audience 353
- Recognizing Miracles in ancient Greek Novels 381
- List of Contributors 417
- Index Nominum et Rerum 423
