PAUSANIAS, a celebrated Greek antiquary, has been supposed, from a passage in his own work, to have been a native of Lydia. The exact period of his birth and death is unknown, but he was employed on a part of his book in the reign of Hadrian, who died A.D. 139, and was writing the Antiquities of Elis, A.D. 174, in the fourteenth year of the reign of M. Aurelius (v. 1, 1). He must thus have been contemporary with Aulus Gellius, Ptolemy the geographer, Fronto the philosopher, Apuleius, and Lucian, though his pursuits were not likely to bring him in contact with any of them. The work which he has left is entitled Τῆς Ἑλλάδος Περίπλους (The Itinerary of Greece). It is divided into ten books, containing an account of the antiquities in each of the provinces of Greece, in the following order:—Attica, Megaris, Corinthia, Sicyonia, Phliassa, Argolis, Laconica, Messenia, Elis, Achaea, Arcadia, Boeotia, and Phocis. He must have examined minutely every
part of these provinces; and it is observed by Sir John Hobhouse, in his Journey through Albania, "that the exact conformity of present appearances with the minute descriptions of the Itinerary is no less surprising than satisfactory." Nothing escaped his observation. Mountains, rivers, fountains, temples, statues, and pictures are all described. He evidently took every means in his power to be accurate in his descriptions, as he constantly refers, as a corroboration of his statements, to inscriptions on ancient monuments and works of art, and to gifts dedicated in the temples of the gods. Poets and historians also furnished him with materials to illustrate the antiquities of the places he visited. He is accused, however, like the Latin historian Livy, of credulity, and of narrating many stories which have no pretension to credibility. But, aware that such an accusation might be brought against him, he states (vi. 3, 4) that he thought himself bound to give these traditions of the Greeks, though there was no reason why he should believe them. In his style he is thought to have imitated Herodotus, but by no means successfully.
The Greek text of Pausanias was first published at Venice in 1516 by Aldus; but this edition, which is in folio, is very incorrect, having been printed from a bad manuscript. That of Leipzig, 1696, in folio, published by Kuhn, is accompanied by the Latin translation of Amaseo, which had appeared separately at Rome in 4to, 1547. The edition of Clavier, Paris, 1814–1821, in 6 vols. 8vo, is accompanied by a new French translation. The latest edition is that of Schubart and Walz, in 3 vols. 8vo, Leipzig, 1838–40. It is only necessary further to indicate the Italian translation of Bonaccinoli, Mantua, 1597, in 4to; and that which appeared at Rome, 1792–1793, in 5 vols. 4to; the English translation of Taylor, London, 1793–1794, in 3 vols. 8vo; and the German translation of E. Wiedasch, in 4 vols. 8vo, Munich, 1826–29.