a celebrated Greek general, was the son of Cleombrotus, and nephew of Leonidas. The first important event in his life was the distinguished part which he played in repelling the second Persian invasion in 479 B.C. In that year the task of leading the Spartan contingent northward to the scene of war in Boeotia was entrusted to him. The other Peloponnesian allies joined him at the Isthmus of Corinth; the Athenian troops fell in at Eleusis; and the command of the assembled forces was then conferred upon him. Crossing Mount Citheron at the head of 110,000 men, he confronted an army of 350,000 Persians on the banks of the River Asopus. After delaying several days, and changing his position twice, he came to a general engagement with the enemy at Platea. Of all his forces, the Spartans fought most bravely; and of all the Spartans, he himself achieved the greatest feats of valour. The Persians were completely routed; their camp was stormed; and all their remaining troops, with the exception of a few thousands that escaped, were remorselessly butchered. This brilliant exploit secured for Pausanias another high post of honour. Not long afterwards, by the unanimous voice of the Greeks, he was placed in command of a fleet, and charged with the task of following up his former successes, and driving the Persians completely out of Europe. Sailing first to Cyprus, he liberated the cities in that island. Then steering his course to the Propontis, he finished his enterprise by capturing Byzantium. Here ended the distinguished career of Pausanias; the rest of his life was nothing else than a course of the most infatuated folly. Intoxicated with military success, his brain began to be filled with the most extravagant ideas. The Spartan mode of life, he thought, would no longer suit him; it was necessary to surround himself with the luxury and splendour of a Persian satrap. These foolish aspirations soon resulted in a deliberate attempt to sell his country to the Persians for a fortune and the hand of the daughter of Darius. His recall to Sparta to answer for his conduct did not make him abandon this treacherous design. He continued to correspond with the King of Persia until the interception of one of his letters brought his guilt to light and himself to punishment. Having taken refuge in the temple of Minerva, the ephori unroofed that edifice, built up the door, and allowed him to die of cold and hunger. His demise took place at some date between 471 and 466 B.C. The Life of Pausanias has been written by Cornelius Nepos.

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 Elia, A.D. 174, in the fourteenth year of the reign of M. Aurelius (v. i, 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 Ἱπποτες Ἑλληνικης (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, Phliasia, Argolis, Laconia, Messenia, Elis, Achaea, Arcadia, Boeotia, and Phocis. He must have examined minutely every part of these provinces; and it is observed by Sir John Halkhouse, 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 Leipsic, 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 Schulhart 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.