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https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.796#0393
APPENDIX I 345
Hist. Graec. ii. 254). Of more importance was the lost work of
Polemon who flourished in the early part of the second century e.c.
and seems to have devoted his great erudition to a general
description of the Hellenic world. Best known were his monograph
in four books on the Acropolis of Athens and his account of the
sacred way to Eleusis. Little is left of these writings (Fragm. Hist.
Graec. iii. 108). The most learned of these literary guides that
preceded Pausanias was Heliodorus of Athens, who lived not much
later than Polemon and is a probable source for Books 34, 35 of
Pliny's history. (On this point see Wachsmuth, Die Stadt Athen, i.
36). Heliodorus wrote, according to Athenaeus (vi. 229 e),
fifteen books " On the Acropolis at Athens." From citations in
later writers it is inferred that only portions of the first book or of
the first three books dealt with the Acropolis. Of this doubtless
valuable work but little is preserved (cf. Keil. Hermes, xxx. 199).
In the first century B.C. and of our own era no descriptive accounts
of Athens are known to have been written. The geographers Strabo,
Pomponius Mela, and the historian Pliny furnish scanty material
for a study of the Acropolis.
It is in the second century a.d., in the reign of the Antonines,
that we meet with the periegete Pausanias, the only one of his
class whose writings have been preserved. His work is a description
of Greece in ten books, the first of which treats of Attica and
Megaris. This first book was written not earlier than 143 a.d., the.
date when the Panathenaic Stadium was rebuilt of white marble by
Herodes Atticus (Paus. , i. 19, 6), and probably not later than
161 a.d., the year of the death of Regilla, in whose honor Herodes
Atticus built his magnificent Music Hall, which is not mentioned
in this book but, as a subsequent addition, in the seventh book
(vii. 20, 6).
The description of Athens with its numerous monuments and
its wealth of traditions was the most difficult part of the old
traveller's task. That Pausanias began his undertaking with this,
the most complicated part, is perhaps unfortunate. At any rate,
had his hand become more adjusted to its work it may reasonably
be supposed that the first book would have shown more of the
skill and order in the handling of his material that appears in
the later books, and that accordingly there would have been fewer
excursions and episodes to mar the even course of the narration,
and perhaps an occasional addition or explanation to give his
account more completeness.
A.A. Z
Hist. Graec. ii. 254). Of more importance was the lost work of
Polemon who flourished in the early part of the second century e.c.
and seems to have devoted his great erudition to a general
description of the Hellenic world. Best known were his monograph
in four books on the Acropolis of Athens and his account of the
sacred way to Eleusis. Little is left of these writings (Fragm. Hist.
Graec. iii. 108). The most learned of these literary guides that
preceded Pausanias was Heliodorus of Athens, who lived not much
later than Polemon and is a probable source for Books 34, 35 of
Pliny's history. (On this point see Wachsmuth, Die Stadt Athen, i.
36). Heliodorus wrote, according to Athenaeus (vi. 229 e),
fifteen books " On the Acropolis at Athens." From citations in
later writers it is inferred that only portions of the first book or of
the first three books dealt with the Acropolis. Of this doubtless
valuable work but little is preserved (cf. Keil. Hermes, xxx. 199).
In the first century B.C. and of our own era no descriptive accounts
of Athens are known to have been written. The geographers Strabo,
Pomponius Mela, and the historian Pliny furnish scanty material
for a study of the Acropolis.
It is in the second century a.d., in the reign of the Antonines,
that we meet with the periegete Pausanias, the only one of his
class whose writings have been preserved. His work is a description
of Greece in ten books, the first of which treats of Attica and
Megaris. This first book was written not earlier than 143 a.d., the.
date when the Panathenaic Stadium was rebuilt of white marble by
Herodes Atticus (Paus. , i. 19, 6), and probably not later than
161 a.d., the year of the death of Regilla, in whose honor Herodes
Atticus built his magnificent Music Hall, which is not mentioned
in this book but, as a subsequent addition, in the seventh book
(vii. 20, 6).
The description of Athens with its numerous monuments and
its wealth of traditions was the most difficult part of the old
traveller's task. That Pausanias began his undertaking with this,
the most complicated part, is perhaps unfortunate. At any rate,
had his hand become more adjusted to its work it may reasonably
be supposed that the first book would have shown more of the
skill and order in the handling of his material that appears in
the later books, and that accordingly there would have been fewer
excursions and episodes to mar the even course of the narration,
and perhaps an occasional addition or explanation to give his
account more completeness.
A.A. Z