Things mentioned by Pausanias (or, an excuse to talk about complications with sources)

written by Greta Hawes

In the past year, as we’ve branched out from just capturing data from texts, various complexities have arisen.

Essentially: ancient texts don’t exist apart from the material culture of the ancient world. To give a few examples: many ancient authors describe artworks; substantial texts (like the Lindos Chronicle) come down to us as inscriptions; and pieces of ancient pottery frequently include writing as well as images (so, there are a few fragments of epic that are preserved on … fragments of pots).

All this means that MANTO needs to be flexible enough to account for the ways that sources can be both visual and textual at the same time, and the thing that we treat as our “source” can simultaneously give evidence about another source that we may or may not still be able to consult directly.

Last year, Anika Campbell wrote about identifying the artworks that Pausanias describes as having on them depictions of mythic scenes. This work was integral to the ongoing task of “linking up” different kinds of sources in MANTO. In essence, we can treat Pausanias as our direct source, and then list as indirect sources all the artifacts and inscriptions as he describes them.

So, for example, when Pausanias describes the dozens of scenes that covered the chest of Cypselos that he saw in the temple of Hera at Olympia, we need to attribute the information both to Pausanias (who is describing and interpreting it for us) and also to the chest as an object in its own right. Because this chest has long since disappeared, we cannot check the accuracy of Pausanias’ descriptions and interpretations ourselves, so it’s useful to be able to distinguish in our dataset between data that has been collected directly from surviving sources (things we can see and read for ourselves) and data that is mediated via another account.

Thinking more broadly, texts can also provide indirect evidence for other texts. Some of these cited texts are lost, but even when they are not, a citation might give a very particular interpretation. So, it’s useful to be able to distinguish between what our text of Homer says, and what Strabo thinks that Homer is saying (as in when at 12.4.5 he explains a notorious discrepancy in Homer by doctoring his quotation of Iliad 13.792-4 to make it look like Homer knew of a place called Ascania in Mysia).

These kinds of issues don’t only arise from texts. In the past few months I’ve added an inscription that cites another inscription (that we also have an archaeological record of), and captions on a wall painting that echo Homer’s descriptions of the Sirens. So, we certainly needed a systematic way of dealing with this across MANTO’s dataset of sources.

With so many variables and potential permutations, I had to diagram it all out. My drawings are hardly fit for public consumption, but luckily Anika Campbell’s are. Her sketches are perhaps the best way to explain the possible connections between the different kinds of direct and indirect sources, and the mythic people places and objects they describe or depict (or are said to describe or depict).

MANTO’s model of relationships between sources and entities where the direct and indirect sources are both textual (a text, inscription, or papyrus).

Image: Anika Campbell.

MANTO’s model of relationships between sources and entities where the direct source is visual (an artifact) and the indirect source is textual (a text or inscription).

Image: Anika Campbell.

MANTO’s model of relationships between sources and entities where the direct source is textual (a text, inscription or papyrus) and the indirect source is visual (an artifact).

Image: Anika Campbell.

MANTO’s model of relationships between sources and entities where the direct source is textual (a text, inscription or papyrus) and it attributes information to local tradition.

Image: Anika Campbell.

For those interested in delving deeper into the various indirect sources that appear in Pausanias in mythic contexts, here are some data downloads:

Pausanias’ citation of other texts

Pausanias’ citation of inscriptions

Pausanias’ description of artifacts

Pausanias’ attribution of information to local traditions

Pausanias’ description of mythic relics

For each entity or source in these files, add the “Object ID” to “https://resource.manto.unh.edu/….” to find more information in the public interface. Please contact me for downloads in other formats.

As ever, I appreciate hearing about any errors, or suggestions for expanding the dataset.

Enormous thanks to Brady Kiesling, who provided us with the preliminary data about monuments mentioned by Pausanias, and to Anika Campbell, who created MANTO’s version of the data, and the graphics the accompany this blog.