Meaning of periegesis | Babel Free

Definitions

A description of an area or territory.

Equivalents

Examples

“a periegesis of Greece”

“Dionysius, a learned geographer, to whom is attributed a Periegeſis, or Survey of the Earth, in Greek verse.”

“[H]ad we been able to obtain⟳ a periegesis of Greece for the year 776 b.c., we should have⟳ discovered from one end⟳ of the country to the other nothing but legends, preached by the men of genius, received both with earnest emotion and with sincere faith by the hearers.”

“Where did Cassiodorus read⟳ that the Huns were the neighbors of the Seres, supposedly the Chinese? There is little doubt⟳ that his source was one of the popular compendia which, directly or indirectly, went back to Dionysius [Periegetes]' Periegesis. Cassiodorus recommended "the map of Dionysius" to his monks. It is not particularly significant that in both the Getica and the Periegesis the Caspian Sea is a gulf of the ocean; this was a belief held and combatted since the time of the Ionian geographers.”

“There is not a single ancient Greek source that depicts someone using maps in a practical situation. […] '[G]eographical knowledge' did not depend⟳ on maps, but on other media, such as travel⟳ reports, sea journeys and periegeses, descriptions of a particular country. Geography relied on words and discourses, on human memory.”

“A periegesis is usually understood to be a geographical catalogue, cast⟳ in the form⟳ of a tour, often of a local area but sometimes more extended in scope. The form⟳ is related to local history. Modem scholarship has established that there was a specifically periegetic form⟳ of historiography, stretching back at least to the third century b.c.; […]”

“This inquiry into Pausanias' generic affinities may seem to have⟳ come⟳ up with mostly negative results: the Periegesis is not a travel⟳ guide⟳; it is not a geography; it is not a work⟳ like⟳ that of Herakleides Kritikos; it is not a full-blown imitation of Herodotean historiography, nor of Arrianic epistolography; it is not a periplous, and it is not, finally, a periegesis.”

“Few readers approach⟳ Pausanias' Periegesis from the beginning, sailing round Cape Sounion and arriving in Athens, before following his convoluted routes through Greece. Not many, in fact, have⟳ read⟳ the whole work⟳, but almost anyone with an interest⟳ in ancient Greece will have⟳ 'come⟳ across' Pausanias – usually by looking up particular passages: the Periegesis contains useful material for many purposes.”

CEFR level