Pausanias on Thermopylai
Abstract
This paper explores the complex relationship between author, history and historiography in Pausanias’ account of the battle at Thermopylai fought by the Greeks against the invading Celts/Gauls/Galatians in 279 BCE. His account has often been met with scepticism. The paper argues that there is a firm substrate of fact to Pausanias’ narrative. At the same time, the account is visibly coloured and shaped (as has long been recognized) by reminiscences of Herodotos’ account of the more famous battle of Thermopylai against the Persians in 480. Pausanias’ aim is to invite the reader to compare the two battles and argue that the battle of 279 is both a larger, more significant and more successful engagement, and simultaneously pay homage to and compete with his predecessor.
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