Periēgēsis (Guided Description of Places)
The literary 'guided tour' that walks the reader along a route, describing each site's monuments, sanctuaries, and local legends in the order they are reached.
A periēgēsis is a 'leading-around': the author conducts the reader along an itinerary, pausing at each place to describe its temples, artworks, and tombs, along with the myths and history attached to them. The form goes back to Hecataeus of Miletus, whose lost Periēgēsis (or Periodos gēs, c. 500 BCE) traced a circuit of the known world. Its finest surviving example is Pausanias' Description of Greece (2nd century CE), which weaves topography together with religious and antiquarian lore.
How it traveled
- Periplus Scylacis— · -338explains
- Geographiae ChrestomathiaAmaseia · 24explains
- Paraphrases in Dioynsium Periegetam—explains
- Naturalis HistoriaRomeexplains
- Anonymi (Arriani, ut fertur) periplus maris Erythraei—explains
- Anonymi (Arriani, ut fertur) periplus ponti Euxini—explains
- Geographiae expositio compendiaria—explains
- Scholia in Dionysii Byzantii per Bosporum navigationem (scholia vetera)—explains
- Periplus Ponti EuxiniNicomediaexplains
- De Rubro Mari—explains
- Stadiasmus Magni Maris—explains
- Descriptio Graeciae—explains
- Life of Apollonius of TyanaAthensexplains
- Scholia in Dionysii Periegetae orbis descriptionem (scholia vetera)—explains
- De BellisConstantinople (Istanbul)explains
- Ad Nicomedem regem, vv. 1-980—explains
- Orationes 15Smyrnaexplains
- Periplus Hannonis [attributed]—explains
- IndicaNicomediaexplains
- Suidae lexicon—explains
- Descriptio Graeciae—explains
- ImaginesAthensexplains
Key passages(20)
Descriptio Graeciae · Dionysius, Calliphontis
Descriptio Graeciae · Dionysius, Calliphontis
Paraphrases in Dioynsium Periegetam · Paraphrases in Dioynsium Periegetam
Paraphrases in Dioynsium Periegetam · Paraphrases in Dioynsium Periegetam
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Naturalis Historia · Pliny, the Elder
Anonymi (Arriani, ut fertur) periplus ponti Euxini · Pseudo-Arrianus
Ad Nicomedem regem, vv. 1-980 · Pseudo-Scymnus
Ad Nicomedem regem, vv. 1-980 · Pseudo-Scymnus
Scholia in Dionysii Byzantii per Bosporum navigationem (scholia vetera) · Scholia in Dionysium Periegetam