Pausanias (geographer) in the context of "Elis (city)"

Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories concern the ancient Greek religion's view of the origin and nature of the world; the lives and activities of deities, heroes, and mythological creatures; and the origins and significance of the ancient Greeks' cult and ritual practices. Modern scholars study the myths to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece, and to better understand the nature of mythmaking itself.

The Greek myths were initially propagated in an oral-poetic tradition most likely by Minoan and Mycenaean singers starting in the 18th century BC; eventually the myths of the heroes of the Trojan War and its aftermath became part of the oral tradition of Homer's epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Two poems by Homer's near contemporary Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works and Days, contain accounts of the genesis of the world, the succession of divine rulers, the succession of human ages, the origin of human woes, and the origin of sacrificial practices. Myths are also preserved in the Homeric Hymns, in fragments of epic poems of the Epic Cycle, in lyric poems, in the works of the tragedians and comedians of the fifth century BC, in writings of scholars and poets of the Hellenistic Age, and in texts from the time of the Roman Empire by writers such as Plutarch and Pausanias.

The Athena Promachos (Ἀθηνᾶ Πρόμαχος, "Athena who fights in the front line") was a colossal bronze statue of Athena sculpted by Phidias, which stood between the Propylaea and the Parthenon on the Acropolis of Athens. Athena was the tutelary deity of Athens and the goddess of wisdom and warriors. Pheidias also sculpted two other figures of Athena on the Acropolis, the huge gold and ivory ("chryselephantine") cult image of Athena Parthenos in the Parthenon and the Lemnian Athena.

The designation Athena Promachos is not attested before a dedicatory inscription of the early fourth century CE; Pausanias (1.28.2) referred to it as "the great bronze Athena" on the Acropolis.

Pythia (/ˈpɪθiə/; Ancient Greek: Πυθία [pyːˈtʰíaː]) was the title of the high priestess of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in central Greece. She served as its oracle and was known as the Oracle of Delphi. Her title was sometimes historically glossed in English as the Pythoness.

The Pythia was established at the latest in the 8th century BC (though some estimates date the shrine to as early as 1400 BC), and was widely credited for her prophecies uttered under divine possession (enthusiasmos) by Apollo. The Pythian priestess emerged as pre-eminent by the end of the 7th century BC and continued to be consulted until the late 4th century AD. During this period, the Delphic Oracle was the most prestigious and authoritative oracle among the Greeks, and she was among the most powerful women of the classical world. The oracle is one of the best-documented religious institutions of the classical Greeks. Authors who mention the oracle include Aeschylus, Aristotle, Clement of Alexandria, Diodorus, Diogenes, Euripides, Herodotus, Julian, Justin, Livy, Lucan, Nepos, Ovid, Pausanias, Pindar, Plato, Plutarch, Sophocles, Strabo, Thucydides, and Xenophon.

Description of Greece (Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάδος Περιήγησις, romanized: Helládos Periḗgēsis) is the only surviving work by the ancient "geographer" or tourist Pausanias (c. 110 – c. 180).

Pausanias' Description of Greece comprises ten books, each of them dedicated to some part of mainland Greece. He is essentially describing his own travels, and large parts of Greece are not covered, including the islands. His tour begins in Attica (Ἀττικά) and continues with Athens, including its suburbs or demes. Then the work goes with Corinthia (Κορινθιακά), Laconia (Λακωνικά), Messenia (Μεσσηνιακά), Elis (Ἠλιακά), Achaea (Ἀχαϊκά), Arcadia (Ἀρκαδικά), Boeotia (Βοιωτικά), Phocis (Φωκικά), and Ozolian Locris (Λοκρῶν Ὀζόλων).

The Erechtheion (/ɪˈrɛkθiən/, latinized as Erechtheum /ɪˈrɛkθiəm, ˌɛrɪkˈθiːəm/; Ancient Greek: Ἐρέχθειον, Greek: Ερέχθειο) or Temple of Athena Polias is an ancient Greek Ionic temple, on the north side of the Acropolis, Athens, that was primarily dedicated to the goddess Athena.

The iconic Ionic building, which housed the statue of Athena Polias, has in modern scholarship been called the Erechtheion (the sanctuary of Erechtheus or Poseidon), in the belief that it encompassed two buildings mentioned by the Greek-Roman geographer Pausanias: the Temple of Athena Polias; and the Erechtheion.

The Lemnian Athena, or Athena Lemnia, was a classical Greek statue of the goddess Athena that stood on the Acropolis of Athens. According to the traveler Pausanias, who visited Athens in the 2nd century CE, the statue was created by Pheidias, a sculptor of the 5th century BCE, and dedicated by the inhabitants of the island of Lemnos. In addition to Pausanias, two other authors of the Roman period, Lucian and Aelius Aristides, mention the statue by name, and it may also be alluded to by Pliny the Elder and the Late Roman rhetorician Himerius. The ancient sources suggest that the statue was greatly admired: Pausanias calls it "the most worth seeing" (θέας μάλιστα ἄξιον) of all of Pheidias's works, and in Lucian's dialogue the answer to the question "Which of Pheidias's works do you praise the most?" is "What other than the goddess of Lemnos?"

Since the 1890s the name "Athena Lemnia" has been associated with a specific ancient statue type, which depicts Athena without a helmet and wearing an aegis diagonally across her breast. This type is known from several Roman copies or free imitations, of which the most important are:

Pagae or Pagai (/ˈpædʒiː/; Doric Greek: Παγαί), or Pegae or Pegai (Ancient Greek: Πηγαί) was a town of ancient Megaris, on the Alcyonian or Corinthian Gulf. According to some sources of greek mythology Pagae had been the home town of Tereus. It was the harbour of Megaris on the western coast, and was the most important place in the country next to the capital. According to Strabo it was situated on the narrowest part of the Megaric isthmus, the distance from Pagae to Nisaea being 120 stadia. When the Megarians joined Athens in 455 BCE, the Athenians garrisoned Pagae, and its harbour was of service to them in sending out an expedition against the northern coast of Peloponnesus. The Athenians retained possession of Pagae a short time after Megara revolted from them in 454 BCE; but, by the thirty years' truce made in the same year, they surrendered the place to the Megarians. At one period of the Peloponnesian War (424 BCE) we find Pagae held by the aristocratical exiles from Megara. Pagae continued to exist until a late period, and under the Roman emperors was a place of sufficient importance to coin its own money. Strabo calls it τὸ τῶν Μεγαρέων φρούριον. Pausanias visited in the 2nd century and saw there a chapel of the hero Aegialeus, who fell at Glisas in the second expedition of the Argives against Thebes, but who was buried at this place. He also saw near the road to Pagae, a rock covered with marks of arrows, which were supposed to have been made by a body of the Persian cavalry of Mardonius, who in the night had discharged their arrows at the rock under the impulse of Artemis, mistaking it for the enemy. In commemoration of this event, there was a brazen statue of Artemis Soteira at Pagae. From 193 BCE Pagae was a member of the Achaean League. Pagae is also mentioned in other ancient sources, including Ptolemy, Stephanus of Byzantium, Pomponius Mela, Pliny the Elder, Hierocles, and the Tabula Peutingeriana, where it is called Pache.

Its site is located near the modern Alepochori. Remains of the city walls can be seen today.

Milo or Milon of Croton (fl. 540 – 511 BC) was a famous ancient Greek athlete from Croton, which is today in the Magna Graecia region of southern Italy.

Milo was a six-time winner at the Olympics, once for boys' wrestling in 540 BC at the 60th Olympics and later five times for wrestling at the 62nd to 66th Olympics. He continued competing long after what would have been considered a normal Olympic athlete's prime, and would have been over 40 years of age by the 67th Olympiad. He also attended many of the Pythian Games. His historicity is attested by many classical authors, among them Aristotle, Pausanias, Cicero, Herodotus, Vitruvius, Epictetus, and the author of the Suda, but there are many legendary stories surrounding him.