Subject
Greece -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800 Books
Best books
active approximately 150-175 Pausanias
Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume II.
"Pausanias' Description of Greece, Volume II" by Pausanias is an ancient travel guide written in the 2nd century AD. This surviving work chronicles the author's journey through mainland Greece, exploring religious sites, sacred architecture, and cultural landmarks. Pausanias documents temples, shrines, and artistic treasures while weaving together mythology, local legends, and historical accounts. His detailed observations of ancient Greek civilization—from famous sanctuaries at Olympia and Delphi to obscure relics and natural landscapes—provide invaluable insights into a world long vanished, making it an essential source for understanding ancient Greek culture.
active approximately 150-175 Pausanias
Pausanias' description of Greece, Volume I.
"Pausanias' Description of Greece, Volume I" by Pausanias is a travel account written in the second century AD. The sole surviving work of this ancient geographer, it chronicles journeys through mainland Greece across ten books. Pausanias documents religious sites, temples, sacred relics, and architectural monuments while weaving together mythology, history, and local legends. His observations of cultural geography provide invaluable insights into ancient Greek beliefs and heritage, capturing a world of gods, heroes, and mysterious sacred objects that modern archaeology has increasingly validated.
John Ray
Mr. Ray's travels, Vol. 2 : $b A collection of curious travels and voyages. Containing Dr Leonhart Rauwolf's journey into the eastern countries, viz. Syria, Palestine, or the Holy Land, Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, Chaldea, &c., translated from the Original High Dutch, by Nicholas Staphorst. And also, travels into Greece, Asia minor, Egypt, Arabia felix, Petræa, Ethiopia, the Red Sea, &c. Collected from the observations of Mons. Belon, Prosper Alpinus, Dr. Huntington, Mr. Vernon, Sir George Wheeler, Dr. Smith, Mr. Greaves, and others. To which are added three catalogues of such trees, shrubs, and herbs, as grow in the Levant. By the Rev. John Ray, F.R.S.
"Mr. Ray's travels, Vol. 2 : A collection of curious travels and voyages.…." by John Ray is a collection of travel narratives and natural history observations written in the mid-18th century. It gathers translated journeys and reports focused on the Levant and wider Ottoman world—Greece, Asia Minor, Egypt, Arabia, and Ethiopia—emphasizing geography, customs, trade, and plants. Readers will find firsthand itineraries enriched with ethnographic detail and long botanical lists compiled from multiple travelers. The opening of this volume lays out an extensive table of contents and then begins Dr. Leonhart Rauwolf’s travelogue into the Eastern Mediterranean. He states his botanical aims, travels overland from Augsburg to Marseilles noting towns and plants, and then undertakes a stormy, wind-driven passage past Sardinia, Sicily, Crete, and Cyprus, including a brief audience with an Ottoman officer at Salamis, before reaching Tripoli. On arrival he describes a scuffle at the gate and then sketches Tripoli’s setting, irrigated gardens and fruits, flat-roofed houses, narrow paved streets, caravanserais, and especially the public baths and their routines (washing, depilation, and massage). He surveys trade and governance: European consuls and fondiques, bustling bazaars, silk and raisin commerce, soap and potash making from local halophytic plants, coinage, and the roles of Ottoman officials and courts, with examples of both punishments and corruption alongside avenues of appeal. Rauwolf also notes everyday manners—dress, music and games, washing habits, women’s seclusion and cemetery visits, and funeral customs. The section closes by starting a catalog of local flora around Tripoli, from shore plants to ricinus, squills, and sugar-canes.
active approximately 150-175 Pausanias
[Pausaniou Ellados periegesis] = Pausaniae Descriptio Græciæ
"Pausaniae Descriptio Græciæ" by Pausanias is a geo-historiographical treatise written in the second century AD. Divided into ten books, this monumental work guides readers through ancient Greece's regions, documenting cities, monuments, local customs, and myths. Pausanias draws from classical historians like Herodotus and Thucydides, creating an invaluable record of sites and events. Though imprecise at times, his descriptions provide irreplaceable historical evidence, especially for locations otherwise unknown to us.
J.-J. (Jean-Jacques) Barthélemy
Compendio del viaje del joven Anacarsis a la Grecia (1 de 2)
"Compendio del viaje del joven Anacarsis a la Grecia (1 de 2)" by J.-J. Barthélemy is a fictional travel narrative published in 1788. This pioneering historical novel follows a young Scythian named Anacharsis as he journeys through fourth-century Greece, observing customs, attending festivals, and conversing with great minds like Plato, Aristotle, and Demosthenes. Blending fiction with scholarly research, the work captures daily life, religion, philosophy, and art of ancient Athens. Its encyclopedic approach made it immensely popular across Europe, sparking widespread fascination with Greek antiquity.
J.-J. (Jean-Jacques) Barthélemy
Compendio del viaje del joven Anacarsis a la Grecia (2 de 2)
"Compendio del viaje del joven Anacarsis a la Grecia (2 de 2)" by J.-J. Barthélemy is a fictional work published in 1788. This imaginative travel journal follows a young Scythian named Anacharsis as he journeys through Greece in the 4th century BCE. He tours Greek republics, colonies, and islands, observing customs, attending festivals, and conversing with great philosophers like Plato, Aristotle, and Demosthenes. Blending fiction with extensive classical scholarship, this early historical novel became an encyclopedia of ancient Greek culture that captivated readers across Europe.
Recently surfaced classics