The futility of revolt: Pausanias on local myths of freedom and rebellion

ἘV ἅpαn dὲ ἀsqeneίαV tόte mάlistα kαtῆlqen ἡ ἙllάV, lumαnqeῖsα kαtὰ mέrh kαὶ diαporqhqeῖsα ἐx ἀrcῆV ὑpὸ toῦ dαίmonoV.1

On this depressing note, the 2nd century author Pausanias ends his detailed account of the fall of the Achaean League in book 7 of his Description of Greece. According to him, the subjection of Greece to Roman power was not only the beginning of “universal and utter prostration” (ἀsqeneίαV tόte mἀlistα kαtῆlqen), but followed on a period in which it had already gone through much suffering. He emphasizes in his conclusion the continuity of Roman supremacy down to his own age, by remarking that “down to my day a Roman governor has been sent to the country”,2 noting how the emperor Nero had declared Greece to be free, but was quickly overturned by his successor Vespasian, who used the occurrence of stάsiV among the Greeks to argue that “the Greeks had forgotten how to be free” (ἀpomhmαqhkenαi jήsαV tὴn ἐleuqerίαn tὸ Ἑllhnikόn).3