This collection investigates how the Periegesis of Pausanias functions as a primary cultural artifact for understanding the socio-political and religious landscape of Greece under Roman rule. The editors, Susan E. Alcock, Jaś Elsner, and John F. Cherry, assemble a multidisciplinary team of scholars to analyze the text not merely as a travelogue, but as a complex construction of memory and identity. By situating Pausanias within the second-century AD context, the contributors argue that his descriptions reflect a deliberate negotiation between a fading Hellenic past and the encroaching Roman present. The volume utilizes archaeological data and historical analysis to deconstruct the author's selective gaze and his impact on the preservation of Greek heritage.

Scholars and classicists frequently cite this volume as a foundational text for modern interpretations of Pausanias' work. Readers often note the academic density of the prose, which serves as a rigorous resource for those studying the cultural history of the Roman Mediterranean.