Abstract
The chapter takes as a point of departure Pausanias's Description of Greece approached as a cultural memory log. Among a myriad of other things, he presents a plethora of locations, myths, stories, monument descriptions, etc. attached to the ancient Greek goddess Hera under her various epithets. In the process, he exemplifies the importance of space, place, and materiality in our structuring of memory—not least shared, cultural memory.
Pausanias reminds the reader of ancient deities inhabiting the landscapes since long before the Romans and “revisits” them in their places. He discusses monuments and people's reported actions and their possible motifs; he weighs evidence and conflicting views, at times in critical, almost “modern” ways, still leaving it to the readers to judge for themselves. The obvious case area is North-Eastern Peloponnese, in Pausanias simply called “Argeia,” which was also the region's main, and very ancient, cult epithet of Hera.