Pausanias, known as "the Periegete" or Guide, was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century CE during the Roman Empire. His activity is placed within the reigns of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. He was likely a native of Lydia, possibly from Magnesia ad Sipylum. He composed detailed, firsthand descriptions of Greece based on his extensive travels, writing in the contemporary Koine Greek.

His sole surviving work is the Description of Greece, a ten-book prose guide systematically detailing the regions, cities, sanctuaries, and monuments of mainland Greece and the Peloponnese.

The Description of Greece is an archaeological and cultural resource of paramount importance. It provides the most comprehensive extant eyewitness account of Greek art, architecture, topography, and local religious practices in the 2nd century CE. His meticulous records have proven invaluable for modern archaeology and preserve a wealth of mythological and historical lore otherwise lost.