I've always been a fan of Schliemann's, although it's been quite popular to bash the man during the past several years. I may have to rethink things after seeing his memory (may the Saints be preserved) hyped in the Investor's Business Daily :) Good Goddess, what is the world coming to? The lovely lady to the right is Sophia Schliemann, wearing some of the fabulous gold jewelry that Schliemann recovered from "Priam's Treasure."
Investors.com
Leaders & Success
A Rich Man's Dig For Treasure
BY BRIAN DEAGON
INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 12/6/2007
In 1863, Heinrich Schliemann retired a millionaire at age 41. He had built his stash by dealing in gold and indigo. Now he wanted to pursue his personal interests.
At first he tried writing. He published a book of his global travels, but that wasn't enough to satisfy his ambition to achieve fame. So he set out to be an archaeologist.
Archaeologists at the time considered Schliemann's excavation methods sloppy. But he discovered large treasures in Turkey and Greece. Most significant, Schliemann is credited with discovering the location of an ancient city most assumed was a myth — the Troy described in Homer's "Iliad."
Schliemann started as a novice but grew into an expert. Unlike fellow archaeologists, he brought to his dig site a team: photographers, surveyors, experts on history and plant remains. They contributed to his title: father of scientific archaeology.
Questioning His Trail
Schliemann was sometimes wrong on identifying treasures, though the locations he excavated were of historical significance.
To this day, critics debate his legacy and practices. One critical book published in 1995, "Schliemann of Troy: Treasures and Deceit," by David Traill, maintains Schliemann was a liar and a con man, though also brilliant, gregarious and enormously talented. Others maintain that despite Schliemann's faults and propensity to exaggerate, his impact on archaeology and the discovery of crucial treasures secure his place as a significant archaeologist.
Born in 1822 in Germany, the son of a Protestant pastor, Schliemann claimed in his autobiography that his father seeded his interest in exploration. Instead of reading typical fairy tales, Schliemann was told about "The Iliad" — the love between Helen, wife of the king of Sparta, and Paris, son of Priam of Troy, and how their elopement caused a war between the Greeks and Trojans. Schliemann later resolved to prove that Troy was real.
But that was a long way off.
At age 14 he started working at a local grocery, reading voraciously whenever possible. His employment ended five years later due to a back injury. He then took a job as a cabin boy on a ship bound for Venezuela, but it sank in a gale near Holland, where the survivors washed up on the shore. Landing in Amsterdam, he took a job as an office attendant.
Schliemann continued his academic passion. He tapped his talent for learning languages, becoming fluent in Dutch, English, Spanish, Italian, French, Russian, Arabic, and ancient and modern Greek.
A pivotal event was the 1850 death of his brother, a wealthy speculator in the California gold fields.
Seeking his brother's inheritance, Schliemann arrived in California a year later and started a bank in Sacramento. He made over $1 million buying and reselling gold dust in half a year. He left for Russian shortly thereafter due to what he said was a severe fever. Others claim he was involved in underhanded business practices amid a Wild West where lynching was common.
Schliemann displayed his business savvy in Russia, where he cornered the market for the mineral indigo.
During the Crimean War in 1854, Schliemann expanded his fortune even more doing work as a military contractor. He cornered the market in brimstone, lead and saltpeter — used in gunpowder — all of which he sold to the Russian government.
His extraordinary wealth set the stage for Schliemann to travel the world. This included China, Japan, India, Egypt, Mexico, France and Greece, all by the age of 45.
The next year he launched his dream to be an archaeologist and find Troy in Turkey or Greece.
Those who believed it existed focused on three locations. The most popular choice was Bunarbashi by the Aegean Sea.
Schliemann looked it over but was not convinced, as the Homeric tales that described the geography of Troy didn't seem to match the area. "The Iliad" said Mount Ida was visible from the walls of Troy, but the mountain could not be seen from Bunarbashi. Other descriptions also failed to match up.
Before continuing his exploration, Schliemann went to Paris for two years to study, write a book on Troy and receive a doctorate.
Returning to the Mediterranean area, Schliemann met with British archaeologist Frank Calvert, who believed the place to look for Troy was Hisarlik in present-day Turkey. The geography was a match.
Calvert had long focused on Hisarlik as the right site, but he couldn't persuade the British government to support his excavations. So he turned to Schliemann, who had the money and drive to begin the work.
When Schliemann announced he was intent on discovering Troy, some archaeologists reacted with indifference and sarcasm.
Schliemann shrugged them off. The Hisarlik excavation started in 1871 with the help of 70 local workers. In the first dig, all Schliemann found was a relief and an ancient wall. Coming back the next summer, this time with 160 workers, Schliemann's crew dug deeper. This time the team determined that multiple cities had been built and rebuilt at the site, one above the other.
Targeting The Jackpot
Schliemann aimed to find what he called Priam's Treasure. According to Homer, Priam ruled Troy during the Trojan War. The king must have hidden his treasure somewhere in the city, Schliemann thought.
With shafts dug deep into the hillside, Schliemann caught site of a glint of copper. Upon further excavation, he found cups, vases, necklaces, a copper shield and gold earrings. He claimed it was Priam's Treasure and that Troy had been found, a view accepted by many.
Problems with the Turkish government erupted when officials discovered that Schliemann had pilfered many precious artifacts. Forced to leave Turkey, he headed for Greece to evacuate Mycenae.
There he uncovered gold, silver and bronze artifacts and laid bare considerable fortifications. He discovered remnants of the Mycenaean civilization, shedding much light on the prehistoric period of Greece.
He also excavated Tiryns, where he unearthed an important Bronze Age palace, in 1876.
After 20 years of work, from 1870 to 1890, Schliemann traveled to Athens for an operation on his chronically infected ears. The problem led to Schliemann's death that year.
After his death, archaeologists continued to study Schliemann's work and dig at the same sites. They discovered that the actual city of Homer's Troy was several layers deeper than Schliemann claimed, but that he was in the right spot.
As a testament to observers who described Schliemann as ferociously ambitious and gregarious, he had this inscribed at his mausoleum:
"For the Hero Schliemann."
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