Heinrich Schliemann: Encyclopedia II - Heinrich Schliemann - Life as a classical archaeologist

Heinrich Schliemann - Life as a classical archaeologist

It is not certain by what path Schliemann really did arrive at either archaeology or Troy. He travelled a great deal, seeking out ways to link his name to famous cultural and historical icons. One of his most famous exploits was disguising himself as a Bedouin tribesman to gain access to forbidden areas of Mecca.

His first interest of a classical nature seems to have been the location of Troy. The city's very existence was then in dispute. Perhaps his attention was attracted by the first excavations at Santorini in 1862 by Ferdinand Fouqué. This possibility argues for an early retirement date, as he was already an international traveller by then. On the other hand, he may have been inspired by Frank Calvert, whom he met on his first visit to the Hisarlik site in 1868.

Somewhere in his many travels and adventures he lost Ekaterina. She was not interested in adventure and had remained in Russia. Schliemann claimed to have utilised the divorce laws of Indiana in 1850, after becoming a citizen, in order to divorce Ekaterina in absentia. This story established more of a distance between his first and second wives.

Based on the work of a British archaeologist, Frank Calvert, who had been excavating the site in Turkey for over 20 years, Schliemann decided that Hissarlik was the site of Troy. In 1868 - a busy year for Schliemann - he visited sites in the Greek world, published Ithaka, der Peloponnes und Troja in which he advocated for Hissarlik as the site of Troy, and submitted a dissertation in ancient Greek proposing the same thesis to the University of Rostock. He later claimed to have received a degree from Rostock by that submission.

In 1868, regardless of his previous interests and adventures, or the paths by which he arrived at that year, Schliemann's course was set. He would take over Calvert's excavations on the eastern half of the Hissarlik site, which was on Calvert's property. The Turkish government owned the western half. Calvert became Schliemann's collaborator and partner.

Schliemann brought dedication, enthusiasm, conviction and a not inconsiderable fortune to the work. Excavations cannot be made without funds, and are vain without publication of the results. Schliemann was able to provide both. Consequently, he dominated the field of Mycenaean archaeology in his lifetime and despite his many faults still commands the loyalty of classical archaeologists, perhaps deservedly so.

Schliemann knew he would need an "insider" collaborator versed in Greek culture of the times. As he had just divested himself of Ekaterina (1868), he was in a position to advertise for a wife, which he did, in the Athens newspaper. His friend, the Archbishop of Athens, suggested a relative of his, the seventeen-year-old Sophia Engastromenos. As she fit the qualifications, he married her almost at once (1869). They later had two children, Andromache and Agamemnon Schliemann; he reluctantly allowed them to be baptised, but only solemnized the ceremony by placing a copy of The Iliad on the children's heads and reciting a hundred hexameters.

By 1871 Schliemann was ready to go to work at Troy. Thinking that Homeric Troy must be in the lowest level, he dug hastily through the upper levels, reaching fortifications that he took to be his target. In 1872 he and Calvert fell out over this method. Schliemann flew into a fury when Calvert published an article stating that the Trojan War period was missing from the record, probably meaning that Schliemann had destroyed it.

As if to exonerate his views, a cache of gold suddenly appeared in 1873, which Heinrich dubbed "Priam's Treasure." According to him, he saw the gold glinting in the dirt and dismissed the workmen so that he and Sophie could personally excavate it and remove it in Sophie's shawl. Sophie wore one item, "the Jewels of Helen", for the public. He published his findings in Trojanische Altertümer, 1874.

This publicity stunt backfired when the Turkish government revoked his permission to dig and sued him for a share of the gold. Collaborating with Calvert, he had smuggled the treasure out of Turkey, which did not endear him to the Turkish authorities. This was not the first time Calvert and Schliemann had smuggled antiquities. This sort of behavior contributed toward bad relations with other nations, which extended into the future.

Meanwhile Heinrich published Troja und seine Ruinen in 1875 and excavated the Treasury of Minyas at Orchomenos. In 1876 he began excavating at Mycenae. Discovering the Shaft Graves with their skeletons and more regal gold, such as the Mask of Agamemnon, the irrepressible Heinrich cabled the king of Greece. The results were published in Mykena, 1878.

Although he had received permission to excavate in 1876, Schliemann did not reopen the dig at Troy until 1878-1879, after another excavation in Ithaca designed to locate the actual sites of the Odysseus story. This was his second excavation at Troy. Emile Burnouf and Rudolph Virchow joined him in 1879. There was a third excavation, 1882-1883, an excavation of Tiryns in 1884 with Wilhelm Dörpfeld, and a fourth at Troy, 1888-1890, with Dörpfeld, who taught him to stratigraphize. By then, much of the site had been lost to unscientific digging.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Life as a classical archaeologist", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki