Heinrich Schliemann
1822-1890
German Archaeologist and Businessman
Heinrich Schliemann, a self-educated German businessman turned archaeologist, unearthed the ruins of ancient Troy and other lost cities mentioned in the Iliad of Homer. This accomplishment stunned many who had not believed the cities existed at all, let alone that Schliemann would find them.
Schliemann was born in the Mecklenburg region of northern Germany in 1822. The son of an impoverished minister, he had little formal education before being compelled to leave school and earn a living. Yet from his father he inherited an interest in ancient history. He studied the Iliad and other classical literature, and eventually taught himself 18 languages.
Working his way up through the ranks of a trading company in Amsterdam, Schliemann became its representative in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1846. He imported sugar, coffee, and indigo for dye, and became a wealthy man before he was 30. He spent a few years in California, establishing a successful bank in Sacramento. Schliemann appreciated the frontier spirit of the American West, and would later become a United States citizen.
In the 1860s Schliemann decided he had made enough money. He would be well off for the rest of his life, and was free to devote his time to the study of the ancient world. He visited the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia, and enrolled at the university of the Sorbonne in Paris at the age of 44.
When he visited Greece, Schliemann was captivated. He was steeped in the great works of Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey. He explored the Greek island of Ithaca using Homer as a guide. Yet just as with Shakespeare, the figure of Homer is riddled with mystery. There is no historical record of the poet, and although it now seems likely there was indeed a man named Homer, he may not have written everything ascribed to him. In any case, the Iliad, which describes the Trojan War, could hardly be taken as an accurate historical record. The war took place in the eleventh or twelfth century B.C. between Greece and Troy, a rival trading power on the Turkish coast. The Iliad was written in about 850 B.C., from stories passed along over three or four centuries. Schliemann believed in the existence of Troy and wanted to find it. Buthis reliance on Homer, coupled with his lack of formal credentials, discouraged the archaeologists of the day from taking him seriously.
Heinrich Schliemann. (Archive Photos. Reproduced by permission.)In 1869, Schliemann married a young Greek woman named Sophie, who was to be his companion in his archaeological endeavors. The next year, he began excavating at Hissarlik, a rocky Turkish plain that famous ancient soldiers like Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great had believed to be the site of Troy. The surroundings fit all the descriptions given in the Iliad. Soon, he had uncovered a palace and a temple. While this caused a sensation in newspapers around the world, Schliemann's work continued to be ignored by scientists and museums. Finally, the discovery of a vast hoard of gold and jewels made them take notice.
Schliemann did indeed discover Troy. However, he made a number of mistakes as well. In his time, the most scientifically advanced archaeologists were just beginning to realize the necessity of careful excavation in order to extract the most knowledge from a site. And Schliemann, who was certainly among the most enthusiastic of archaeologists, was not among the most scientifically advanced.
In particular, Schliemann did not fully understand how the layers of ruins at a site correspond to the time in which they were built, with the oldest layers farthest down. As a result, he incorrectly identified many of the artifacts he found, and actually destroyed much of the layer corresponding to the Trojan War era as he continued to dig.
After his excavations at Hissarlik, Schliemann returned to Greece, and uncovered more treasures at the site of Mycenae, another city mentioned in the Iliad. He died in 1890, on a visit to Naples to see the excavations at Pompeii.
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