Dec 26 2008
Heinrich Schliemann - the excavator of Troy
The names Troy and Heinrich Schliemann are inevitably connected, because without his determination and considerable fiancial support, the famous site of Homer’s tales might still be buried. As interesting as Troy itself is - equally fascinating is the life of Heinrich Schliemann.
He was born in 1822 in Germany. He claims that his interest in Homer’s Ilias and Odyssee was instigated by his father, who gave the boy the book at an early age and Schliemann was hooked. Because his father was not very wealthy, Heinrich could not get the university education he desired, but he was nonetheless an avid reader and autodidact. His youth was an adventurous one. He started out as an aprentice in a grocery store, then moved to Hamburg and became a cabin boy on a steamer. During the first journey, the steamer ran into ground in a heavy storm. Schliemann survived and was washed ashore in the Netherlands. He stayed in Amsterdam and became a bookkeeper in the import/export firm of Schroeder & Co. Young Heinrich, who all the while continued with his private studies of Greek history, showed a lot of talent as a business man and was sent as the firm’s agent to St. Petersburg.
Apart from history, languages were Schliemann’s passion and he succeeded to learn 13 fluently. His language skills helped enormously with the import/export business and he soon prospered.
In 1851, his brother, who had made a fortune as a gold prospector in California died and Heinrich moved to Sacramento, where he established a bank. He only remained for a year during which he made his own fortune selling the gold dust brought to him my the miners.
For reasons unknown, he sold his business and returned to Russia where he made yet another fortune in the indigo market. He also had his hands in the trades connected with the Crimean War and became so wealthy, that at age 41, he decided to retire.
But retirement to Schliemann meant, that his real life was only starting. His wealth allowed him to travel and to seek adventures. He lived with Bedouins and finally turned his attention to Turkey and the realisation of his life’s dream: to discover Troy. At the time, it was dubious if the site was merely ficticous or really existed and archaeology was not a recognised science yet.
But Schliemann had money, time, knowledge and determination and when Culvert started the dig in Turkey, Schliemann took over. His methods of digging much too hurriedly and unstystematically have been critizised since, but he achieved the goal of his life time and published widely. He did have his run ins with Turkey though, because he removed gold treasures discovered in Troy from the country.
Not only was Schleimann successful in Troy but also in Mycenae and Tiryns. He died in 1890 of an ear infection gone bad in Naples.
