Self-confident and brash, Heinrich Schliemann knew what he wanted in life – fortune and fame. Though his childhood was hard with few prospects for a prosperous life, he did indeed amass a fortune. He opened a bank in California during the Gold Rush, sold brimstone and lead to the Russians during the Crimean War, and in general found business opportunities wherever he went.
He loved money and would spend lavishly on certain items while penny pinching on others. However, when it came to his major passion, money flowed freely. Schliemann was obsessed with the epics of Homer, and he wanted more than anything to locate the city of Troy whose very existence many historians doubted. Following clues in The Iliad and The Odyssey, Schliemann began to dig in Turkey, first at the village of Bunarbashi and then on the plain of Hissarlik. With no archaeological training and a great deal of impetuosity, he began his work, and before long, he announced he had found what he was looking for. The mound at Hissarlik was the site of many ancient cities, layered one atop the other, and in the second layer from the bottom, Schliemann discovered what he named Priam’s treasure – a large cache of gold objects. Though Schliemann declared that the objects proved he had indeed located Troy, unfortunately they were unlike anything described by Homer. Later he received permission to excavate at Mycenae and then at Tiryns in Greece where he hoped to find similar artifacts to prove that the Hissarlik site was indeed Bronze Age Troy. At Mycenae he did find magnificent treasure, but unlike the gold from Hissarlik, the treasure at Mycenae matched Homer’s descriptions exactly. Schliemann had to rethink his conclusions about Priam’s treasure and re-examine the site at Hissarlik where in layer six eventually he did find artifacts like those described in Homer.
What is notable about Schlitz’s informative and delightful biography is that she clearly delineates what Schliemann actually did from what he says he did. She points out how throughout his life, Schliemann reworked his life story to match the imaginative and heroic tale he had devised for himself. Schlitz also shows how he was often guided by desire and impetuousness rather than fact and reason. She portrays Schliemann with all his foibles, eccentricities, and faults, but she also gives him credit for his accomplishments. She says, “Though he could not prove every detail of Homer’s story, he changed the way archaeologists look at stories: he forced them to see that stories could unlock the door to great discoveries.”
— Review by Barbara Scotto.
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