Reviews

056

Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890) is the patron saint of classical archaeologists—discoverer of Troy,^a excavator of Mycenae, father of field excavation. Some 20 biographies and several thousand articles have been written about him and his discoveries. Since 1983 at least seven international symposia have been devoted to Schliemann. In his boyhood town of Ankershagen, in northern Germany, sits the Schliemann Museum, the seat of the international Schliemann society, which publishes a journal honoring the man and his work.

It all seems fitting: Schliemann was the poor country boy who became a millionaire, the ignorant village pastor’s son who proved the greatest professors wrong, and the discoverer of a golden treasure. Like Odysseus, he traveled throughout the world—China, Japan, Russia, the Near East, the United States—and returned home to his faithful Penelope (Sophia Schliemann). Sigmund Freud said that he greatly envied the Schliemann who fulfilled his childhood dream. Freud even thought of himself as “the Schliemann of the mind.”

On Schliemann’s 150th birthday, an evil American (myself) burst the bubble. Some 80 percent of the documents upon which Schliemann biographies are based were written by Schliemann himself; and when I tested what Schliemann wrote about himself against external sources and testimonials, many matters seemed suspicious and doubtful. Schliemann never wrote a dissertation in ancient Greek. He never met with two U.S. presidents or the governor of Panama. He fabricated his childhood “dream of Troy,” so envied by Freud, after he had already decided to excavate the ancient Homeric city.

Wolfgang Schindler and David A. Traill then extended my skepticism to the realm of archaeology. Schliemann never found a portrait of Cleopatra in an excavation in central Alexandria; rather, he bought it, and the statue isn’t Cleopatra anyway. The “Treasure of Priam” is a composite of minor finds presented as a dramatic whole to close the excavations with a bang, and some of the artifacts may even have been purchased and planted.^b Given this new evidence, I now wonder whether the Mask of Agamemnon is ancient, or if it was fashioned by a modern goldsmith, planted and “found” again.

So the idol is tarnished. But at least Schliemann discovered Troy. Or did he?

Susan Heuck Allen has carried these researches further. Her book is, in an epithet I rarely use, 058epochmaking: That is, the subject will never be treated the same again. Allen is a rarissima avis. She has swum the Hellespont.^c Her dissertation concerns pottery from Troy. Now she proves herself a first-rate historian of archaeology. She preserves a distance that practitioners of the trade usually lack; and she knows that the hidden history of archaeology lies in archives, not trenches or published finds. Finding the Walls of Troy is a model of scrupulous documentation. No assertion goes unsupported by precise evidence. No theory here, just facts.

What is her thesis? Schliemann never discovered Troy. An Englishman did. His name was Frank Calvert (1828–1908).

Calvert was a modest, generous, hard-working man, who lived in the shadow of his elder brother, Frederick, an important figure in the English diplomatic service in Turkey. Frank Calvert lived on the family estate near Hisarlik, in northwestern Turkey, and learned archaeological methods through trial and error, spiced by occasional visits from scholars—among them, Sir Charles Newton of the British Museum, who taught Calvert the importance of coins, pottery and methodical excavation techniques. Calvert published a series of brief reports on his surveys and excavations in the Troad (the region surrounding Troy). By 1860 he thought Hisarlik was the site of Homer’s Troy, rather than the then-favored Pinarbasi, about 5 miles to the south. He excavated at Hisarlik from 1863 to 1865.

Then, because of the indiscretions of his brother, Frederick, the family went bankrupt in spring 1868. Later that year, on August 15, 1868, Calvert met Schliemann. Calvert showed Schliemann the site and permitted him to excavate on the family property.

Schliemann had impressive credentials: international connections, enormous energy and great wealth. But he was also extremely impatient and colossally ignorant about archaeology. From Calvert, Schliemann learned about literary and epigraphical sources, excavation techniques, stratigraphy and dating finds. In the end, however, rather than gratefully acknowledging his mentor’s generosity, Schliemann took credit for all that Calvert had done. For Calvert, this story had a sad ending: This deserving man was denied his reward because of his decency.

Susan Heuck Allen rectifies this injustice. Her book brilliantly and permanently restores Calvert, the trusting victim, to the place he deserves. Calvert, not Schliemann, discovered Troy.

There is another way to read the book. Schliemann is certainly the most brilliant con man in archaeological history. He long ago became the founding father of field archaeology. I have met archaeologists who chose their profession because they read, as children, C.W. Ceram’s popular life of Schliemann. His autobiography has been frequently reprinted in many languages. For more than 100 years, he has successfully duped distinguished professors at top universities. No Priam’s Treasure, no excavation of the Cleopatra head, no childhood dream of Troy, no discovery of Troy—yet all this was established dogma!

Schliemann was utterly unscrupulous, a war profiteer and crooked businessman. Yet this provincial country boy became a millionaire, befriended by emperors, queens and prime ministers. He was made an honorary citizen of Berlin and a member of elite academies. He rests now in a beautiful mausoleum, perched on a hill in Athens and visited by thousands of adoring tourists. Many archaeologists still become enraged when anyone dares to criticize their man. I have worked on Schliemann for almost 30 years. Allen makes me admire him even more. Freud envied him. So do I. What an enviable trickster! I urge you to read this inspiring book and learn how to be a winner.