Heinrich Schliemann

Heinrich Schliemann                                                          ΕΡΡΙΚΟΣ ΣΛΗΜΑΝ

Born 1822                                                                           Died 1890

Section 4, Number 581

Linguist, multi-millionaire, believer in the literal truth of Homer and Pausanias: by 46, Heinrich Schliemann had the money, the time, and the drive to find Troy and prove his theories true. He moved to Greece, married a Greek girl, entered Greek society, opened his opulent mansion to the Athenian elite, and became the most famous archaeologist of all time. If the price was sloppy procedure, and claims that did not ultimately hold true upon investigation, no matter. He made the pursuit of Greece’s prehistoric past the dream of many and the study of archaeology popular and exciting. Schliemann was a self-made man in every sense of the word. He first created his myth and then almost lived up to every bit of it.  Amazing.

His Life

Born in Germany, and shipwrecked in Holland at age 19 before he had a chance to go to America, Schliemann found work in Amsterdam and managed to get sent to Russia shortly thereafter (1846). There his natural talent for languages and business made him his first fortune not long after he had struck out on his own.

The young entrepreneur

1850 saw him in America to settle his dead brother’s estate. While there he became a citizen and made his second fortune dealing in gold rush gold, establishing a bank, and investing heavily in railroads. Back in Russia in 1852, he married a Russian woman and fathered three children all the while increasing his fortune by supplying arms to the Russian army during the Crimean war.

Economically secure, he travelled:  Egypt, Greece, the Near East, North Africa, India, Singapore, China, Japan, North and South America. By 1863, with wealth that, as he put it, surpassed even his own ambitions, he retired to pursue his fascination with Homer and Greek prehistory.

In 1868, Schliemann visited Ithaca and the east Peloponnese.  Ithaca proved disappointing, but he was able to confirm that Mycenae and Tiryns did indeed exist. 

Then he turned to Homer’s Troy. He first visited the area in 1868 and identified the hill at Hissarlik as the most likely spot for Troy. It was partially owned by Frank Calvert who had had the same idea but did not have the money to dig. Schliemann did and they entered into an agreement about excavating.

By 1869, Schliemann had decided to make Greece his home, took a trip to America in order to legally divorce his Russian wife and promptly married 17 year old Sophia Engastromenos, a girl chosen for him by the Archbishop of Mantinea. He was 30 years her senior. 

By 1870 he had commissioned an opulent house; it was completed in1880. Built by Ziller in the Italian Renaissance style, no expense was spared inside or out. He named it the Iliou Melathron, the ‘Trojan palace’, although he himself was wont to refer to it as the palazzo! (1)

the perfect setting for his wife, his salon, and his artifacts.

The 70s saw him in the Troad on numerous occasions. In 1873, he made the famous discovery of “Priam’s treasure” which he spirited out of Ottoman territory. It eventually made its way to Berlin (and on to Russia as the spoils of war after 1945) but not before the famous picture of his wife wearing the treasure was taken).

In 1876 during a dig at Mycenae, he discovered the Mask of Agamemnon and the world was once more electrified. Schliemann, as always, was digging at his own expense, but the site belonged to the Greek Archaeological Society and an archaeologist-overseer was provided. Perhaps Schliemann’s theft of Priam’s treasure (he had signed an agreement that the Ottomans should have half of all he found in Hissarlik) had made the Greek authorities a tad wary.  In any case, the fabulous Mycenaean gold and exquisite grave goods did stay in Greece and now adorn the National Archaeological Museum in Athens.

Schliemann  made several more trips to Troy, the last two seasons with the distinguished archaeologist  Wilhelm Dorpfeld whose more cautious excavating style did much to tame Schliemann’s haphazard ways.

 On his last excursion, he realized himself that Priam’s treasure came from a stratum over a thousand years earlier than Homer’s Troy and that he had, in fact, himself destroyed some of it in his hurry to dig deeper. Dorpfeld recounted later, perhaps tongue in cheek, that when he was told of this error, Schliemann simply retreated to his tent for four days… 

As for Mycenae, he had written to the king at the time:
 With great joy I announce to Your Majesty that I have discovered the tombs which the tradition proclaimed by Pausanias indicates to be the graves of Agamemnon, Cassandra, Eurymedon and their companions, all slain at a banquet by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthos.

The grave goods are, in reality, earlier than the period of the Trojan War by three hundred years or so. Did he ever doubt his claim of having seen the face of Agamemnon? I hope not; it is such a great story.

His Legacy
It has become fashionable to tut tut Schliemann’s accomplishments because he was sometimes a sloppy excavator, something of a showman  who could bend the truth for dramatic effect(2), and one who often rode roughshod over the feelings and accomplishments of those who had helped him. 

He wasn’t perfect, that is for sure. But what a life! And remember, when he first set out in the footsteps of Homer, convinced of the literal truth of the Iliad and Odyssey, he was the first to do so and in that pursuit, he changed the world’s perception of Greece. All the subsequent great names in Greek archaeology have been very much in his shadow.

His Mausoleum

Schliemann’s mausoleum in the First Cemetery is no mere grave marker. It is a personal testament in stone.

   Brigitte Mannsperger called it “ Heinrich’s ultimate act of staging – climaxing in an apotheosis”.

 Built to order by his friend, Ernst Ziller, Schliemann planned it all himself. He was too steeped in ancient lore to think that a great man’s resting place should be left to chance It’s resemblance to the Acropolis’ temple of Nike (Victory)  is not accidental.

Its position in the First Cemetery would have been even more remarkable in 1900, standing as it does, on what was then a small cliff overlooking the city.  

 

Above the burial chamber, a bust of Schliemann still gazes at the Philipappos Hill; back in 1891 it would have overlooked the ancient Acropolis as well.

He was buried at public expense; the king himself attended, and copies of the Iliad and Odyssey were placed on his coffin. On the architrave above  his bust, we can make out the letters ΣΧΛΙΕΜΑΝ Θ ΗΡΩ, Schliemann Hero. (3)

A narrow frieze winds around the base of the temple. It is out of position. That is because Schliemann wanted it to be seen. Three sides are what you might expect: battles from the Iliad, gods, a tripod and a sacrifice (south side), a procession (east side).  ends

west façade

south façade

east façade

The north façade is a little different. Here Schliemann in contemporary dress, pith helmet in place, wife by his side, and holding the Iliad in one hand, directs the digging as workmen uncover Homer’s Troy and haul off Priam’s vases.

Heady Stuff!

Why A Classical Temple?

Given Schliemann’s love of Greek prehistory, why not a tholos tomb or a cist grave with a suitable enclosure wall and monument? Either might have been a romantic choice, but a classical temple was very ‘nineteenth century’ and he was a man of his era who wanted to be admired by the men of his era.  A temple was grand, but not eccentric; it offered the necessary gravitas not to mention the surface area needed to carve out his legacy for future generations.

Map

Section 4, Number 581 Overlooking the Plaza

Footnotes

1.     (1) Sayings from Homer adorned the walls, drawings from Pompey were reproduced, the reception area could accommodate 600, and it had central heating, quite a novelty in those days. It is now the Numismatic Museum and can be visited. The Iliou Melathron deserves it own text. Wikipedia provides one.

2.     Schliemann could ‘gild the lily’ for effect. One famous example would be the story that his wife was with him when he found Priam’s treasure. This made her picture wearing the treasure all the more dramatic. Schliemann was not unaware of his wife’s potential for increasing his fame. Fame mattered to him and helped his cause. There are moments when reading his story that Donald Trump comes to mind. What counters that unfortunate comparison, are his real achievements!

3.     This is what we could make out. Try your luck.