Schliemann of Troy: Treasure and Deceit

by David A. Traill

Book Overview

A leading historian argues that Heinrich Schliemann, the famed discoverer of ancient Troy--who popularized the belief that the Homeric legends were factual--is one of the greatest frauds of modern... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312140428
• ISBN13: 9780312140427
• Release Date: January 1996
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 365 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Pointing out discrepancies

Many consider this book to be nothing more than a hatchet job on the famed excavator of Troy, Heinrich Schliemann. But author David Traill seems mainly interested in pointing out discrepancies and untruths that have surfaced in the life and work of the man. For example, almost every account of Schliemann's life and work makes mention of the "dream" Schliemann had as a child depicting him finding and excavating the Homeric city, but Traill believes that dream was an invention and finds no mention of it anywhere until after Troy was discovered and excavation begun. Is that proof enough of its falsity? Traill believes so. Traill gives other examples of Schliemann falsifying work, changing reports, or inventing scenarios. Schliemann claimed to have witnessed the 1851 fire in San Francisco, but Traill cites information that separates Schliemann from the scene by a month. This has little to do with archaeology, but Traill believes it establishes a pattern of behavior that casts shadows on the major work in the field that Schliemann did accomplish. Traill does not trash the man completely; he's impressed by his learning, perseverance, and even his accomplishments at Troy, Mycenae, and elsewhere. He just wants his readers to be leery of some of Schliemann's claims in his own writings. Seems fair enough to me. The book is also informative and well written - an enjoyable read.

The Case Against Schliemann

David Traill investigates the Schliemann biographies (largely based unquestioningly upon Schliemann's own writings and statements) and finds that most of Schliemann's story is fiction. In the process, Traill reveals Schliemann to be an enigmatic figure as bizarre as any fictional character. Phenomenally ambitious and extremely intelligent, he was also completely unscrupulous when it came to getting what he wanted. In his pursuit of fame, Schliemann reinvented himself a number of times, from county to country (he spoke several foreign languages with complete fluency and perfect pronunciation), business to business, marriage to marriage. Through his business dealings he became wealthy enough to devote all his time to his archeological interests. Archeology was a young science then and Schliemann was not a professional. The way Traill paints Schliemann, we are fortunate that the bulldozer had not been invented then. In his zeal to excavate Homer's Troy, he virtually demolished it. Traill builds a convincing case that Schliemann "salted" his diggings with fake artifacts both at Troy and Mycenae. The "Mask of Agamemnon" is probably a fake.The story of the marriage to the final Mrs. Schliemann is a fascinating one in itself. He virtually bought her from her parents in an arranged marriage when he was over 40 years of age. He molded her into the wife he wanted, forcing her to study night and day to become as fluent in languages as he was, converting a naïve girl into his helpmate and intellectual companion as well as his fellow archeologist.Traill probably goes overboard in his zeal to discredit Schliemann. He wants to make his case so strongly that he goes for overkill. There were times when I wanted to say to the author, "Yes, he was an S.O.B., but you said that already! Now get on with it!" As a result this book was not an easy reading experience for me. However, I feel that this book is essential reading for anyone who has an interest in archeology. It certainly reveals the importance of questioning evidence and investigating the sources. There are more balanced accounts of Schliemann available, but Traille's book gives a good context to place them in.

A Student's View

This biography proposes an alternate characterization for one of history's most prominent scholars. Heinrich Schliemann, the father of modern archaeology, excavated the ancient lost city of Troy, unearthed Priam's Treasure and at Mycenae, the legendary mask of Agamemnon. He definitely has vecome a legend of sorts. However, his recent leap into the public eye deals with his demythification. Apparently, though intelligent, he was also a cheat, a fraud, reckless, had a disregard for laws, was manipulative, a social climber and pathological liar--no small accusation! David A. Trail convinces the reader with this new book that Schliemann was not exactly on the high end of the morality scale. In lieu of confining the book to, for the most part, "just the facts", rather than reading like a novel or story Schliemann of Troy appears as a really long essay, primarily comparing and contrasting the evidence condemning the archaeologist. This is not to say, however, that this book is boring. It is far from that actually. There is however, way too much information for anyone who does not have at least a slight inclination towards the study of classics or archaeology. It contains the unique features of an in-depth essay complete with a lengthy bibliography, index and source reference. It also contains illustrations of maps, sketches of artifacts and photographs of important people places and things. I found that parts of the book, particularly the descriptions of the sites, were bogged down by too much detail and kind of lost me. Even though there were occaisional humourous anecdotes interspearsed throughout, and as amusing as it is to see an unfortunate getting his reputation torn to shreds, I don't think I would ever recommend this book as one for entertainment purposes. As a reference source I would definitely give this book 5 stars. It teaches the reader and represents years of extremely dedicated work by David A. Trail. It is comforting, in a way, to know that not everything is written based solely on entertainment value, but that there is some material out there that can enrich the mind and enlighten towards insightfulness. Honest biographies are always a welcome change from the typical fictitious ones.