Heinrich Schliemann, a German businessman who was born in 1822 in Mecklenburg, learned the Iliad by heart at a very young age. He was blessed with enough imagination to endeavor to discover Troy, and felt the excitement of the Trojan War deeply. While many people thought that Troy was only a legendary city which never existed, Schliemann believed every line of the Iliad. He accepted the Trojan War as an historical fact, and learned several languages in order to understand the Iliad better. To make the world believe the existence of Troy, with the guidance of Homer he started making plans to discover Troy.
After a lifetime of research, he found the most possible location near modern Hisarlik, Turkey. Schliemann had to go to great lengths just to get permission and secure the excavation with the local government. In May 1873, As he was standing near to a trench with his wife Sophie, he suddenly noticed some metal objects slightly sticking out from the ground. He was sure that he had found treasure. The question was, how to protect it from the local workmen, whom he did not trust. None of the workmen had noticed it yet so Schliemann turned to Sophie and said: “You must go at once and shout PAIDOS!” (Paidos was a Greek word, as well as Turkish, meaning rest period) “Now, at seven o’clock?” She asked. “Yes - now!” said Schliemann. “Tell them it is my birthday, and I have only just remembered it! Tell them they will get their wages today without working. See that they go to their villages and see that the overseer does not come here.” Sophia did as she was told. The workmen were pleased with this unexpected holiday and went to rest. After all the workmen had gone, Sophia returned to the trench where Schliemann was attempting to dig the treasure out with a pocket knife, in danger from collapsing stones and earth. After a while he turned again to Sophia and said: “Quick, bring me your big shawl” Sophia returned with a big shawl. The treasure was put into the shawl and together they carried it back to thier house. The treasure consisted of a copper shield, a copper cauldron, a silver vase and another of copper, a gold bottle, two gold cups, and a small electrum cup. There was a silver goblet, three great silver vases, seven double-edged copper daggers, six silver knife blades, and thirteen copper lance-heads, two gold diadems, fifty-six gold earrings, 8750 gold rings and buttons. The two diadems, one of them consisting of ninety chains, entirely covering the forehead, were exceptional. Nothing like this had ever been seen before and Schliemann’s dream of finding Homer’s city of Troy had come true!
Ancient Greek historians variously placed the Trojan War in the 12th, 13th, or 14th centuries BC: Eratosthenes to 1184 BC, Herodotus to 1250 BC, Duris of Samos to 1334 BC. Modern archaeologists associate Homeric Troy with archaeological Troy VII, an archaeological layer of Troy representing late Hittite Empire to Neo-Hittite times (ca. 1300 to 950 BC).
photo by Malcolm Bott
