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Schliemann's ‘discovery’ of ‘Priam's Treasure’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

David A. Traill
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Extract

In 1972 Wm. M. Calder III pointed out that Schliemann's autobiographical writings are riddled with false claims and fictitious episodes (Calder, 1972). Subsequent research has confirmed and extended his findings. The purpose of this article is to show that Schliemann's mendacity was not confined to details of his personal life. The focus of our inquiry will be the famous incident towards the end of his 1873 excavations at Troy-the discovery of what he called 'Priam's Treasure'.

Schliemann described this momentous occasion in about a dozen different places. We shall restrict ourselves to four of the earliest versions. It will be convenient to refer to these early accounts as A, B, C, and D. A and B are two versions of Schliemann's 31 May report to his publishers, Brockhaus of Leipzig.

Type
Articles
Information
Antiquity , Volume 57 , Issue 221 , November 1983 , pp. 181 - 186
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1983

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Footnotes

Mr Traill is an exiled Scot, who teaches classics at the University of California at Davis. His research interests are primarily in Latin poetry, both classical and medieval. His attempts to learn more about Schliemann's connexions with Sacramento led to the discovery that Schliemann's claim to have witnessed the 1851 fire of San Francisco was an elaborate lie. He has also shown that Schliemann got his American citizenship and divorce by perjury and forged letters (1982). Here he examines one of the most famous moments in the history of archaeology–Schliemann's discovery of ‘Priam's Treasure’. Some of the ideas presented here were used in the BBC Chronicle programme, ‘The man behind the mask’, broadcast in January 1982. A version of this paper was given at the International Schliemann Symposium held at the University of Colorado, Boulder, 25–6 February 1983. A fuller version is due to appear in Journal of Hellenic Studies, 104 (1984).

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