Five valuable finds of Heinrich Schlimann. great german scientists

Schliemann Genrih Shliman Career: Archaeologist
Birth: Germany" Neubukov, 6.1.1822 - 26.12
Heinrich Schliemann - German archaeologist who discovered Troy, one of the pioneers of modern science of antiquity. Born January 6, 1822. In 1858, Heinrich Schliemann traveled to Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Turkey and Greece. Schliemann devoted half of his life to trying to prove the historicity of the Homeric epic. Heinrich Schliemann set the goal of his life to prove that the events described in the poems of the great ancient Greek singer Homer are reality, not fantasy.

At the age of 14, he entered a grocer's shop in Fürstenberg as a boy, but after 5 years he was forced to leave the close location for health reasons. Schliemann was hired as a cabin boy on a ship heading from Hamburg to Venezuela, and yet, near the Dutch island of Texel, the ship was wrecked. So Schliemann found himself in Holland. In Amsterdam, he joined a trading company as a messenger and soon became an accountant. Schliemann became interested in studying foreign languages and achieved freehold Dutch, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.

After Schliemann learned the Russian language, in January 1846 he was sent to Russia, to St. Petersburg, where he lived for 11 years. There he started his own occupation, in which he achieved significant success (back in 1847, Schliemann signed up for a merchant guild), and married a Russian. In the 1850s, he visited the United States and became an American citizen. Retiring from business, Schliemann learned the old and current Greek language and in 18581859 traveled through Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Turkey and Greece; in 1864 he visited Tunisia, Egypt, India, Java, China and Japan, and in 1866 he settled in Paris. After 1868, Schliemann was engaged in the history of Greece, paying particular attention to the poems of Homer.

Having studied Corfu, Ithaca and Mycenae, Schliemann put forward a theory (based on the guess of the English archaeologist F. Calvert), according to which ancient Troy is located on the Hissarlik hill in Asia Minor. The substantiation of this theory in the work of Ithaka, Peloponnese and Troy (Ithaka, der Peloponnes und Troja, 1869) brought him a doctoral degree awarded by the University of Rostock.

In 1870 Schliemann divorced his wife, moved to Athens and married a young Greek woman. Over the next three years, he led the excavations of Troy, where he found a lot of gold jewelry. In 1874, his excavation reports were published in French under the title Trojan Antiquities (Antiquits Troyennes). Frustrated by the public reaction to the book and the friction that arose with the Turkish government due to the fact that gold was illegally exported from the country, Schliemann went to Mycenae, where in November 1876 he opened the tombs of the Mycenaean kings.

In 1878, Schliemann returned to Troy to continue excavations, with the help of archaeologist Emil Burnouf and the famous pathologist R. Virchow; the book Ilios, which was the result of these works, included Schliemann's autobiography and a foreword by Virchow. Unable to keep the collection at home in Athens, in 1880 Schliemann handed it over to the German government (now it is in Moscow).

During 1880 and 1881, Schliemann excavated another Homeric city of Orchomenus, and the service Orchomenus published by him (Orchomenos, 1881) contributed to a better understanding of ancient Greek architecture. In 1882 he resumed his exploration of Troy, this time in collaboration with W. Dörpfeld, a professional architect who had already taken part in the German excavations at Olympia. The preliminary publication of Troy (1884) was followed in 1885 by Ilios, ville et pays des Troyens (Ilios, ville et pays des Troyens), in which Dörpfeld's influence goes without saying. In 1884, Schliemann began excavations of the citadel of Tiryns, but Dörpfeld completed this work.

In 1886, Schliemann was still excavating at Orchomenus; he spent the winter of 1886-1887 on the Nile. Excavations were planned in Egypt and Crete (later carried out by A. Evans), work began on Cythera and Pylos. Despite the fierce attacks of French and German scientists, in 1890 Dörpfeld and Schliemann began new excavations of Troy, which allowed Dörpfeld to reveal the historical sequence of overlapping city buildings uncovered by Schliemann. It was established that the second layer from the bottom, containing a treasure of gold objects, is completely older than Homeric Troy, and the city of Homer is the one that Dörpfeld defined as the sixth from the mainland rock. However, Schliemann did not live to see the truth. He died in Naples on December 25, 1890.

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Presentation for the lesson German language on the topic "HEINRICH SCHLIMANN" grade 9 teacher Dontsova Olga Nikolaevna

HEINRICH SCHLIMANN 12/06/1822 - 12/26/1890

HEINRICH SCHLIMANN - German businessman and amateur archaeologist, became famous for his finds in Asia Minor, on the site of ancient (Homeric) Troy.

Heinrich Schliemann was born on January 6, 1822 in Neubukow not far from Baltic Sea. His father, Ernst Schliemann (1780-1870), was a local priest. Heinrich was the fifth child in a family of 9 children. . Heinrich Schliemann House Museum in Ankershagen

Ernst Schliemann, father of Heinrich Schliemann (1780-1870) . At the age of 8, his father gave Heinrich " world history for children" with pictures and images of ancient Troy. From that day on, his dream was the discovery of Homer's Troy.

Ankershagen. The house where Heinrich Schliemann was born and raised Schliemann's house in Athens

At the age of 14, due to the financial difficulties of the family, Heinrich left school and went to work in a grocery store. Five and a half years later, in 1841, he went on foot to Hamburg, where he was hired as a cabin boy on the schooner Dorothea. The ship was caught in a storm and sank off the coast of Holland. He managed to escape. Once in Amsterdam, he got a job as a messenger in a trading company.

During this period, Heinrich developed an interest in learning foreign languages. He came up with his own methodology: he did not translate, he read a lot aloud, wrote exercises, memorized them. Three years later he was fluent in English, Dutch, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese.

Schliemann left his job as a messenger and got a job in a trading company and began to learn Russian. In 1846, thanks to his knowledge of languages, he was sent to Russia as a trade representative. In St. Petersburg, 24-year-old Schliemann started his own trading business. In just a few years, he became a millionaire. Heinrich Schliemann. Bas-relief on a memorial plaque in St. Petersburg

In 1847 Schliemann accepted Russian citizenship and married the daughter of a Russian lawyer Ekaterina Lyzhina. Three children were born in the family. Heinrich did not develop a relationship with his wife. Schliemann went to America, opened a small bank in California, increasing his fortune.

In 1858, leaving commercial affairs, Schliemann traveled to Europe, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Turkey and Greece, studying Latin, ancient Greek and Arabic. In 1864 he visited North Africa, India. Coasts of China and Japan, America.

In 1866, Schliemann settled in Paris, attending lectures at the Sorbonne. He was especially interested in archeology and the history of Ancient Greece. His wife refused to live with him in Europe, as she did not approve of his hobbies in archeology. Due to a divorce from his wife, Schliemann closed his path to Russia. Heinrich Schliemann with his wife Ekaterina Lyzhina. 1868

In 1870 Schliemann moved to Greece. Here he married a 17-year-old Greek Sophia Engastromenos. Sophia Schliemann accompanied her husband everywhere: on excavations and on trips abroad. The Schliemanns had two children - daughter Andromache (1871-1962) and son Agamemnon (1878-1954). Portrait of Sophia Engastromenos in Helena's Dress from Priam's Hoard, 1881

Heinrich Schliemann and Sophia Engastromenos. Wedding. (1870)

For three years, Schliemann was engaged in excavations at the site of the ancient city of Hisarlik. In 1873 he found a gold treasure. It has been called the "hoard of Priam". The treasure consisted of 8833 items "Priam's Treasure" (aka the gold of Troy) Schliemann transferred in 1881 to the Imperial Museum of Berlin (now the Bodenmuseum).

Schliemann at the excavations in Mycenae Encouraged by the success, Schliemann began excavations at Mycenae, where in 1876 he found the tombs of the Mycenaean kings, as well as several kilograms of gold jewelry.

Schliemann died in Naples on December 26, 1890. On April 4, 1891, Schliemann's body was transported to Greece. The Homeric books Iliad and Odyssey were placed in the coffin of the archaeologist.

Scientists are still arguing whether the remains of the fortress found by Schliemann were Troy or Troy was found by other archaeologists. This "Trojan War" continues to the present. One thing is clear, Schliemann's search had a great influence on the development of archeology. Monument to Heinrich Schliemann in Schwerin. Mecklenburg.

Lions Gate excavated by Heinrich Schliemann.

Ruins of ancient Mycenae

Excavations of Troy

In the Odyssey, Homer tells of a wooden horse that the Greeks used to outsmart the Trojans. A copy of this horse stands among the ruins of Troy, discovered by Heinrich Schliemann.

Maybe this is what a Trojan horse looked like

Thank you for your attention!

On December 26, 1890, Heinrich Schliemann, a German amateur archaeologist who became famous for his finds in Asia Minor, died on the site of ancient Troy. Despite the fact that Schliemann was not a professional archaeologist, many envied his finds. These discoveries have made a significant contribution to the development of world history. We will talk about five valuable finds of Heinrich Schliemann.

Treasure of Priam

At the end of May 1873, Schliemann was excavating on Hissarlik (a hill in Turkey). His attention was attracted by a strangely shaped copper object exposed at the foot of a powerful wall. Declaring a break for breakfast to the workers, Schliemann carefully began to clear the find with a knife. In the niche he discovered, there was a complex of objects made of gold, silver and electrum: vessels, two amazing diadems, beads, bracelets, earrings and temporal rings (8830 objects in total).

It is believed that Schliemann discovered the remains of the treasures of Troy, described by Homer. In this regard, Schliemann called the treasure "the treasure of Priam" (the Trojan king). However, many scientists have said that this assertion is unfounded.

Skeian Gate

In the same year, 1873, Schliemann made other high-profile discoveries at the site of Troy. In particular, he unearthed the Skean Gate - the main entrance to Troy - and the scene where the dramatic events of Homer's Iliad unfolded, in particular, the fateful decision was made here to take a wooden horse with Greek soldiers inside. As is known, these warriors then captured Troy and killed Priam.

Palace of Priam

In April 1873, Schliemann was working north of the gate. There he discovered a large structure that he believed was the palace of King Priam. Schliemann continued to excavate in this direction throughout May, uncovering a large part of the city wall to the west of the gate.

The fact that it was really the palace of Priam is indirectly evidenced by several factors. In particular, during the excavations, a royal scepter was found. In addition, the Iliad tells of captives who were sacrificed over the graves of dead Greek heroes. Indeed, the remains of these sacrifices have been found.

Shaft Tombs

In 1876, Schliemann excavated at Mycenae and discovered shaft tombs with amazingly beautiful works of jewelry.

First, Schliemann came across ancient tombs that were carved into the rock and lined with stone. The graves contained bones, skulls, and even one mummy. Digging the tombs further, Schliemann began to find treasures as well. Altogether, Schliemann and his team found six underground shaft-shaped tombs. They contained nineteen skeletons - nine male, eight female and two children.

The beginning of this "war" and the current "bombardments" are often rooted in elementary feelings of envy, hostility towards a successful amateur, - after all, archeology is the most difficult of sciences, despite its apparent simplicity and accessibility to almost everyone who picks up a pick. All this and so, and not so. For a hundred and twenty-five years now, real scientific discussions on the topic - which is Troy - that, Homer's, have not subsided?


Heinrich Schliemann was born in 1822 in the family of a Protestant pastor in the German city of Neubukov. His father Ernst Schliemann, despite his pious profession, was a violent and big man. ladies' man. Heinrich's mother, Louise, dutifully endured the troubles that fell to her lot. But one day her patience came to an end - when her husband brought a new servant, his mistress, into the house.

The life of the three did not last long. Louise died of nervous exhaustion, having given her son a gift before her death, which, according to Heinrich, became an impetus for him, directing him on the road to the mythical Troy. Here's how it happened. Remembering her son's craving for knowledge, his mother presented Heinrich with a book by the historian Yerrera for Christmas. General history for kids".

Schliemann would later write in his autobiography that when he saw pictures depicting Troy, the city sung by the blind Homer in the immortal Iliad, he, being seven years old, once and for all decided to find this city.

In fact, everything was completely different: the son made up a story about his mother's gift - as well as his entire biography. The famous tome is still kept in the family of Schliemann's descendants, but it was bought in a second-hand bookstore in St. Petersburg many years after the described Christmas evening.

After the death of his mother, Heinrich was forced to move to live with his uncle, also a pastor. Uncle allocated money for Heinrich's education at the gymnasium, and after graduation he sent it to the grocery store. He worked in the shop for a long five and a half years from five in the morning until eleven at night. The grocer paid him practically nothing.

Seeing no further prospects for himself, Heinrich left the grocery store and enlisted for work in Latin America. But the ship on which he sails is wrecked. He is rescued by fishermen, and the future archaeologist suddenly finds himself in Holland. Amsterdam, in those days the business center of Europe, fascinates the young Schliemann. Here he finds a job as a messenger, for which, unlike a grocery store, he is well paid.

But soon the new field begins to annoy him.


“A person who speaks two languages ​​is worth two,” Napoleon once said. Wanting to check the truth of this statement, Heinrich decides to learn foreign languages. And he starts with his native German, polishing his pronunciation. In the reception room of the port commandant - they spoke mostly English - he memorizes foreign words and on the way to the "red light district", where he should take samples of handkerchiefs, repeats what he has learned. He has almost no money for a teacher, but he has his own method of teaching. You need to read a lot aloud in a foreign language in order to learn not only to pronounce words with the correct intonation, but also to hear them constantly. Translation exercises aimed only at mastering grammatical rules are not needed at all. Instead of them - free compositions on interesting topic or fictional dialogues. In the evening, the essay corrected by the tutor is memorized, and the next day it is read from memory to the teacher.

Using this method, Heinrich learned English in three months, and French in the next three. And set to Italian. However, his studies cause surprise and even condemnation of others. The weirdo gets fired from one job after another. But he does not lose heart, but boldly goes to the richest firm in Amsterdam, Schroeder and Co., and offers himself as a sales agent to work with foreign partners. "Crazy do not take!" - from the threshold unfolds its manager. Is it conceivable to know three languages ​​at the age of 22! However, Schliemann is so persistent that he, just to get rid of it, is examined and, according to the test results, the same one is hired.


The firm "Schroeder and Co" conducted its trading business almost all over the world. The newly hired worker not only knew languages, but also knew how to trade, that is, he worked for two, receiving one salary. For "Schroeder and K" he turned out to be a godsend, especially since he did not rest on his laurels, but continued to improve his skills. For a year of hard work, the new employee achieved great success - the director of the company made him his personal assistant.

At that time, Russia was the most profitable market for the company - the market is huge and unsaturated. The technical difficulty of mastering it was that representatives of Russian trading companies, as a rule, did not speak any languages ​​other than their native language. It was difficult to negotiate. Schliemann undertakes to correct the situation and begins to learn Russian. Suddenly, he is faced with a big problem - there is not a single Russian language teacher in Europe. "What savagery in our enlightened 19th century!" - bitterly exclaims a novice businessman and develops another method of learning the language. He buys Russian books from a second-hand book dealer and begins to memorize them. It is based on a Russian-French phrasebook.

After three months of hard labor, Heinrich appears before the Russian merchants and tries to tell them something. In response, to his amazement, the polyglot hears uncontrollable laughter. The fact is that among the books he bought was an edition of indecent poems by Barkov, banned in Russia. He learned their poetic vocabulary. But Schliemann's speech struck the representatives of the Russian merchant class so much that they immediately suggested that he create a joint venture on shares - their capital and his head. The enterprising German was not accustomed to postponing decisions on the back burner and the very next day he went to St. Petersburg.


Russia meets Schliemann with unbearable frosts. No matter how far it is from here to sun-kissed Troy, there is no other way to get there. The path lies through endless snow, which still needs to be managed to turn into gold.

While the Russian partners are raising money for a common enterprise, Heinrich gets to know the country. His restless mind demands new work, and chance provides it. From the windows of the hotel where Schliemann settled, abandoned port buildings are perfectly visible. While the St. Petersburg guest is calculating the possible payment for the lease of warehouses, they are burning. Immediately, on the same night, he rents the burnt-out buildings for next to nothing. And the next day, he hires workers and begins to build everything anew, focusing on the plan of the Amsterdam port.

In order to force the Russian workers to work in a European fashion, Schliemann is forced to supervise the construction himself. That's where Barkov's memorized expressions really came in handy!

Spring brought Heinrich Schliemann fabulous profits. Only part of the port turned out to be rebuilt by the beginning of navigation and the revival of trade, and therefore the lease storage facilities cost more than ever. The money earned in the port allowed him to abandon his partners and open his own company. In 1852 Schliemann marries Ekaterina Lyzhina.

Over the next few years, he creates an entire trading empire, specializing in buying European goods in Amsterdam and selling them in Russia. But a well-established business is not for restless Heinrich. He transfers the matter to the hands of the clerks, and he himself goes to America with part of the free capital.

The first person to whom Schliemann goes on a visit in this country completely unfamiliar to him is the country's president, Fillmore (this fact is considered fictitious). And he immediately accepted it. Schliemann easily obtained a preferential license for the right to open his own company in America to buy up gold dust from the prospectors of San Francisco and export it.

Business with gold speculation was going well, but started in Russia Crimean War 1854 opened new horizons for the company. Schliemann got his firm to become the general contractor for the Russian army and launched an unprecedented scam. Especially for the army, boots with cardboard soles, uniforms made of low-quality fabric, belts sagging under the weight of ammunition, flasks that let water through, etc. were developed. Of course, all this was presented as a product of the highest quality.

It is difficult to say how much such a supply of the Russian army influenced the defeat of Russia, but in any case, its supplier behaved like a criminal. Many years later he turned to Russian emperor Alexander II with a request to enter Russia in order to excavate the Scythian mounds. On the petition, the emperor wrote briefly: "Let him come, we'll hang him!"


Schliemann's name still boomed, but now as the name of a swindler. Not only in Russia, but in any other country, no one wanted to deal with an outright crook. Not knowing what to do with himself, Heinrich begins to read a lot and, having accidentally stumbled upon the notorious "World History for Children", decides to take up archeology. He is preparing the ground for new glory - he publishes an autobiography in which he claims that all his previous activities were only preparation for the realization of his childhood dream - to find Troy.

Paradoxically, this hoax was believed until recently, when the authentic diaries of Schliemann, kept by his heirs, saw the light of day.

In 1868 he traveled through the Peloponnese and Troy to Ithaca. There he began the realization of his cherished dream, he began the search for Troy.


In 1869, Schliemann married a Greek woman, Sophia Engastromenos. The second marriage of Schliemann looks very doubtful. According to the laws of the Russian Empire, Schliemann and Ekaterina Petrovna Lyzhina-Schliemann were not divorced, Schliemann did this in the state of Ohio, for which he took American citizenship. In fact, the purchase of 17-year-old Sophia Engastromenos was made for 150 thousand francs. Soon she, like her husband, went headlong in search of the country of Homer. Excavations began in April 1870; in 1871, Schliemann devoted two months to them, and in the two years that followed, four and a half months each.


Schliemann undertook his excavations in order to find Homeric Troy, but in a relatively short period he and his assistants found no less than seven disappeared cities.

June 15, 1873 was tentatively scheduled as the last day of the excavations. And it was then that Schliemann found something that crowned all his work, something that delighted the whole world ... The treasures of King Priam! And only shortly before his death it was proved that in the heat of passion he made a mistake, that Troy was not at all in the second and not in the third layer from below, but in the sixth and that the treasure found by Schliemann belonged to the king, who lived a thousand years before Priam.


Having found the "treasures of King Priam", Schliemann felt that he had reached the pinnacle of life. Schliemann's passion for antiquities is evidenced by the fact that he named his "Greek" children Agamemnon and Andromache.


The fortune of the millionaire Schliemann was less fortunate than its owner: just before the death of the amateur scientist, Schliemann's millions ended, and he died almost a beggar - just as poor as he was born.

Yes, the merchant who abandoned his business and took up archeology, to put it mildly, frolic, albeit at his own expense. However, no one will argue - he, an amateur, was very lucky. After all, he unearthed not only Troy, but also the royal tombs in Mycenae. True, he did not realize whose burial place he dug up there. He wrote seven books. He knew many languages ​​- English, French ... (however, see the map of Europe). In six weeks in 1866 (he was 44) he mastered ancient Greek - in order to read Greek authors in the original! This was very necessary for him: after all, Heinrich Schliemann set himself the task of following the "poet of poets" Homer literally line by line and finding the legendary Troy. It probably seemed to him that the Trojan horse was still standing on the ancient streets, and the hinges on its wooden door had not yet rusted. Oh yes! After all, Troy was burned! What a pity: it means that the horse burned down in a fire.

Heinrich Schliemann stubbornly dug deeper. Although he found Trojan Hill back in 1868, he stood on it and left silently to write his enthusiastic second book, Ithaca, Peloponnese and Troy. In it, he set himself a task, the solution of which he already knew. Another thing - did not imagine options.

The archaeologists were angry with him. Especially pedantic Germans: how is it possible to slip through all cultural layers? ..


"Amateur" Schliemann, seized with an obsessive idea to dig up Homer's Troy (and he found it with the text of the "Iliad" in his hands!), without suspecting it, made another discovery a century earlier: neglecting the upper (late) cultural layers , he got to the bottom of the rock - the mainland, as they say in archeology. Now scientists do this consciously, although for other reasons than Heinrich Schliemann.

Schliemann defined the Homeric layer in his own way: the lowest one represented the city as somehow miserable and primitive. No I couldn't great poet get inspired by a small village! Majestic and with signs of fire was Troy II, surrounded by a city wall. The wall was massive, with the remains of a wide gate (there were two of them) and a wicket of the same shape ... Having no idea about stratigraphy, Schliemann decided which layer would be most appropriate to be called Troy.


The Germans, instead of admiring, laughed in Schliemann's face. And when in 1873 his book "Antiquities of Troy" was published. Not only archaeologists, professors and academicians, but also ordinary unknown journalists openly wrote about Heinrich Schliemann as an absurd amateur. And the scientists, who were probably less fortunate in life than he, suddenly behaved themselves like merchants from Troyanskaya Square. One respected professor - apparently trying to imitate Schliemann's "unscientific" origin - said that Schliemann made his fortune in Russia (this is exactly what it is) by smuggling saltpeter! Such an unscientific approach of the "authority" of archeology suddenly seemed quite acceptable to many, and others seriously announced that, apparently, Schliemann had buried his "treasure of Priam" in advance at the place of discovery.


What is this about?

It was like this (according to Schliemann). Satisfied with his three years of work and having dug up the coveted Troy, he decided to complete the work on June 15, 1873 and go home to sit down to describe the results and draw up a full report. And just a day before, on June 14, something flashed in the hole in the wall near the western gate! Schliemann immediately made a decision and sent away all the workers under an acceptable pretext. Left alone with his wife Sophia, he climbed into a hole in the wall and extracted a lot of things from it - kilograms of magnificent gold items (a bottle weighing 403 grams, a 200-gram goblet, a 601-gram boat-shaped goblet, gold tiaras, chains, bracelets, rings, buttons , infinite set small gold items - a total of 8,700 items made of pure gold), dishes made of silver, copper, various items made of ivory, semi-precious stones.

Yes. Undoubtedly, since the treasure was found not far from the palace (and, of course, it belonged to Priam!), it means that King Priam, seeing that Troy was doomed and there was nothing to do, decided to wall up his treasures in the city wall at the western gate (the cache was prepared there in advance ).


With great efforts (the story is almost a detective story - then the Bolsheviks will take over this method of illegal transportation) Schliemann took the "treasures of Priam" outside Turkey in a basket of vegetables.

And he acted like the most ordinary merchant: he began to bargain with the governments of France and England, then Russia, in order to sell the golden treasure of Troy more profitably.

We must pay tribute, neither England nor France (Schliemann lived in Paris), nor the sovereign Alexander II did not want to acquire the priceless "treasure of Priam". Meanwhile, the Turkish government, having studied the press and also, probably, having discussed the "amateurism" of the discoverer of Troy, started trial on Schliemann's charge of misappropriating gold mined in Turkish soil and smuggling it out of Turkey. Only after the payment of 50 thousand francs to Turkey did the Turks stop prosecution archaeologist.


However, Heinrich Schliemann in Germany had not only opponents, but also wise supporters: the famous Rudolf Virchow, physician, anthropologist and researcher of antiquity; Emile Louis Burnouf, brilliant philologist, director of the French School in Athens. It was with them that Schliemann returned to Troy in 1879 to continue excavations. And he released his fifth book - "Ilion". And in the same 1879, the University of Rostock awarded him an honorary doctorate.

The "amateur" hesitated for a long time, but nevertheless made up his mind and presented the "treasures of Priam" to the city of Berlin. It happened in 1881, and then grateful Berlin, with the permission of Kaiser Wilhelm I, declared Schliemann an honorary citizen of the city. The treasure entered the Berlin Museum of Primitive and ancient history and completely forgot about it academia and the world community. As if there were no "treasures of Priam" in sight!


In 1882, Schliemann returned to Troy again. The young archaeologist and architect Wilhelm Dörpfeld offered his services to him, and Heinrich Schliemann accepted his help.

Schliemann called the seventh book "Troy". It was a word and a deed for which he spent all his fortune. However, the scientific world (even the German one) has already turned its face to the discoverer ancient legend: In 1889, the first international conference was held in Troy. In 1890 - the second.

The famous "amateur", of course, was not the first to decide to follow Homer. Back in the 18th century, the Frenchman Le Chevalier was digging in the Troad. In 1864, the Austrian von Hahn laid an exploratory excavation (6 years before Schliemann) exactly at the place where Schliemann later dug - on the hill of Gissarlyk. But still Schliemann unearthed Troy!


And after his death, German scientists did not want Schliemann to be considered the discoverer of Troy. When his young colleague dug up Troy VI (one of the layers that Schliemann slipped through without deigning attention), the scientists were delighted: let him not be a venerable, let him be young, but an archaeologist with a good school!

If we continue to argue from these positions, then until the post-war period Homer's Troy was not found at all: Troy VII was dug up by the American S.V. Bledzhen. As soon as they found out about this in Germany, they immediately declared Heinrich Schliemann's Troy Homer's Troy!

Modern science has XII cultural layers of Troy. Troy II Schliemann refers to approximately 2600-2300 BC. Troy I - by 2900-2600 BC - Early Bronze Age. The last (latest) Troy ceased to exist, quietly fading away in the 500s AD. e. It was no longer called Troy, and not New Ilion.

The figure of Heinrich Schliemann is not an ordinary, but not too out of the ordinary phenomenon of his age. Of course, in addition to a great love of history, the rich merchant craved fame. A little strange for his decent age, but, on the other hand, which of us did not get enough toys in childhood?


Something else is important here.

It has been practically proven that there was no "treasure of Priam".

"And the gold?" - you ask.

Yes, there is gold. It is probably recruited from different layers. There was no such layer in Troy II. The "treasure" was completed (or maybe bought?) by Schliemann for the sake of proof, for the sake of self-affirmation. The heterogeneity of the collection is obvious. In addition, a comparison of the diaries of Heinrich Schliemann, his books and press materials suggests that he and his wife were not in Hisarlik at all at the time of the discovery! Many of the "facts" of Schliemann's biography are rigged by himself: there was no reception from the American president, he did not speak in Congress. There are falsifications of facts during the excavation of Mycenae.


On the other hand, as already mentioned, Schliemann is a child of his time. Archaeologists (and famous ones!) of the 19th century often took up excavations only when there was hope for enrichment. For example, the Antiquities Service of Egypt entered into a contract on behalf of the government, according to which it allowed this or that scientist to excavate, while stipulating a percentage that the scientist took for himself. Even the English Lord Carnarvon sued and dressed up with the Egyptian government for this percentage, when he unexpectedly stumbled upon Tutankhamen's gold. Only a very rich American, Theodore Davis, allowed himself to graciously refuse the prescribed percentage. But no one has ever been interested (and will not know) how and by what they influenced him. There is nothing reprehensible in the fact that in 1873 Heinrich Schliemann wanted to sell the "treasure of Priam" to some government. This is what everyone, or almost everyone, would have done who found this gold. It was precisely to him that Turkey had the least relation: the land of Troy was not hers historical homeland. True, in such cases, when the age of the find is very respectable, and the migration of the population is high and it is difficult to talk about the search for a "true owner", of course, one should consider the treasure as a natural deposit and consider it accordingly.

But what is the fate of the "treasure of Priam"? Isn't this a fairy tale?

No, not a fairy tale. It is not so difficult to find out the reasons why the "treasure" was hushed up and was inaccessible to the viewer during the first 50-60 years. Then, in 1934, it was still classified according to its value (Hitler, who came to power in 1933, counted all state resources, and an elementary inventory was carried out in the Berlin Museum of Primitive and Ancient History). With the outbreak of World War II, the exhibits were packed and locked in bank safes (after all, Turkey was an ally of Germany and could unexpectedly extend its “hairy paw” for treasures). Soon, given the bombing of Germany by the allies, the sad fate of the Dresden palaces, the "treasures of Priam" were locked in a bomb shelter on the territory of the Berlin Zoo. On May 1, 1945, the director of the museum, W. Unferzagg, handed over the boxes to the Soviet expert commission. And they disappeared for another 50 years. Seems if "treasure" has it distinguishing feature- disappear for 50-60 years, it is better not to carry out more transfer or gift actions, but still put it on public display.


Turkish expert, scientist, professor of Istanbul University Yufuk Yesin, invited by Germany as part of an expert group in October 1994, after examining the Schliemann collection, stated that "in the 3rd millennium BC, many gold, silver, and bone items were made using a magnifying glass and tweezers."

Another riddle? Maybe even a clue: after all, the Paris Museum bought the ancient Saitaphernes tiara of pure gold for 200 thousand francs, and it was a "genuine antique helmet", but it turned out, in the end, a shameless fake made by an Odessa master. Isn't this what Mrs. Yufuk Yesin meant when she spoke of the "treasure of Priam"?

Another mystery. Heinrich Schliemann enthusiastically told how Sophia transported the find in a basket of cabbage, and the Berlin Museum handed over three sealed boxes to the Soviet representatives! What physical strength possessed by a slender young Greek woman from Athens?


Hurrying to his wife in Athens from another voyage, Schliemann died in a Neapolitan hotel. He would definitely have arrived if not for the inflammation of the brain, which is why the archaeologist January 4, 1891 lost consciousness and died a few hours later. In the hall of his Athenian house, where the coffin stood, the whole color of the then society came to pay their last respects: courtiers, ministers, the diplomatic corps, representatives of the academies and universities of Europe, of which Schliemann was a member. Many speeches were made. Each of the speakers considered the deceased to belong to his country: the Germans claimed him as a countryman, the British - as a doctor of Oxford University, the Americans - as a person who embodied the true spirit of the American pioneers, the Greeks - as a herald of their ancient history.

Sophia and the children, he left not a large, but a decent legacy. His son Agamemnon had a son - Paul Schliemann. He went to his grandfather-adventurer and boasted that he knew the coordinates of Atlantis. Paul died at the start of the First World War.

Schliemann's daughter Nadezhda married Nikolai Andrusov, originally from Odessa. He headed the Department of Geology Kyiv University, and in 1918 became an academician Ukrainian Academy Sciences. In the 1920s, the Andrusovs emigrated to Paris - they had a house there, bought by Schliemann. Nadezhda and Nikolai raised five children: Dmitry (geologist, academician of the Slovak Academy of Sciences), Leonid (biologist), Vadim (sculptor), Vera (studied music), Marianne (studied at the Faculty of History and Philology of the Sorbonne).


Schliemann was buried in Athens - on the land that he considered sacred, because the legendary (like himself) Homer lived and worked on it. Although it is still not clear - did the blind singer of Ilion and Ithaca exist, is he not a collective "image" of the ancient poet?

Maybe someday they will also discuss the problem - did Heinrich Schliemann live in the world, is he a legend? And Troy will remain.


"The Lord God created Troy, Mr. Schliemann unearthed it for mankind," reads the inscription at the entrance to the Troy Museum. In these words, despite the external pathos, there is also a sad irony. Any archaeological excavations are accompanied by partial destruction of the monument, and those carried out by Schliemann, a complete amateur in archeology, were complete destruction. But the fact that one of the richest businessmen in America and Europe, the self-taught archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann destroyed the real Troy, became known only many years later.

"There will be some day, and sacred Troy will perish,
Priam and the people of the spearman Priam will perish with her.
Homer "Iliad"

A great enthusiast and amateur in archeology, who believed in the reality of everything that the ancient Greek poet Homer narrates and describes, Heinrich Schliemann discovered a whole culture, a whole era in the history of Ancient Greece, the existence of which was not suspected by historians for thousands of years ...

In the sense of scientific material finds and discoveries of Heinrich Schliemann are an invaluable treasure, even if we reject his conclusions and interpretations, sometimes fantastic as a result of a blind passion for Homer.

Once on the south coast of the Hellespont (the Dardanelles) stood ancient city Troy, whose walls, according to legend, were erected by the god Poseidon himself. This city which the Greeks called Ilion(hence - the name of Homer's poem "Iliad"), lay on the sea trade route from Asia Minor to Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) and was famous for its power and wealth. The last ruler of Troy was the wise old man Priam.

Around 1225 B.C. the warlike Greek tribes of the Achaeans united for a large military campaign in Asia Minor. Under the leadership of the king of Mycenae Agamemnon, the Achaeans, having crossed the Aegean Sea, laid siege to Troy. Only in the tenth year, after fierce battles, did they manage to take possession of the impregnable city and destroy it ...

King Priam of Troy and many citizens were killed, Queen Hecuba and other Trojan women were sold into slavery along with their children. Only a small detachment of Trojans led by younger son Priam Aeneas managed to escape from the burning city. Sitting on ships, they sailed away somewhere to the sea, and their traces were subsequently found in Carthage, Albania, and Italy. Julius Caesar considered himself a descendant of Aeneas.

The last ruler of Troy, King Priam and the Achaean warrior. vase painting

No written documents or evidence of the Trojan War have been preserved.. There are only oral traditions and songs of wandering Aed singers who sang the exploits of the invulnerable Achilles, the cunning Odysseus, the noble Diomedes, the glorious Ajax and other Greek heroes.

Several centuries later the great ancient Greek blind singer Homer, taking as a basis the plots of songs that by that time had become truly folk legends, composed a large poem called the Iliad.

Preliminary research convinced Schliemann that ancient Troy could only be located on Hissarlik. Upon receiving permission from the Turkish government in the fall of 1871, he began excavations here, which he carried out with the assistance of his second wife Sophia, who for many years exclusively at her own expense with amazing enthusiasm, energy and patience, putting up with the inconveniences of bivouac life, sometimes enduring heat and cold, helped Schliemann.

"... We arrived at a huge, high plateau covered with shards and pieces of processed marble," wrote Schliemann. that the remains of ancient buildings could be seen on a large square, left no doubt that we were at the walls of a once flourishing big city.

Already many years after Schliemann, it was established that in total there are 9 extensive strata on Hisarlik, which included about 50 phases of settlements of different eras. The earliest of them belong to the III millennium BC, and the latest - to 540 AD. e.

But, like any obsessive seeker, Schliemann did not have the patience. He wanted to get to the city of King Priam immediately...

Finally, before the eyes of Heinrich Schliemann, the remains of huge gates and fortress walls, scorched by a strong fire, appeared. Undoubtedly, Schliemann decided that these were the remains of Priam's palace, destroyed by the Achaeans. The myth took on flesh: before the gaze of the archaeologist lay ruins of sacred Troy...

Subsequently, it turned out that Schliemann was mistaken: the city of Priam lay higher than the one that he took for Troy. But the real Troy, although he greatly spoiled it, he nevertheless dug up, without knowing it himself, like Columbus, who did not know that he had discovered America.

Once, while observing the progress of work on the ruins of the "Palace of Priam", Schliemann accidentally noticed a certain object. Having instantly oriented himself, he announced a break, sent the workers to the camp, and he himself and his wife Sophia remained in the excavation. In the greatest hurry, working with one knife, Schliemann extracted treasures of unheard of value from the earth - "treasure of King Priam"!

The treasure consisted of 8833 items, among which are unique goblets made of gold and electrum, vessels, domestic copper and bronze utensils, two gold diadems, silver bottles, beads, chains, buttons, clasps, fragments of daggers, nine battle axes made of copper. These objects were baked into a neat cube, from which Schliemann concluded that they had once been tightly packed in a wooden chest that had completely decayed over the past centuries.

Later, after the death of the discoverer, scientists found that these "treasures of Priam" belonged not to this legendary king at all, but to another who lived a thousand years before the Homeric character. However, this does not detract from the value of the find made by Schliemann - the "treasures of Priam" are a unique complex of jewelry from the Bronze Age in their completeness and preservation, a real miracle. ancient world! In 1880, Schliemann gave the collection to the German government.

As soon as the scientific world learned about the findings of Heinrich Schliemann, a huge scandal erupted.. None of the "serious" archaeologists wanted to hear about Schliemann and his treasures. Explorations and discoveries on the land of Troy (1881) caused an outburst of indignation in the scientific world. William M. Calder, professor of ancient philology at the University of Colorado (USA), called Schliemann "an audacious dreamer and a liar." Professor Bernhard Stark from Jena (Germany) stated that Schliemann's discoveries are nothing more than "quackery" ...

Who was Heinrich Schliemann? A charlatan with grandiose ambitions, or a great discoverer who believed in the childhood dream of the existence of Troy? How could it happen that the greatest archaeological discovery in history was made not by an archaeologist, but by an amateur and polyglot dreamer?

BIOGRAPHY OF HEINRICH SCHLIMANN (1822-1890)

Heinrich Schliemann - the great German self-taught archaeologist, polyglot and businessman, which disturbed scientific world excavations of the legendary Homeric Troy, he himself introduced us to his fabulous fate. He wrote his autobiography at the beginning of Ilios. In this book, he accompanied each of his discoveries with a detailed report with many drawings, with a preface by famous scientists, for the most part simultaneously in 3 languages ​​- German, English and French.

Heinrich Schliemann - the son of a poor Protestant pastor - was born on January 6, 1822 in Neubukov (Mecklenburg-Schwerin Germany). He spent his childhood in Ankershagen, where there were many stories about various treasures, and there was an old castle with strong walls and mysterious passages. All this had a strong effect on the child's imagination.

From the age of 8, after his father gave him a "World History for Children" with pictures and an image of ancient Troy engulfed in flames. Since then his dream was the discovery of Homeric Troy, in the existence of which he unshakably believed.

But misfortunes befell his family, as a result of which the boy could not graduate from either the gymnasium or the real school. Heinrich was forced to work as an inmate in a small shop, then he entered the cabin boy on a ship sailing to Venezuela. The ship was wrecked off the Dutch coast. Heinrich Schliemann escaped death and found himself in a foreign country, without any means of livelihood.

Schliemann went to Amsterdam, begging on the way. There he managed to get a place in one trading office. All free time he used to study foreign languages, spending half his salary on his education, living in an attic and being content with the meager food.

Schliemann began by studying in English, and then learned French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, and adhered to his own special method - he did not translate, but read aloud, wrote exercises, memorized them, etc.

With the transfer of Schliemann to another office (1844), his position improved. He began to study Russian, without a teacher, with the help of grammar, vocabulary and a poor translation of The Adventures of Telemachus. Nevertheless, after 6 weeks, Heinrich Schliemann could already write a letter in Russian.

In 1846, Heinrich Schliemann moved to St. Petersburg, first as an agent for an Amsterdam trading house, and then opened an independent trade (mainly indigo). Increasingly expanding its operations, Schliemann had already become a millionaire by the early 1860s.. In 1856, Schliemann finally decided to fulfill his long-standing passionate desire - to learn the ancient Greek language. Then Schliemann turned to Latin.

With a volume of Homer in his hands, in the summer of 1868, Schliemann arrived in Greece.. The ruins of Mycenae and Tiryns made a great impression on him - it was from there that the Achaean troops led by King Agamemnon began their campaign against Troy. But if Mycenae and Tiryns are a reality, then why not be a reality of Troy?

At the end of the 50s. Schliemann traveled through Europe, through Egypt and Syria, and learned along the way Arabic, visited the Cyclades and Athens. In 1863, Heinrich Schliemann finally liquidated his business in order to devote himself entirely to the realization of his dream - to open Homer's Troy. But he wanted to "see the light" first. In 1864 he visited North Africa, the ruins of Carthage, India, the shores of China and Japan, and America.

During his travels, Schliemann wrote his first book - about China and Japan (in French). In 1866 he settled in Paris and from that time began to study archeology. Having visited the Ionian Islands in 1868, including Ithaca, then the Peloponnese and Athens, Schliemann went to Troad. Before excavating at the site of ancient Troy, it was necessary to decide where to look for it. Preliminary research convinced Schliemann that ancient Troy could only be located on Hissarlik (Turkey).

In addition to excavations in Hissarlik, Schliemann was engaged in excavations in Mycenae, which led to even more amazing results - he discovered a rich culture, which has since been called Mycenaean.

In the last years of his life, Schliemann spent his free time in Athens. There he built a house for himself, where everything resembled Homer: the servants were given the names of Greek heroes and heroines, the son from his second marriage was named Agamemnon, the daughter - Andromache. But Schliemann did not live in this palace for a long time, since in the last years of his life he traveled a lot and undertook excavations. A year before his death, he had to visit Troy again to defend his cause from the attacks of an ardent opponent - Ernst Betticher.

On this occasion, in the spring of 1890, Schliemann arranged international conference who decided the dispute in his favor. Schliemann then began new excavations, which continued until August 1890. next year he hoped to resume them, but in December 1890 Heinrich Schliemann died in Naples. Buried in Athens. A copy of Homer's "Iliad" and "Odyssey" was placed in the coffin of the archaeologist. Escort Schliemann to last way came diplomats from many countries.

Schliemann was an archaeologist by vocation, but did not have sufficient knowledge, and many scientists still cannot forgive him for his mistakes and delusions. However, be that as it may, it was Schliemann who discovered a new, hitherto unknown world for science, and it was he who laid the foundation for the study of the Aegean culture.

Schliemann's research showed that Homer's poems are not just beautiful fairy tales. They are the richest source of knowledge, revealing to anyone who wishes, many reliable details from the life of the ancient Greeks and their time.

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