Heinrich SchliemannBorn 6 Jan 1822; died 26 Dec 1890 at age 68.German archaeologist who excavated sites at Troy, Mycenae, and Tiryns he associated with Homer's Iliad and Vergil's Aeneid. After a successful business career, Schliemann retired (1863) to pursue his childhood ambition of discovering Homeric Troy. Ignoring scholarly derision, he excavated Hissarlik on the Asia Minor coast of Turkey, finding ruins of nine consecutive cities. The second oldest (Troy II), which he wrongly identified with Homer's city, yielded a hoard that Schliemann romantically called "Priam's Treasure." His spectacular finds in Greece at Mycenae (1874-76), Orchomenos in Boeotia (1880), and Tiryns (1884-85) established him as the discoverer of Mycenaean civilization and the leader in discovery of prehistoric Greece.« |
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