Biography of Heinrich Schliemann

Johann Ludwig Heinrich Julius Schliemann, a name most often reduced to just Heinrich Schliemann, is not a well known name, and is often just a vague memory to most people. Most people know though of his greatest claim to fame, the discovery of the site of ancient Troy. In any description of the life of Schliemann it would be impossible to go ignore Troy, but a description of the discovery of Troy could and has filled any number of books, as such this biography does not dwell on those events.

The only issue I have in providing a biography about Schliemann that fact has become obscured by stories, stories that Schliemann often told about himself that cannot be verified. Some facts are known and can be verified, and Schliemann was born on the 6th January 1822, in the small village of Neu-Buckow, in the German county of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Schliemann’s father, Ernst, was a poor Protestant Minister, and by all accounts his early life was a hard one, a life that only got harder when his mother, Luise Therese Sophie Schliemann, died when he was only 9 years of age.

Heinrich Schliemann - Unknown - PD-life-70

Following the death of his mother, Schliemann was sent to live with his uncle, Frederich.
Schliemann claimed to have had no childhood education, but he was enrolled at the Neustrelitz Carolinum Gymnasium, a German grammar school, at the age of 11, and studied there for at least a year. Whilst of a scholarly nature, with particular strengths in the classics, Schliemann’s time at the grammar school was curtailed, as his father could no longer afford to pay the school fees.

Schliemann’s father was in fact accused of embezzling church funds to pay for his son’s education. Schliemann’s next period of education took place at a Realschule, a vocational school, where his scholarly studies took second place to work related studies. By 1836, at the age of 14, Schliemann again was forced to leave his place of education, when Schliemann’s father could not even afford the more modest fees of the Realschule. Whether his schooling introduced him to the ancient world or increased knowledge gained from his father is a matter of debate. Schliemann himself stated that he had received a copy of Ludwig Jerrer’s An Illustrated History of the World’ as a Christmas present in 1829, and as a result by the age of 8 knew that he would excavate Troy. Schliemann would also tell a story about his first love from this period of his life, a young girl from his village, Minna Meincke, who would help with his excavations in the local castle and churchyard.

Upon his forced departure from the Realschule, Schliemann found himself in need of money, so at the age of 14 he found employment as an apprentice to a grocer in Furstenberg. At an early age Schliemann developed a desire for wealth, although he soon realised that he would not achieve this as a grocer. He saw though employment as a means to an end, and every spare penny he earned he spent on his own education, he taught himself Dutch, English, French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.

Even in work he still found a connection to the ancient world, as a local miller called Hermann Niederhoffer, would recite large extracts of Homer’s work in Greek. In order to understand the meaning of the oration, Schliemann taught himself ancient and modern Greek. After five years of work at the grocer’s, Schliemann departed, and at 19 years of age became a cabin boy on a ship bound for Venezuela from Hamburg. A shipwreck meant that his voyage was cut short but he quickly found further employment as a clerk in a Dutch merchant trading office. By 1844 Schliemann found himself employed by a large import and export business, and they soon found uses for his linguistic skills, ultimately sending him to St Petersburg in 1846, to act as an indigo trader. He proved to be a very successful trader, and he began to trade in a number of goods, including sugar, tea and coffee. As well as his own employers, Schliemann also worked for several other companies, and soon became moderately wealthy.

Following in the footsteps of one of his brothers, Schliemann decided to try and make his fortune in amongst the Californian Gold Rush. Thus in 1851 Schliemann arrived in Sacramento, and using his finances set up a banking house, to buy and resell gold that had been mined, Schliemann quickly made a small fortune. His time in California though was short lived, as he came under suspicion of using underhand business practices, and by August 1852 he was once again back in St Petersburg. Schliemann though did claim that during his brief spell in America he had acquired United States citizenship. With his fortune made Schliemann settled down to the life of a gentleman.

Sophia Schliemann - Unknown - PD-life-70

His lifestyle though soon brought him in contact by a number of eligible women, and he was quickly ensnared by Ekaterina Petrovna Lyshina, the niece of one of his friends. Married on 12th October 1852, Ekaterina Schliemann was the epitome of the pushy wife, and cajoled Schliemann to increase his fortune. The marriage though seemed to be without love, although Ekaterina did show some affection as Schliemann’s fortune increased in size. Using his knowledge of trading, Schliemann managed to corner the indigo market, turning a huge profit, before cornering the markets of saltpetre, brimstone and lead, material required by the Russian government for the Crimean War. Schliemann’s huge wealth briefly one over his wife and in 1855, they had their first child, Sergey, followed by two girls Natalia, in 1858, and Nadezhda in 1861. The level of wealth that Schliemann had amassed ensured that by the 1860′s Schliemann effectively retired from the business world and instead Schliemann would use his spare time to travel the world. Ekaterina, though failed to travel with him, and when he finally settled in Paris, Ekaterina could not be persuaded to bring herself and the children to France. 1868 saw Schliemann file for divorce and the end of his first marriage.

With money behind him Schliemann found himself in a position to actively pursue his interests in ancient Greece and Troy. In the same year as his divorce, Schliemann travelled to Greece in an attempt to find the Palace of Odysseus; this was a gamble as at this time the reality of the Trojan War was still a debated point. Schliemann quickly moved from Greece to Turkey, and took up the cause of Frank Calvert, a British archaeologist, who was championing the site at Hissarlik as the site of the ancient city of Troy. Schliemann took over Calvert’s excavations on the eastern side of the Hissarlik site, and started to liaise with the Turkish government about working the western half which they owned.

Schliemann, either through loneliness, or a need for companion to share his adventures, sought out a second wife. Writing to a friend of his, he stated his desire to find a beautiful, dark-haired, well-educated Greek woman with an interest in the work of Homer. Schliemann’s friend, the Archbishop of Athens, put forward Sophia Engastromenos, a distant relative of his for this role. In September 1869 Schliemann, then 47, married the 17 year old. Unlike his first marriage, this second one seemed a much happier union, Sophia helped extensively Schliemann’s digs, and bore two sons, Andromache (born 1871) and Agamemnon (born 1878).

Schliemann brought a great deal of enthusiasm with him, alongside his considerable fortune. As importantly though was a conviction in his work, but he also brought confusion, his story telling and possible salting of finds means that there is uncertainty as to what finds were real, or even when or where they were found. Schliemann and Calvert had a brief falling out about Schliemann’s archaeological methods, as Schliemann, in order to speed up excavation dug straight through newer archaeology to get to his target of the Trojan War period. His efforts appeared justified though when a discovery was made in 1873 of Priam’s Treasure’. Schliemann related a tale of how he and his wife personally excavated the find, and sought maximum publicity by having Sophia wear one of the finds in public. In doing so he antagonised the Turkish government, they were not happy with the way Schliemann was publicising his activities, but perhaps they more upset that they were not getting their half share of the discoveries. Calvert and Schliemann had long been undertaking a process of smuggling finds out of Turkey to be distributed around Greece, and as such Schliemann found his permission to dig revoked.

As persona non grata in Turkey, Schliemann moved his excavations to the island of Crete, and in 1876 made his second great discovery, unearthing the Mask of Agamemnon’. This followed discoveries in the previous year with the Treasury of Minyas at Orchomenos. Both discoveries aroused huge amounts of public interest, although subsequent studies have cast doubt on their authenticity.

With the massive public interest generated by Schliemann, the Turkish government again gave permission to excavate at Hissarlik. Schliemann returned in 1878-1879, followed by further excavations in 1882-1883 and a fourth and final dig 1888-1890. Ironically it was in this last dig that Schliemann finally learnt about startigraphisation, by which time all evidence had been erased. Schliemann made a number of small finds, although nothing to match Priam’s Treasure’, and the Turkish government was now paying much more attention, taking two-thirds of all finds for display at the Museum of Constantinople.

Heinrich Schliemann's Grave - Portum - CC-BY-SA-3.0

Twenty years of archaeological work ended with his death on the 26th December 1890. Following a successful operation in Halle on his infected ears, doctors ordered Schliemann to rest and remain in the hospital. Schliemann though ignored this advice and subsequently travelled to Leipzig, Berlin and Paris. On his planned return to Athens for Christmas, complications as a result of the operation set in. Schliemann found himself too sick to make the last boat ride from Naples over to Greece, although he did manage to visit the ruins of Pompeii. On Christmas day he collapsed in the Piazza della Santa Carita and shortly afterwards died in his hotel room. Friends ensured that he was returned to Athens for burial, and after his funeral he was interred in his own mausoleum in a cemetery on an Athenian hill. The mausoleum was built Schliemann himself, and the frieze on the outside of the structure shows Schliemann undertaking his many excavations, with an inscription of “For the Hero, Schliemann” above the entrance.

Accusations have dented Schliemann’s reputation. Priam’s Treasure was allegedly found in archaeological levels predating Priam and back into the Early Bronze Age. The artefacts found are also unique and cannot be compared with any finds of an equivalent age. The same can be said of the Mask of Agamemnon, and there are further accusations that he employed a goldsmith to manufacture finds.

Schliemann is now often criticised for the way his excavations were undertaken, and dismissed as a treasure hunter by many archaeologists. He lied or misled throughout his life, in his business, personal and archaeological undertakings, manipulating details of his life and his achievements, Schliemann knew how to get the greatest publicity for his activities, extravagant reports ensured a take up by the popular press, and through his knowledge of language ensured global coverage. If you ignore his archaeological undertakings, which is difficult to do, then Schliemann should still be remembered as an impressive businessman, amassing a large fortune as he did, and also as a linguist.

By the end of his life, through a process of using the language of whichever country he was in, Schliemann was able to communicate in thirteen languages, his native German, Arabic, Dutch, English, French, Greek, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish. With his archaeological finds, be they real or fabricated, Schliemann’s name now has a place in history.

Copyright - First Published 17th February 2008