Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1891-01-08
4 Sketch of the Life and Work O;
the Great Archaeological, DR..
Schliemann.
In His Researches He Finds that the
Ancient City of Troy Actually
Existed.
EXcavating so Feet at Hissarlik He
Discovered the Remains Of Five
Ancient Cities.

homer, TO nave redeemed from legenu ana
myth the stories of the siege of Ilium,
and the fate of the Atreid@, and this
against the prevailing skepticism of
scholars. Not that he made Troy town as
definite as Athens. or war of the Greeks
and Trojans as indisputable as that
against the Messenians, or Agamemnon
as clear as Pericles; but he proved by his
discoveries that such city as Troy was
represented by Homer did actually exist in
the Iro d, and that certain great person
ages were actually buried In Mycena, as
it is said Agamemnon and his companions
were buried after their murder by Egisl-
hus and Clytemnestra. The walls and
ruins and ashes of burned Troy were found,
the ScRan gate located. the whole topog
raphy of the Iliad shown to agree with
his discoveries. as they could not be- made
to agree with the old hypothesis that iden-
tilted the Balidaghashi as the site of llium.
And that Schlemann attained So much is
due to lifelong ambition and purpose.
which compelled him to educate himself
and TO devote a fortune of his own making
to this particular work. earning for him
self against doubt and dispute and oppo-
Sltlon, high reputation i'll archaeology.
II S position in regard to his discoveries is
not universally accepted, but there are as
good scholars on his side as against him,
and it is to be noted that few if any OPP
ponents OF his assertions have visited the
scene of his explorations. either In the
Iroad or in old Argos, without becoming
In great degree converted to his belief.
Henry Schliemann-for since he became
an American citizen he has preferred the
English form of his christian name-im-
bibed his enthusiasm for Homer as a mere
boy, when his father, poor Lutheran
pastor in Mecklenburg, fed his Inc, turing
mind with Greek history and mythology.
He never lost that enthusiasm, though
about all his requirements were forgotten
in the years btween IA and 20, when he
was Furstenberg grocer's drudge, up In
the morning before sunrise, working till
near midnight, and thus with scant time
for sleep, and none for reading. But
afterwards he became bookkeeper and cor
respondent for an Amsterdam importing
house, and devoting himself with energy
to business he became useful to the house,
and its agent at St. Petersburg, where in
1047. WI Ell he was 25 he began BUSH ess
for himself and prosperad. While in
Amsterdam he spent his nights studying,
and this habit he continued, becoming IA
master of ancient and modern Greek and
Of the literature bearing upon his favorite
subject; and in his commercial journeys
he learned the languages Of the countries
he visited. so that he could CONVEX Sc fluent
y In Russian, English, French, Spanish,
Italian. Portuguese Dutch. Polish, Swed-
ish and Arabic. In 1862. having amassed
a small fortune and invested 1t in various
countries principally in the United
States, he closed his business and entered
upon his real calling that of scholar,
student and explorer of the past. First,
however, he made the circuit Of the globe,
and arriving on the western continent,
lived In the country nearly three years, be-
coming naturalized and obtaining a di-
vorce from his wife, whom he had mar
ried at St. Petersburg On this "Trip he
made his first visit to the Troad, and he
wound'it up In Paris, where he published
an intere ting book on China and Japan.
and settled down for years hard study
of archaeology.
He made his first excavation on the
Trojan plan in 1868, near the Turkish vii
lage of BOunarbashi, but the poverty of
any remains that could Indicate the exis-
tence of great city caused him speedily
to dismiss the notion that this vas the site
of the city described b, Homer, and he ex-
tended his researches t, the plateau Of
Hissarlik, where as he decided by measur
ments the city must have stood. He then
published in Paris his first volume, entitled
Ithaca, the Peloponnesus of Troy, for
he had also made the endeavor to trace the
habitation of Ulysses. Schliemann's de-
termination was fixed to excavate the site
of old Troy, and it must be remembered
that 20 years ago the scholars of the world.
ed by the German skeptical school, had
made up their minds that there never was
a historic Troy like that pictured by
Homer, and the supmyth theory as to the
story Of the 1liad, as well as to nearly all
Grecian mythology and traditions, was in
the highest favor with large portion of
the scholars. Schliemann started with
the absolute conviction that the Had had
d substantial basis of history, and for this
reason the scholars were the more ready to
discredit his discoveries at Hissarlik, de-
claring that he found what he wanted to
find, ard had probably merely hit upon by
accident the site of some Hunnric settle
ment, for one Of the long halts of the Huns
was made in the Asian peninsula.
But Schliemann undoubtedly proceeded
to procure fireman from the Turkish gov
eminent and dig over the mound of His
sarlik at his own expense. He had in
the meanwhile married second thine; it
Is related of him that he commissioned a
friend to find young woman as well &C
quainted with Homer as he was, and ask
her for him IN marriage; 1t is also related
that he met such woman In the natural
chance of social intercourse; at all events,
he married beautiful and learned Greek,
who fully shared his enthusiasm for Ho-
mer, and who shared his hardships in ex-
plorations then and aftnrward, and has be-
come the mother of several interesting
children, all named after personages of the
Homeric poems. In his excavations at
Hissarlik he dug to the depth of so feet, /
nearly half height of the mound, and dis |
covered the remains of not one but five
cities. all of them but one prehistoric, and |
in the third of these las he at first
thought, but afterward said the second)
he recognized the city of Of Priam. From
it he gained vessels and arms OF bronze,
vases OF ivory and terra Gotta, Jewels and
braast-piates and dishes OF gold. and
silver. many Of these things showing
high degree of art and wealth. The pa
pers which ne wrote about these discover
les Tor the arcn8OiOgLCdl SoClety VI AbueDS
he afterwarl published with the title '"Hro-
ian Antiquities Found Beneath the Ruins
IF Troy His larger work, Troy and
Its Remains, appeared in 1874
In that year he obtained permission from
5he Greek government to explore the re-
mains Of ancient Mycena. the capital of
Argos, where he unearthed near the Lion
gate the FIVE royal tombs which the tradi-
ion of over 5000 years had declared to be
hose of Agememmon and his friends, who
yere slain on their retl1rn from the siaoa j.,