Schliemann, Heinrich
An archæologist born at Neubuckow, in Germany, January 6th, 1822. He was the son
of a Lutheran pastor, who inspired him at an early age with an enthusiastic admiration of the
heroes of ancient Greece. His mother died when he was nine years old, and he then lived for
two years with his uncle at Kalkhorst. At fourteen he was compelled to enter a grocer's shop
as a clerk at Fürstenberg to support himself. He remained in that humble position for
over five years, when he obtained a position as clerk to an Amsterdam firm, and in 1846 was
sent to St. Petersburg by the firm as their local agent; and a year later established there a
business of his own. In the course of a busy life he travelled extensively in Europe and
America, and acquired many languages. After he had amassed wealth he commenced his
archæological investigations and excavations in the East. In 1874 he obtained
permission from the Greek government to excavate Mycenae, where, in 1877, he made the
marvellous discovery of the five royal tombs which local tradition had pointed out to
Pausanius as those of Agamemnon and his companions, who had been murdered by Aegisthus. His
later excavations are well known. He published
Ithaka, der Peloponnes und Troja;
Trojanische Alterthümer (1874);
Reise in der
Troas (1881);
Mykenae (1877);
Orchomenos (1881);
Troja (1883);
Tiryns (1886); and
Bericht über die
Ausgrabungen ins Troja im Jahre 1890 (1891). He died December 27th, 1890. See
Schuchardt's
Schliemann's Excavations (Eng. trans., 1891).
