Heinrich Schliemann (January 6, 1822 - December 26, 1890) was a German archaeologist, born at Neu Buckow, in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the son of a poor pastor. During his early career, as a grocer's apprentice, cabin boy on the Dorothea bound for Venezuela, and after a shipwreck, office attendant and then book-keeper in Amsterdam, he nourished a passion for the Homeric story and an ambition to become a great linguist.

He excavated Troy, Mycenae and Tiryns, lending material weight to Homer's Iliad and Vergil's Aeneid as reflecting historical events.

His career began before archaeology developed as a professional field, and so, by present standards, the field technique of Schliemann's work leaves a lot to be desired. His excavations were largely well done by the standards of his time. Indeed, further excavation of the Troy site by others has indicated that the level he named the Troy of the Iliad was not correct.

He had a gift for languages and by the end of his life he was familiar with English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, Swedish, Italian, Greek, Latin, Russian, Arabic and Turkish apart from his native German. Schliemann's language ability was an important part of his previous career as a businessman in the importing trade. The fortune he made there enabled him to retire early and pursue his archaeological interests later in his life.

While Schliemann was visiting his brother in the California gold fields, California was made a state, giving him and other current occupants United States citizenship.

Schliemann has been accused of embellishing his stories.

External link

• Heinrich Schliemann: Heros & Mythos (http://www.utexas.edu/courses/wilson/ant304/biography/arybios97/kingbio.html) by Wellington King

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