OBITUARIES, FOREIGN. (SCHLIEMANN.) 



689 



skeletons, with other relics pointing unmistakably to 

 the legendary Troy. His book aroused bitter con- 

 troversy and his critics urged that his proofs were 

 entirely insufficient to establish his contention, in 

 view of the many inconsistencies involved in! the con- 

 ditions of the Homeric narrative. The same year Dr. 

 Schliemann, with the consent of the Greek Govern- 

 ment, turned his attention to Mycenae, the capital of 

 Argolis and the legendary seat of Agamemnon, which 

 he had visited and surveyed in 1867. The ruins of 

 the ancient Acropolis were well defined, and it was 

 called by the villagers the Fort of Agamemnon, where 

 they also showed what was known as the treasury 

 of Atreus. Excavations were made with a force of 

 one hundred and twenty-five laborers and the re- 

 mains of an outer wall were speedily uncovered, 

 within which Dr. Schliemann discovered elaborately 

 sculptured slabs, which he believed to be tombstones. 

 Ancient tradition speaks of the sepulchre of Atreus 

 and of the tombs of Agamemnon and his companions, 

 who were slain by yEgisthus. The sculptures on the 

 slabs corresponded with those of the Gate of the Lions, 

 in the Acropolis. Below one row of the tombstones, at 

 a depth of fifteen feet beneath the surface of the rock, 

 was tound a square tomb with a number of golden 

 ornaments. Below the other row was uncovered 

 another large excavation surrounded by a Cyclopean 

 wall, and containing bodies with many golden orna- 

 ments. In the close vicinity he unearthed twelve 

 other sepulchres and a Cyclopean tomb in which were 

 found ornaments of jasper, whorls of blue stone, and 

 painted archaic vases. The circle of slabs marking 

 these tombs, about 555 feet round, displayed archaic 

 sculptures in bas-relief. Near the Gate of the Lions 

 he excavated a great treasury containing many pre- 

 cious articles, dome shaped like the treasury of Atreus. 

 Many idols of Oriental type, fifteen varieties of jew- 

 elry, weapons and other articles of bronze, vases, 

 and engraved jewels were found here. Adjoining 

 this treasury he excavated a series of ancient walls 

 and corridors leading to a Cyclopean house which 

 contained various articles of use and ornament. Near 

 the circle of tombstones where he had begun to 

 excavate a vast house was uncovered with many 

 chambers and corridors, which Dr. Schliemann pro- 

 nounced to be the royal palace. Many interesting 

 implements and articles of lewelry were found, terra- 

 cotta vases painted with the figures of warriors in 

 armor, many of them with crocodiles as handles and 

 engraved with what might be hieroglyphics, and vases 

 of brass. Dr. Schliemann's belief was that he had 

 found the genuine relics of Agamemnon and the an- 

 cient race of Argive kings. There can be no question 

 that these remains date far back to prehistoric days. 

 The account of these excavations was given to the 

 world in 1877 in his " Mycenae : a Narrative of Re- 

 searches and Discoveries at Mycenae and Tiryns," 

 to which Mr. Gladstone contributed a preface. But 

 though the name of Tiryns appears on the title page, 

 it was not till some years later that the doctor, with 

 the assistance of Dr.'Dorpfeld, undertook the system- 

 atic excavation of the latter site, the fabled capital of 

 Perseus and long famous for its Cyclopean walls. 

 Just prior to the publication of his book on Mycenaa 

 Dr. Schliemann visited England, bringing with him 

 the treasures of Hissarlik, which were exhibited at the 

 South Kensington Museum. It was his intention to 

 have made them a gift to the British Museum, but he 

 took umbrage at satirical remarks at the expense of 

 his scholarship published in some of the English 

 papers, and transferred his gift to the Royal Museum 

 at Berlinj to which his will finally bequeathes them. 

 Dr. Schliemann, however, was received with many 

 honors in England. The Society of Antiquaries and 

 other learned bodies admitted him to their fellowship, 

 and the University of Oxford made him a D. C. L. 

 Queen's College also elected him an honorary fellow, 

 a compliment which he shares with two other great 

 archaeologists Dr. Birch and M. Maspero. The 

 spoils of the tombs of Mycenae became the property of 

 the Greek Government, where they are admirably ex- 

 VOL. xxx. 44 A 



hibited at one of the museums of Athens. In 1878- 

 '79 Dr. Schliemann turned his attention once more to 

 the Troad, and resumed his diggings at Hissarlik. 

 His investigation was rewarded by finding a sixth 

 subterranean city, and he now came to the conclusion 

 that the ancient Ilium must be identified with the 

 third city from the top instead of the second. These 

 revised views with an account of his researches were 

 published in 18SO under the name of " Ilios, the City 

 and Country of the Trojans," and it contained pref- 

 ace, notes, and appendices by such famous scholars 

 as Profs. Rudolf Virchow, Max Muller, A. H. 

 Sayce, J. P. Mahaffy, H. Brugsch Bey, M. E. Bur- 

 nouf, and others. In 1882 Dr. Schhemann's steps 

 were once more drawn to this fascinating region, and 

 the results of still further investigation were recorded 

 in " Troja, Results of the Latest Researches and Dis- 

 coveries on the Site of Homer's Troy," to which book 

 Prof. Sayce contributed an introduction. In this he 

 announced his conviction that the second city from 

 the bottom was the legendary Troy. He claims to 

 have finally proved the existence of a great city de- 

 stroyed by a catastrophe, and that the hill of Hissarlik 

 was only its acropolis, while the lower city extend- 

 ing around was the site of the later Ilium ; and 

 finally that these conditions fully answered the 

 Homeric description. The controversy over Schlie- 

 mann's discoveries, humorously known as the 

 "Modern War of Troy," has raged spasmodically 

 ever since they were first announced, and one of the 

 most notable attacks was that made by Capt. Boet- 

 ticher, who asserted that the ruins unearthed at 

 Hissarlik were not those of ancient cities, but of a 

 great necropolis. The investigations, however, of 

 such scholars as Stephen, Neumann, and Virchow 

 through the tunnels and galleries made by Schlie- 

 mann was fatal to Boetticher's argument. Again last 

 summer (1890) the great excavator returned to the 

 work at Hissarlik and made important new discover- 

 ies. In 1884 Dr. Schliemann and Dr. Dorpfeld ex- 

 plored the acropolis and Palace of the Kings at 

 Tiryns. These structures were completely uncovered, 

 showing the design, method of building, style of 

 ornamentation, etc. The strong analogies between 

 the remains at Tiryns and those at Mycenae and Or- 

 chomenos led Schliemann to believe that all _ these 

 cities had been destroyed at a remote prehistoric 

 period. "Tiryns" was published in 1885. The 

 same year he investigated the tumulus at Marathon, 

 which had been by tradition assigned as the burial 

 place of the dead slain in battle at that site. While 

 many archaic remains of interest were exhumed, 

 there was no evidence that it was the polyandrion 

 of the 192 Athenians slain in battle with the Persians. 

 The latter part of Dr. Schliemann's life was spent at 

 Athens, where he had built a marble palace and en- 

 tertained scholars with princely hospitality from all 

 parts of the World. He had married a Greek lady for 

 a second wife, his first having been a Russian from 

 whom he obtained a divorce in Indianapolia. United 

 States in 1868. While it will remain more than doubtful 

 whether the relics of the prehistoric city discovered 

 bv him were the remains of the city whose fall was 

 tne traditional basis of the tale of Troy, his contri- 

 butions as a discoverer are in many respects trans- 

 cendent. By his efforts our knowledge of civilization 

 in Greece and the Levant has been extended back 

 nearly a thousand years. His enthusiasm probably 

 was a serious detriment to exact and judicious schol- 

 arship, and led him into many blunders of detail and 

 errors of conclusion. Yet without this he never 

 could have stirred up the interest in the archaeology 

 of prehistoric Greece which has led and is leading 

 to so many important results. He demonstrated the 

 value of the spade as an instrument of investigation 

 even to a greater extent than did Sir Henry Austen 

 Layard, who excavated at ancient Nineveh and laid 

 the foundation of Assyriology. To the impulse giv- 

 en by his discoveries may be credited the valuable 

 work done in recent years in excavating in Egypt and 

 Greece. The results of his discoveries, though not 



