BR. SCHLIEMANN'S DISCOVERIES. 3 



memory and finally consolidated into a not very harmonious whole, Dr, 

 Schliemann, npon finding himself in independent circumstances and pos- 

 sessed of a wife who shared his enthusiasm, determined by his own explora- 

 tions, guided by Homer's own descriptions and those of some later writers, 

 such as Pausanias and Herodotus, to prove that Homer himself was a r^'al 

 personage, and that his poems were based upon historical facts. 



Commencing his excavations in Asia Minor, some three or four years 

 ago, under a fir.man from the Turkish Government, he soon startled the sci- 

 entific world by claiming to have discovered the remains of ancient Troy 

 upon the heights now called Hassirlik. While this claim was never fully 

 admitted by archseologists, he certainly made some most interesting and 

 valuable discoveries, disinterring successively cities superimposed upon 

 cities, and exhuming from their hidden recesses relics of ancient art ex- 

 tremely important in illustrating the customs and civilization of G-reece in 

 those early times. Before he had concluded his explorations and excava- 

 tions, however, his firman from the Turkish Government expired, and oflfi- 

 cial jealousy prevented his procuring its renewal. The results of his re- 

 searches hanging been published, as well as a series of photographic pictures 

 representing the treasures found by him, known as the Hassirlik Album, it 

 is not necessary to give an extended account of them here. 



TJndiscouraged by his disappointment in Asia Minor, he obtained per- 

 mission from the Greek Government, a few months ago, to make excavations 

 at the site of Myceme, the town of Agamemnon, "King of Men," and the 

 principal city of Greece at the time of the Trojan war. The work was 

 commenced last spring, but until within the past few months attracted very 

 little attention, l^ow, however, Dr. Schliemann's discoveries are regarded 

 as among the most important of the nineteenth century, and, by many 

 archseologists, as fully corroborative of his position that Homer was a reali- 

 ty, and his poems at least historical, if not exact history. Others still doubt, 

 and await further developments and more minute and precise descriptions, 

 accompanied by photographs of the objects of gold and bronze discovered, 

 before giving their assent to the truthfulness and credibility of Dr. Schlie- 

 mann's amazing story. At all events, he has discovered the tomb of a royal 

 family, and even if it should prove not to be that of Agamemnon,- its dis- 

 covery throws much light upon the history, art and daily life of the ancient 

 Greeks, while the remarkable agreement between Homer's description of 

 their arms, utensils and accouterments and those actually found tends to 

 shatter the " Wolfian hypothesis," and place the blind poet of Argos among 

 the most reliable authors of the past. 



The first extended report of these wonderful discoveries reached this 

 country last fall and have been followed by several letters from Dr. Schlie- 

 mann himself, the last of which was received by the London Times, in the 

 latter part of December, 1876. 



"In the northern corner of the Plain of Argos, at the base of two rocky 

 mountains, one of which is 2,500 feet above the sea kvel, and whose summit 



