In our quest to discover if the Trojan War was a verifiable historical event we have to grapple with the amateur archaeologist who first tried to solve that mystery. Heinrich Schliemann believed that he had found real proof that the city of Troy actually existed. His discoveries were some of the most celebrated archaeological finds of the late 19th century, which earned him the moniker “the father of archaeology”. But Schliemann was also a prolific liar who freely misrepresented his findings and invented wild stories about his personal life. Can we trust one of academia’s greatest scoundrels? Tune in and find out how missing gold dust, fake treasures, Mike Meyers, and PT Barnum all play role in the story!

Works Cited

Alexander, Caroline. The War That Killed Achilles: The True Story of the Iliad. London: Faber and Faber, 2011. Print.

Allen, Susan Heuck. Finding the Walls of Troy: Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlík. Berkeley, CA: U of California, 2010. Print.

Cline, Eric H. The Modern Scholar: Archaeology and the Iliad: The Trojan War in Homer and History. Recorded Books, 2008. Audiobook.

Cline, Eric H. The Trojan War: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford UP, 2013. Print.

Easton, D. F. “Heinrich Schliemann: Hero or Fraud?” The Classical World 91.5 (1998): 335. Print.

Homer, A. T. Murray, and William F. Wyatt. Iliad. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2003. Print.

Latacz, Joachim. Troy and Homer: Towards a Solution of an Old Mystery. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. Print.

Traill, David A. Schliemann of Troy: Treasure and Deceit. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1997. Print.