486
pages, University of California Press, ISBN-13: 978-0520208681
The
excavation of Troy has always been considered an extremely important event in
the history of archaeology, due to the fact that very existence of Troy was
considered a myth birthed by Homer. In Finding
the Walls of Troy: Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlik Susan
Heuck Allen shows how the eccentric, business man/archaeologist, Heinrich Schliemann
proved this myth to be reality as she explores all aspects of the modern
discovery of Troy by explaining how valuable the input of English diplomat,
Frank Calvert, was in Schliemann’s announcement to the world he had found the
supposed mythological Homeric Troy. This book is not only excellently
referenced but holds the extra quality of being able to tie the current events
of 19th Century Asian Minor politics to the fascinating story of how
Heinrich Schliemann basically cheated Frank Calvert out of the credit he
deserved in Troy's discovery.
While
Schliemann's putative work is well-known, Calvert's role therein has not been
as readily available until now in this excellent book that carefully addresses
that lacuna. Assiduously researching Calvert family connections and Frank
Calvert's overlooked precedents, Allen has unearthed enough detail to show
Schliemann in a different light. In some ways still a giant (he conducted important
pioneering archaeological work at Mycenae and elsewhere), Schliemann is not
completely tarnished, since he did return Troy to the world's attention as a
real place, not just myth alongside Homeric poetic epic. But it is important to
underscore Allen's finding that Calvert – not Schliemann – was the first to dig
at Hisarlik (Troy). Here history and good sleuthing reveal Schliemann is still
valuable for formative Troy research and archaeological history, although
Calvert deserves far more credit than previously given. This informative book
will help in resolving that difficult problem.
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