Finding the walls of Troy

The relentlessly self-promoting Heinrich Schliemann took entire credit for discovering Homer's Troy. For over 100 years that credit has been accorded to him, and generations have thrilled to the tale of his ambitions and achievements. But Schliemann gained this status as an archaeological hero partly by deliberately eclipsing the man who had guided him. Now at long last, Susan Heuck Allen puts the record straight, and restores the British archaeologist Frank Calvert to his rightful place in the story of the identification and excavation of the city of Priam. Frank Calvert had lived in the Troad and, excavating there for 15 years before Schliemann arrived, learned the local topography and stratigraphy. He was the first archaeologist to test the hypothesis that the mound at Hisarlik would be a good place to look for the Troy of Hector and Helen. To have unrestricted access to the site, he purchased part of the mound and conducted the first excavations there. Running out of funds, he interested Schliemann in the site and aided him in his excavations. The thankless Schliemann stole Calvert's ideas, exploited his knowledge and advice, and finally, by successfully foisting upon and impressionable and unsuspecting world his claim to be the man who first unearthed the walls of Troy, stole Calvert's glory and subjected Calvert, his benefactor, to the century of oblivion from which Susan Heuck Allen has now rescued him. This meticulously researched book tells the story of Calvert's development as an archaeologist, and of his adventures and discoveries. It focuses on the twists and turns of his turbulent relationship with the perfidious Schliemann, and on the successful conclusion of their quest. Allen shows how Calvert came to believe that Troy was at Hisarlik, how he excavated there, and how he lost the credit for his find. - Jacket flap.