Finding the walls of Troy

by Susan Heuck Allen

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 inte