German archaeologist and excavator of Mycenae and Tiryns, but best known for his discovery of Troy. He began his career as an agent for an Amsterdam firm and, through the connections he built up, started his own business, very soon amassing a large fortune by selling arms during the Crimea War. Retiring at the age of 36, he then devoted himself to the study of prehistoric archaeology. Notwithstanding, he never took his eyes off the main chance and was not averse to doing sharp deals to make money for himself whenever the opportunity offered. Much is known and more is suspected about him smuggling artifacts illegally out of Turkey. But the recent biography Schliemann of Troy Treasure and Deceit (1995) by David A. Traill goes much further than any previous account, suggesting that Schliemann was not only a pathological liar but that his famous finds at Troy and Mycenae were to varying degrees faked.
The main documents that Traill uses to substantiate his allegations are those written by Schliemann himself, and it is the discrepancies within and between his diaries, his correspondence, and his published accounts, including his books, that Traill draws upon. He revealed that Schliemann claimed credit for ideas that were not his own and that he published reports of discoveries that were very different from his diary records; for example, the so- called Priam’s treasure (now in Berlin) was not found inside the walls of Troy, but outside, and the published accounts of the hoard contains articles that were not found at the time but brought in, by an unknown source, to enhance the importance of the find. Also in doubt is the famous mask of Agamemnon (now in the National Museum in Athens) that is said to have been found with other gold masks in shaft graves IV and V at Mycenae.