12. The Man Who Discovered Not One Troy, But Nine
German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann (1822 – 1890) was convinced that there was actual truth in the Iliad, and set out to prove it. From 1870 to 1890, he conducted archaeological excavations at a site in the northwest of the Anatolian Peninsula – the Asian part of modern Turkey. He made some initial finds of gold and silver, that convinced him that he had found Homer’s Troy. As it turned out, Schliemann had excavated the right city, but the wrong period: his initial finds dated from about 1000 years before the Trojan War.
The site of Schliemann’s archaeological digs actually held the remains of nine different Troys, that were built one atop another. Excavations continued after Schliemann’s death in 1890, and today his finds are labeled Troy I through IX. Troy VI is the likeliest candidate for Homer’s Troy. The discovery of Troy was a magnificent archaeological accomplishment, but it was not the only one by Heinrich Schliemann who, as seen below, might have been the most fortunate archaeologist to have ever lived.
