|
Detecting.org.uk Home >
Nazi Gold >
Priam's Treasure - The Treasures of Troy
Priam's Treasure is a cache of gold and other artefacts, which
classical archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann claimed to have
found at the site of ancient Troy.
Schliemann assigned the artefacts to the Iliadic king of
Troy, Priam. This assignment is now thought to be a result
of Schliemann's zeal to find sites and objects mentioned in
Homer. At the time the stratigraphy at Troy had not been
solidified, which was done subsequently by the
archaeologist, Carl Blegen. The layer in which Priam's
Treasure was alleged to have been found was assigned to Troy
II, whereas Priam would have been a denizen of Troy VI or
VIIa, occupied hundreds of years later.
With the rise of
modern critical history, Troy and the Trojan War were
consigned to the realms of legend. In the 1870s (in two
campaigns, 1871-73 and 1878-79) Schliemann excavated a hill
called Hissarlik in the Ottoman Empire, near the town of
Chanak (�anakkale) in north-western Anatolia. Here he
discovered the ruins of a series of ancient cities, dating
from the Bronze Age to the Roman period. Schliemann declared
one of these cities-at first Troy I, later Troy II-to be the
city of Troy, and this identification was widely accepted at
that time.
Concerning events on or about May 31, 1873, Schliemann
reported:
'In excavating this wall further and directly by the side of
the palace of King Priam, I came upon a large copper article
of the most remarkable form, which attracted my attention
all the more as I thought I saw gold behind it. In order
to withdraw the treasure from the greed of my workmen, and
to save it for archaeology, I immediately had 'paidos'
(lunch break) called. While the men were eating and
resting, I cut out the Treasure with a large knife. It
would, however, have been impossible for me to have removed
the Treasure without the help of my dear wife, who stood by
me ready to pack the things which I cut out in her shawl and
to carry them away.'
The TreasureA (non-exhaustive) catalogue of the treasure is approximately as follows:
- A copper shield
- a copper cauldron with handles
- an unknown copper artefact, perhaps the hasp of a chest
- a silver vase containing two gold diadems (the 'Jewels of
Helen'
- 8750 gold rings, buttons and other small objects,
six gold bracelets, two gold goblets
- a copper vase
- a wrought gold bottle
- two gold cups, one wrought, one cast
- a number of red terra cotta goblets
- an electrum cup (mixture of gold and silver)
- six wrought silver knife blades (which Schliemann put
forward as money)
- three silver vases with fused copper parts
- more silver goblets and vases
- thirteen copper lance heads
- fourteen copper axes
- seven copper daggers
- other copper artefacts with the key to a chest
The treasure as an art collection
Apparently, Schliemann smuggled Priam's Treasure out of
Anatolia. The Ottoman official assigned to watch the
excavation, Amin Effendi, received a prison sentence. The
Ottoman government revoked Schliemann's permission to dig
and sued him for its share of the gold. Schliemann went on
to Mycenae. There, however, the Greek Archaeological Society
sent an agent to monitor him.
Later Schliemann traded some treasure to the government of
the Ottoman Empire in exchange for permission to dig at Troy
again. It is located in the Archaeological Museum of
Istanbul. The rest was acquired in 1880 by the Imperial
Museum of Berlin (it was on display for a time at the
Pergamon Museum), in whose hands it remained until 1945,
when it disappeared from a protective bunker beneath the
Berlin Zoo.
The treasure was removed to the Soviet Union by the Red
Army. During the Cold War, the government of the Soviet
Union denied any knowledge of the fate of Priam's Treasure.
However, in 1993 the treasure turned up at the Pushkin
Museum in Moscow. The return of items taken from museums has
been arranged in a treaty with Germany but, as of June 2004,
is being blocked by museum directors in Russia. They are
keeping it, they say, as compensation for the destruction of
Russian cities by Nazi Germany in World War II.
Authenticity of the treasureThere have always been doubts about the authenticity of the
treasure. Within the last few decades these doubts have
found fuller expression in articles and books such as the
last three references below. For further information, read
the references.
References
- Smith, Philip (Editor), Heinrich Schliemann: Troy and Its
Remains: A Narrative of Researches and Discoveries Made on
the Site of Ilium, and in the Trojan Plain, Arno Press, New
York, 1976, ISBN 0-405-09855-3
- Wood, Michael, In Search of the Trojan War, New American
Library, 1987, ISBN 0-452-25960-6
- Silberman, Neil Asher, Between Past and Present:
Archaeology, Ideology and Nationalism in the Modern Middle
East, Doubleday, 1989, ISBN 0-385-41610-5
- Traill, David, Schliemann of Troy: Treasure and Deceit,
St. Martin's Press, 1997, ISBN 0-312-15647-2
From
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priam%27s_Treasure
|
