Ithaka, der Peloponnes und Troja

The first of Schliemann's descriptions of his quest to find locate Troy and the other cities of the Homeric tradition.

Schliemann (1822–1890) was a wealthy German businessman who set out on a quest to find the exact location of Troy and the other cities of the Homeric tradition by journeying to Greece and Asia Minor to conduct excavations, as described in this 1869 book.Where is Troy? For Heinrich Schliemann (1822–1890) the search for its exact location became a consuming passion. In 1869, when this book was first published, the existence of a real - as opposed to mythical - Troy was still disputed. The wealthy German businessman, linguist and speculator journeyed to Greece and Asia Minor in order to undertake excavations well before archaeology developed into a modern, scientific profession. This book describes his first expedition in 1868 to Corfu, Cephalonia, the Peloponnese and Ithaca. Schliemann was convinced that the mound of Hissarlik in Turkey was the site of Troy, and the golden artifacts of his 'treasury of Priam' persuaded the public of its historicity, though his destructive methods of excavation caused extensive damage to the site. Schliemann returned to Troy several times during the course of his career and published further books (also reissued in this series) about his discoveries.