It was 1874 when the Greek prime minister and the minister of ecclesiastical affairs and public education stood before parliament and declared that Greece would refuse to accept the priceless Treasure of Troy, discovered by German-American archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann.
Also known as Priam’s Treasure, after the legendary king of Troy immortalized in Homer’s Iliad, it consisted of 8,750 gold rings and buttons, ceremonial offerings, and silver vases. Schliemann offered the Treasure of Troy to the Greek state while requesting remarkably little in return. The archaeologist’s only desire was to be granted permission to build, at his own expense, a museum bearing his name where the Trojan treasures would be displayed.
Schliemann also sought authorization from the Greek government to excavate at Mycenae. However, Minister Ioannis Valasopoulos allegedly exclaimed sarcastically before the plenary session: “Let Schliemann take his little pots and leave us alone for good.”
Greek Prime Minister Epameinondas Deligiorgis replied more tersely: “Thank you, but we will not take it,” a statement that received the approval of the majority of parliament members. The Greek state’s refusal was largely motivated by political concerns, as the government wished to avoid any friction with the Ottomans, since the site of ancient Troy lay within the territory of the Ottoman Empire.
The excavation story of the Treasure of Troy, or Priam’s Treasure
In 1873, archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann and his team completed the excavations they had begun in 1870 at Hisarlik Hill in present-day Turkey, then part of the Ottoman Empire. Based on the Homeric accounts he had read since childhood, along with his own intuition, Schliemann believed the ancient city of Troy was buried at that site. Determined to uncover the Treasure of Troy and the riches associated with the mythical King Priam, he pressed forward despite years of disappointment. By that point, however, his expectations had not been fulfilled, and he was preparing to abandon the excavation altogether.
Then, unexpectedly, a laborer’s hoe struck a large box. When Schliemann opened it, he was astonished to discover it filled with small objects. Soon afterward, the workers uncovered even more artifacts. By the end of the excavation, the Treasure of Troy included a total of 8,833 objects, among them 8,750 gold rings and buttons. The discovery also featured 56 gold earrings and diadems glittering in the sunlight, along with a bronze shield, two gold cups and a smaller one made of electrum, kettles, silver vessels, and weapons dating from various time periods.
“It seems that some member of Priam’s family hastily closed the treasure inside this box and took it with them without having time to remove the key from the lock. But as he reached the circular wall, the enemy or the fire overtook him and he was forced to leave the box, which was immediately covered by a layer of red ash five to six inches thick and the ruins of the adjacent royal palace…,” the archaeologist wrote in his diary.
Breeching the agreement with Turkish authorities
The archaeologist had reached an agreement with the Ottoman authorities stipulating that any finds would be divided equally. However, Schliemann, who was not only an archaeologist but also an adventurer at heart, was unwilling to surrender half of the Treasure of Troy to the Ottoman state. Instead, he concealed news of the discovery and distributed the artifacts among a circle of trusted associates, most notably Fred Calvert, the United States consul in the Dardanelles.
As a naturalized US citizen, Schliemann relied on American assistance to move the priceless findings out of the excavation site. The Treasure of Troy was secretly packed into baskets and transported by boat to Ermoupoli on the island of Syros. Shortly thereafter, Schliemann transferred the collection to Athens. Once the Ottoman authorities became aware of what had taken place, they dismissed Amin Effendi, the official overseeing the excavation, and initiated legal action against Schliemann.
They also brought the case before the Greek courts, which ruled a few months later that the archaeologist was required to pay the Imperial Archaeological Museum of Constantinople 10,000 French gold francs in compensation. Under a later settlement, this amount was increased fivefold, ultimately reaching 50,000 French gold francs. Although Schliemann was compelled to pay the fine, he effectively retained control over the entire Treasure of Troy. In the autumn of 1873, he published two volumes in Paris and Leipzig, titled Trojan Antiquities (in French) and Atlas of Trojan Antiquities (in German) in which he documented in detail everything he had uncovered.
Settling in Greece
By this time, Schliemann had already established a firm base in Greece. In 1869, he married Sophia Egastromenou, a young Greek woman who also accompanied him on his excavations. Following the dissolution of his first marriage, Schliemann had long insisted on marrying a Greek wife. With the assistance of his friend, university professor Theoklitos Vibos, he sought a suitable candidate who, as he reportedly described, should “have black hair and, if possible, be beautiful.” He placed less emphasis on social standing, provided that she was obedient, kind-hearted, educated, and, above all, a devoted admirer of Homer.
At the time of their marriage, Schliemann was forty-seven years old, while Sophia was seventeen. The couple later had two children, whom they named after figures from Ancient Greek mythology. Their daughter was named Andromache, while their son was called Agamemnon.
It was Sophia who ultimately encouraged Schliemann to keep the Treasure of Troy in Greece. By the end of 1873, he presented the Greek government under Prime Minister Epaminondas Deligiorgis with a highly ambitious proposal. He offered, at his own expense, to construct a museum valued at 200,000 gold francs to house his discoveries, requesting in return lifetime directorship of the institution. After his death, ownership of the museum would pass on to the Greek state. He also renewed his long-standing request for permission to conduct excavations at Mycenae.
The Greek government’s refusal of the Treasure of Troy
The Greek government ultimately refused to accept the Treasure of Troy offered by Schliemann. The primary reason was the desire to avoid a serious diplomatic incident. The German-American archaeologist had previously signed an agreement to share his finds with the Ottoman authorities, yet he violated its terms by secretly smuggling the treasure to Greece. As a result, Greek officials were wary of accepting it, fearing it could provoke open conflict with the Ottoman Empire, which still held legal claims over the territory and the discovery.
There were also practical and scholarly concerns behind the decision. Government officials considered the cost of insuring and maintaining such a vast collection to be excessive. In addition, there was significant skepticism among Greek scholars and administrators regarding the authenticity of the objects as genuine relics of the Trojan War. For these combined reasons, the proposal was formally and solemnly rejected.
Nevertheless, the Greek prime minister did grant Schliemann permission to conduct excavations at Mycenae, provided that his work would be supervised by the appropriate authorities. Schliemann proceeded with the project and, in 1876, uncovered the first enclosure and the shaft graves located behind the Lion Gate, the principal entrance to the acropolis of Mycenae.
The long journey of the treasure
With no other viable option, Schliemann transferred the Treasure of Troy in 1877 to the South Kensington Museum in London, where it attracted immense public interest. By 1880, hundreds of thousands of visitors had come to view the collection, drawn by its extraordinary association with Homeric legend and ancient history.
Later on, the German anthropologist and archaeologist Professor Rudolf Virchow persuaded Schliemann to donate the Treasure of Troy to Germany, his country of origin. In exchange, Schliemann was awarded a medal and granted honorary citizenship of Berlin. He subsequently donated the priceless collection to the Pergamon Museum in Berlin. In 1937, the artifacts were moved to the museum’s underground vault in anticipation of possible air raids, as the treasure represented one of its most valuable holdings. They were later relocated to an air-raid shelter constructed at the Berlin Zoo, where they remained until May 1945, when the Soviet Army entered the city.
Following the collapse of the Nazi regime, Soviet forces transported the Treasure of Troy to Moscow, where it remained concealed for decades. Throughout the Cold War, Soviet authorities consistently denied any knowledge of its whereabouts. The collection reemerged unexpectedly in 1993 in the storerooms of the Pushkin Museum, the largest museum of European art not only in Moscow but across Europe.
In July of that same year, during an official visit to Athens, Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced that the treasure would be sent to the Greek capital for a temporary exhibition in the Ilios Melathron, the neoclassical building on Panepistimiou Street, designed by Heinrich Schliemann in 1878 as his residence and home to the Numismatic Museum of Athens. However, the Russian parliament ultimately rejected the proposal, and the Treasure of Troy remained in Russia.
Today, the precious objects uncovered during the archaeological excavation are displayed in secure cases at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, despite repeated requests from Germany for their return to Berlin.
Few pieces left in Greece
Schliemann passed away in 1890 and was buried in the First Cemetery of Athens. Over time, a small portion of the gold rings and buttons from the Treasure of Troy entered the hands of antique dealers and is now displayed at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia in the United States. Only a limited number of finds that Sophia Schliemann had kept for herself remain in Greece. She arranged for these objects to be transferred to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens after her death in 1932. The collection includes clay vessels, tools, marble figurines, and other small artifacts, which were presented to the public for the first time in 2017.
While Schliemann believed he had uncovered Homeric Troy through his excavations, later archaeological research demonstrated otherwise. What the German-American archaeologist discovered was one of nine distinct cities that had been built on the same site across different historical periods. As a result, the so-called Treasure of Troy is not directly associated with the legendary Treasure of Priam, since the finds predate the traditionally assumed era of the Trojan War, placed in the 12th century BC. Although they may appear less significant in symbolic terms, their archaeological importance remains substantial, and in many respects their value is even greater due to their far greater antiquity.
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