← All case files.jpg)
View as graph →
CASE #7LXXIG · 3 entities · 2 connections
Troy / The Trojan War
An amateur treasure hunter with no archaeology training found the city Homer wrote about — then illegally smuggled the gold out of the country and dynamited through the very layer he was looking for.
For centuries, most scholars considered the Trojan War described in Homer's Iliad pure legend. In 1870, wealthy businessman Heinrich Schliemann began excavating a mound in Turkey called Hisarlik and found a real ancient city — now recognized by UNESCO as the site of Troy. Whether it's actually the specific city and war Homer described remains genuinely debated.
⇄disputed
Quick facts
- →Schliemann had no formal archaeological training — he was a wealthy retired businessman obsessed with Homer since childhood.
- →He didn't find the site himself — British diplomat and amateur archaeologist Frank Calvert had already identified Hisarlik and convinced Schliemann to dig there and fund it.
- →Schliemann found a hoard of gold he called "Priam's Treasure" and illegally smuggled it out of Ottoman Turkey.
- →The treasure turned out to be roughly 1,250 years too old to actually belong to the Trojan War era described in the Iliad.
- →In his rush to dig deeper, Schliemann's crew cut a massive trench that destroyed a significant portion of the layer now believed to be Homer's actual Troy.
Entities on file
Troy (Hisarlik) (location)
Archaeological site in Turkey, confirmed by UNESCO as the location matching Homer's description of ancient Troy.
No outgoing connections on file.
Heinrich Schliemann (person)
Wealthy German businessman with no formal archaeological training who excavated Hisarlik starting in 1870, smuggling out a gold hoard he called "Priam's Treasure."
→ excavated → Troy (Hisarlik)✓documented
🧑
Frank Calvert (person)
British diplomat and amateur archaeologist who first identified Hisarlik as Troy's likely site and convinced Schliemann to fund its excavation.
→ convinced to fund and lead excavation at Hisarlik → Heinrich Schliemann✓documented