This week, I finished the book:
It was great!
Here’s a summary from gpt5.1:
The Gold of Troy: Story of Heinrich Schliemann and the Buried Cities of Ancient Greece tells the dramatic story of Heinrich Schliemann, a wealthy, self-taught archaeologist whose obsession with Homer’s epics drove him to search for the real Troy. The book traces Schliemann’s rise from impoverished beginnings to international fame, focusing on his excavations at Hisarlik in modern-day Turkey and his discovery of what he claimed was “Priam’s Treasure.” It explores both his groundbreaking contributions to archaeology—helping to uncover lost Bronze Age civilizations such as Troy and Mycenae—and the controversies surrounding his methods, exaggerations, and destruction of archaeological layers. Overall, the book presents Schliemann as a complex figure: visionary and passionate, yet reckless, whose legacy reshaped our understanding of ancient Greece while raising lasting ethical questions about archaeological practice.
Reckless. Yep.
Heinrich Schliemann was something else. Not a nice guy, very driven, yet got things done. Probably caused a lot of damage, but probably less than some and less than tomb raiders and locals that just wanted stone to make houses and bridges.
The book had what I really wanted was a light biography and a walk through his “discoveries” of Troy and Mycenae.
It was not so much that he discovered the sites, they were known and somewhat protected.
He was obsessed and explored/dug them up, without permission, then worked out a deal so he had permission.
It was his drive, and deal making, and network that got things done. Perhaps no one else could have at that time.
Good stuff.