The culture of ancient civilizations. In the previous material, we only mentioned the "Priam's treasure" discovered by Heinrich Schliemann in Troy, and the main content of the article was devoted to excavations in Mycenae. But how not to tell about this treasure in detail, when we already know how the whole epic ended with the excavations on the Hisarlik hill and in Mycenae. In fact, the "treasure" is only a small part of the most valuable artifacts he found. Although, of course, spectacular. After all, the very word "treasure" sounds very tempting. Remember how passionately he dreamed of finding Tom Sawyer's treasure at Mark Twain's? Life is even more dramatic! And today we will tell you about this treasure with all the details.
First of all, however, one addition. The fact is that in the comments of one "expert" to the past material, there was a remark that, they say, it was not Schliemann Troy who dug out, but a certain Frank Calvert. Well, such a name is present in the history of excavations in Troy. But it would be nice to make a few clarifications, otherwise someone might think that this commentator really knows something there. And it was like this: seven years before Schliemann, American Vice Consul Frank Calvert really started digging on the Hisarlik hill, but on the other, opposite side of the place where Schliemann later began his excavations. He dug a hole, which was called the "Calvert Millennium Section", because the material he obtained covered the period from 1800 to 800 BC. But he did not have enough money for excavations, and that was the end of his epic. That is, he dug to dig, but found nothing! Therefore, in the first article about him was not mentioned. And here, too, by the way, I had to …
In the footsteps of Homer
As you know, "Priam's treasure" (also known as "Troy's gold", "Priam's treasure") is a unique treasure that Heinrich Schliemann found during his excavations on the Hissarlik hill in Turkey. Well, this find got its name from the name of King Priam, the ruler of the legendary Troy Homer.
And it so happened that, having hammered into his head (otherwise you can't say it!) That Homer's Iliad is nothing more than a historical source, and not a literary work, Heinrich Schliemann, having saved up a fortune, decided to find Troy, for which went to Turkey and began excavations on the Hisarlik hill. The place seemed to him similar to that described by Homer, but he absolutely believed Homer. The excavation lasted three whole years and was generally very successful, because he dug up the ruins of the ancient city on a hill. After three years of work, pleased with its results and finding the coveted Troy, Schliemann decided it was time to turn them down. After that, on June 15, 1873, he announced that he had finished all the work, packed his things … and went home. And only later it became clear that exactly one day before, while examining the excavations, he noticed something flashing in the hole in the wall not far from the city gates. Schliemann instantly realized that this was undoubtedly something valuable, found an excuse to send all the workers away, and he himself, staying with his wife Sophia (according to him, in fact, he was there alone!), Climbed into this hole. And it turned out that he was not mistaken! In a small depression between the stones, a lot of things were discovered - magnificent items made of gold, dishes made of silver, electron and copper, as well as completely preserved items of ivory and jewelry made of semiprecious stones.
Schliemann himself decided that, apparently, on the very day when the Greeks broke into Troy, someone from the family of King Priam put all these treasures into the first vessel that came under his hands and tried to hide all this, but he himself fled, but apparently, then he died, either killed by enemies, or in the fire of a fire. The main thing is that he never returned for them, and these treasures have been waiting for the arrival of Schliemann here for thousands of years, in the depression between the stones!
Whole kilograms of gold
The treasure was placed in a silver vessel with two handles and consisted of more than 10,000 items. Why so much? Yes, simply because everything that was there was counted in it. And there there were only about 1000 gold beads. By the way, the beads themselves had a very different shape: these are tubes rolled from gold, and very small beads, and beads in the form of flattened discs. It is clear that their base has rotted and disintegrated from time to time, but when all the beads were sorted and disassembled, as many as twenty luxurious threads were restored from them and a luxurious necklace was assembled from them. There were 47 gold rods alone in its lower part.
Here were found earrings with plates at the ends, rolled from a multitude of gold wires, and massive temporal rings. And also in the treasure were very elegant earrings, similar to baskets, to which figurines of the goddess were attached. A headband made of thin gold foil, bracelets, two tiaras - all this clearly belonged to women's jewelry. But the golden boat-shaped bowl, which weighed about 600 grams, was most likely used as an object of worship, but which one is unknown. When the specialists got acquainted with the treasure, they concluded that the manufacture of such items requires the presence of magnifying devices. And later, several dozen lenses made of rock crystal were found here. So the ancient jewelers were not so "dark"!
And then there were bones and lapis lazuli
In addition to gold items, bones of bulls, goats, sheep, cows, pigs and horses, and even deer and hares, as well as grains of wheat, peas and beans, were subsequently found there. Surprisingly, among the great variety of all kinds of weapons and axes, not a single one made of metal was found. All were made of stone! As for the clay vessels, some of them were molded by hand, but the other part was already made using a potter's wheel. Some of the vessels were three-legged, some were made in the shape of animals. In 1890, ritual hammer-axes were also found near the place where the treasure was discovered. And they were so perfect in shape that some scientists said they doubted that this product was from the middle of the 3rd millennium BC. The preservation of the artifacts was very high, although one of the Afghan lapis lazuli ax was damaged, since it was apparently used in antiquity. But for what? Of course, the lapis lazuli ax could not be used to cut trees! So it was some kind of ritual? But which one? Alas, it will most likely never be possible to find out!
As already established, the treasure has nothing to do with the king of Troy Priam. Piously believing Homer, Schliemann counted the gold items he found for the treasures of the Trojan king Priam. But, as it was established later, they had nothing to do with him and could not have. The fact is that they date back to 2400-2300 years. BC e., that is, ended up in the ground a thousand years before the events of the Trojan War!
Store or give away?
Schliemann was very much afraid that the local Turkish authorities would simply confiscate the found treasures and then there would be no end to them. So he smuggled them to Athens. The Turkish government, having learned about this, demanded compensation for the damage and pay him 10,000 francs. Schliemann, in turn, offered to pay 50,000 francs, if only he was allowed to continue excavations. He also made a proposal to the Greek government to build a museum in Athens at its own expense, where this treasure will be exhibited, provided that during the life of Schliemann it will remain in his property, and he will also be given permission to excavate. Greece was afraid of a quarrel with Turkey, so it refused the offer. Then Schliemann offered to buy the treasure for museums in London, Paris and Naples. But they refused for many reasons, including financial ones. As a result, Prussia, which was part of the German Empire, declared its desire to exhibit the treasure. And so it happened that Priam's treasure ended up in Berlin.
The legal field of "Priam's hoard"
At the very end of World War II in 1945, the German professor Wilhelm Unferzagt handed over Priam's treasure, along with many other works of antique art, to the Soviet military authorities. Then he was sent to the USSR as a trophy and sank into oblivion for many years. No one knew anything about him, there was no official information, so they even began to believe that he was lost altogether. But in 1993, after the collapse of the USSR, it was officially announced that the "trophies" from Berlin were stored in Moscow. And only on April 16, 1996, that is, more than half a century after the treasure came to the USSR, it was put on public display in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. The question immediately arose about the legal status of this treasure. The fact is that at one time the government of the USSR repeatedly demanded restitution, that is, the return of cultural values exported from its territory. Demand - demanded, but did not return itself. However … "the one who lives in a glass house should not throw stones at others!" That is, demanding a return from others, but not giving back yourself. Moreover, the collections of the same Dresden Gallery in Germany were returned by the Soviet side. Even though East Germany, a member of the Soviet bloc, was returned, and after the unification of the two Germans, they became the property of the entire German people. But then what about the "treasure of Priam"? It is clear that now there will be people who will speak out for the fact that this is ours, that it is “paid in blood,” that they have destroyed and stolen more from us. But one should not become like "them", but one should reason sensibly. However, it does not work sensibly yet. While the sanctions regime is in effect, the conversation is useless, our representatives say. But this is just wrong. If you are talking about the rule of law, then it is precisely according to the law that you need to act. And if we take the colonial robbers of the past as an example, then this should be stated. Like, you exported national values from the countries of the East, keep them at home, and we, by the right of the strong, will do the same. How many nuclear missiles we have!
The treasure is a fake
And now, especially for those who love to write in the comments that "they" have forged everything, stolen everything, rewrote, deceived … and scholarly historians cover these "they" for the sake of the "giants". Rejoice! You are not alone! At one time, the German writer Uwe Topper wrote the book "Falsifications of History", in which he just stated that "Priam's treasure" was made by order of Schliemann by a certain Athenian jeweler. In his opinion, it is suspicious that the style of the products is quite simple, and the boat-shaped vessel for drinks looks like a saucepan of the 19th century. According to another version, Schliemann bought all the vessels at the bazaar. The only trouble is that both of these versions are rejected by the overwhelming majority of the scientific world, and the leading, well-known ones. Although it can be assumed that they are all in a conspiracy! And, of course, the data of the special laboratory of the Russian Academy of Sciences, engaged in metallographic analyzes, confirms the antiquity of these products. And Germany would not have required crafts from us, but we would not hold on so tenaciously to them.
R. S. The topic of Trojan excavations aroused a clear interest of the VO reading public, so I would like to recommend several interesting books for independent reading. First of all this: Wood M. Troy: In Search of the Trojan War / Per. from English V. Sharapova. M., 2007; Bartonek A. Gold-rich Mycenae. M., 1991. As for the treasures of Troy, they are cataloged in the most careful way and described in the next edition: "Treasures of Troy from the excavations of Heinrich Schliemann." Catalog / Comp. L. Akimova, V. Tolstikov, T. Treister. M., 1996.
