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The Gold of Troy
s/t: The Story of Heinrich Schliemann & the Buried Cities of Ancient Greece
The eccentric tycoon who set out to uncover buried Troy
Son of a lecherous Mecklenburg pastor he started life as a grocers boy.
He made three fortunes and had an income of £1500000 a year at forty.
In youth he renounced the company of women, making do with hairdressers' wax models examined hungrily through shop windows.
His first wife was a frigid neurotic and his second (selected from a photograph) was only seventeen and took her dolls with her on her honeymoon.
He was cantankerous, litigious and quarrelsome - but he has won lasting fame for his discoveries in the buried cities of Ancient Greece.
His name was Heinrich Schliemann. Here is his extraordinary story.
The eccentric tycoon who set out to uncover buried Troy
Son of a lecherous Mecklenburg pastor he started life as a grocers boy.
He made three fortunes and had an income of £1500000 a year at forty.
In youth he renounced the company of women, making do with hairdressers' wax models examined hungrily through shop windows.
His first wife was a frigid neurotic and his second (selected from a photograph) was only seventeen and took her dolls with her on her honeymoon.
He was cantankerous, litigious and quarrelsome - but he has won lasting fame for his discoveries in the buried cities of Ancient Greece.
His name was Heinrich Schliemann. Here is his extraordinary story.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
3 people are currently reading
120 people want to read
About the author
Robert Payne
342 books36 followersPierre Stephen Robert Payne was born December 4, 1911, in Saltash, County of Cornwall, England, the son of Stephen Payne, a naval architect, and Mireille Louise Antonia (Dorey) Payne, a native of France. Payne was the eldest of three brothers. His middle brother was Alan (Marcel Alan), and his youngest brother was Tony, who died at the age of seven.
Payne went to St. Paul's School, London. He attended the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, South Africa, 1929-30; the University of Capetown, 1928-1930; Liverpool University, 1933-35; the University of Munich, summer, 1937, and the Sorbonne, in Paris, 1938.
Payne first followed his father into shipbuilding, working as a shipwright's apprentice at Cammell, Laird's Shipbuilding Company, Birkendhead, 1931-33. He also worked for the Inland Revenue as an Assistant Inspector of Taxes in Guilford in 1936. In 1937-38 he traveled in Europe and, while in Munich, met Adolf Hitler through Rudolf Hess, an incident which Payne vividly describes in his book Eyewitness. In 1938 Payne covered the Civil War in Spain for the London News Chronicle, an experience that resulted in two books, A Young Man Looks at Europe and The Song of the Peasant.
From 1939 to 1941 Payne worked as a shipwright at the Singapore Naval Base and in 1941 he became an armament officer and chief camouflage officer for British Army Intelligence there. In December, 1941, he was sent to Chungking, China, to serve as Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy.
In January, 1942, he covered the battle of Changsha for the London Times, and from 1942 to 1943 he taught English literature at Fuhtan University, near Chungking. Then, persuaded by Joseph Needham, he went to Kunming and taught poetry and naval architecture at Lienta University from 1943 to 1946. The universities of Peking, Tsinghua, and Nankai had converged in Kunming to form the University at Lienta. It was there that Payne, together with Chinese scholars and poets, compiled and co-translated The White Pony.
In China Payne met General George C. Marshall, Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao Tse-tung, who was elusive and living in the caves of Yenan, all of whom later became subjects for his biographies. From his time in China also came the autobiographical volumes Forever China and China Awake, and the historical novels Love and Peace and The Lovers.
From China, Payne briefly visited India in the summer, 1946, which resulted in a love for Indian art. Throughout his life, Payne retained a love for all forms of oriental art.
He came to the United States in the winter of 1946 and lived in Los Angeles, California, until he became Professor of English and Author-in-Residence at Alabama College, Montevallo, 1949-54. He was the founding editor of Montevallo Review, whose contributors included poets Charles Olson and Muriel Rukeyser. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1953.
In Spring, 1949, Payne visited Persia with the Asia Institute Expedition. He received an M.A. degree from the Asia Institute in 1951.
In 1954 Payne moved to New York City, where he lived the rest of his life, interrupted once or twice a year by travel to the Middle East, the Far East, and Europe, mostly to gather material for his books, but also to visit his mother and father in England. His very close literary relationship with his father is documented in the hundreds of highly personal and informative letters which they exchanged.
In 1942, Payne married Rose Hsiung, daughter of Hsiung Hse-ling, a former prime minister of China. They divorced in 1952. In 1981, he married Sheila Lalwani, originally from India.
Over a period of forty-seven years Payne had more than 110 books published. He wrote his first novella, Adventures of Sylvia, Queen of Denmark and China, when he was seven years old. Payne's first publication was a translation of Iiuri Olesha's Envy, published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press in 1936. A year later, T.S. Eliot published his novel The War in the Marshes under
Payne went to St. Paul's School, London. He attended the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, South Africa, 1929-30; the University of Capetown, 1928-1930; Liverpool University, 1933-35; the University of Munich, summer, 1937, and the Sorbonne, in Paris, 1938.
Payne first followed his father into shipbuilding, working as a shipwright's apprentice at Cammell, Laird's Shipbuilding Company, Birkendhead, 1931-33. He also worked for the Inland Revenue as an Assistant Inspector of Taxes in Guilford in 1936. In 1937-38 he traveled in Europe and, while in Munich, met Adolf Hitler through Rudolf Hess, an incident which Payne vividly describes in his book Eyewitness. In 1938 Payne covered the Civil War in Spain for the London News Chronicle, an experience that resulted in two books, A Young Man Looks at Europe and The Song of the Peasant.
From 1939 to 1941 Payne worked as a shipwright at the Singapore Naval Base and in 1941 he became an armament officer and chief camouflage officer for British Army Intelligence there. In December, 1941, he was sent to Chungking, China, to serve as Cultural Attaché at the British Embassy.
In January, 1942, he covered the battle of Changsha for the London Times, and from 1942 to 1943 he taught English literature at Fuhtan University, near Chungking. Then, persuaded by Joseph Needham, he went to Kunming and taught poetry and naval architecture at Lienta University from 1943 to 1946. The universities of Peking, Tsinghua, and Nankai had converged in Kunming to form the University at Lienta. It was there that Payne, together with Chinese scholars and poets, compiled and co-translated The White Pony.
In China Payne met General George C. Marshall, Chiang Kai-shek, and Mao Tse-tung, who was elusive and living in the caves of Yenan, all of whom later became subjects for his biographies. From his time in China also came the autobiographical volumes Forever China and China Awake, and the historical novels Love and Peace and The Lovers.
From China, Payne briefly visited India in the summer, 1946, which resulted in a love for Indian art. Throughout his life, Payne retained a love for all forms of oriental art.
He came to the United States in the winter of 1946 and lived in Los Angeles, California, until he became Professor of English and Author-in-Residence at Alabama College, Montevallo, 1949-54. He was the founding editor of Montevallo Review, whose contributors included poets Charles Olson and Muriel Rukeyser. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1953.
In Spring, 1949, Payne visited Persia with the Asia Institute Expedition. He received an M.A. degree from the Asia Institute in 1951.
In 1954 Payne moved to New York City, where he lived the rest of his life, interrupted once or twice a year by travel to the Middle East, the Far East, and Europe, mostly to gather material for his books, but also to visit his mother and father in England. His very close literary relationship with his father is documented in the hundreds of highly personal and informative letters which they exchanged.
In 1942, Payne married Rose Hsiung, daughter of Hsiung Hse-ling, a former prime minister of China. They divorced in 1952. In 1981, he married Sheila Lalwani, originally from India.
Over a period of forty-seven years Payne had more than 110 books published. He wrote his first novella, Adventures of Sylvia, Queen of Denmark and China, when he was seven years old. Payne's first publication was a translation of Iiuri Olesha's Envy, published by Virginia and Leonard Woolf's Hogarth Press in 1936. A year later, T.S. Eliot published his novel The War in the Marshes under
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
July 10, 2024
I have been obsessed with Greek mythology since I was nine, and Odysseus my hero. But I always believed Troy was a kingdom carved entirely in fiction, immortalized figments of Homer's epic imagination.
Then along comes John Payne's book on Heinrich Schliemann: polyglot, megalomaniac, dreamer. Self-taught scholar and discoverer of fabled Troy. If he sounds familiar, blame it on fiction, which has produced countless mavericks in the belligerently obsessive, demoniacal mold of archaic archaeologist Herr Schliemann. Yet, even without his crowning archaeological achievements, Schliemann's Dickensian oeuvre, those Conrad-worthy travels and travails at sea, indeed, a life lived in numerous eventful, almost incredulous acts--would have been well worth the read.
Payne tells Schliemann's story in ten chapters. The first (An Enchanted Childhood) feels like an early chapter from a Dickens tale, while the second (The Storm) reads like a short story by Joseph Conrad. At this point, most readers are hooked for the long haul. And as the next five chapters reveal, it's quite the haul for Herr Schliemann, both as a business magnate and citizen of the world--his businesses spanned Germany, Russia, France, Greece, and the United States--and as a treasure hunter-cum-collection adventurer which, back in the day was termed an archaeologist. The last two chapters (The Last Years and The Enduring Flame) tell of Schliemann's creeping infirmities and increasing eccentricities, of his unceasing curiosity and obsession with antiquity, and the eventual fates of his discoveries.
The eighth chapter captivated me most, and is not so much about Heinreich Schliemann but of the all-star cast of characters from Homer's Iliad and The Odyssey, whose stories have spanned centuries and continue to flourish in man's creative consciousness. Unsentimental as he was in telling Schliemann's story, Payne does not hold back in extolling Priam's nobility of spirit, whom "Herodotus found it difficult to believe was mad enough to sacrifice Troy and all the Trojans simply in order that Paris might possess Helen," and the virtuousness of Hector, "the man caught in the web, waiting impatiently for his own doom, dissembling, hoping for a way of escape, falling into dreams and out of them, remembering his childhood, more aware than anyone else of the evanescence of life and the terrible responsibilities he carries." Precisely he identifies Odysseus as "the man who cares little for the gods, but relies on his own rude strength," who "is an excellent soldier, and the rankest amateur as a sailor, for how otherwise would he have taken so long to make the comparatively short journey from the Dardanelles to Ithaca?" Meanwhile, Achilles is "the hero in love with death, the violently anarchic monster in the human soul," who "kills for the pure joy of killing, contemptuous of danger, certain only of the blessedness of destruction. To say he is ruthless and vengeful is to underestimate his terrible sobriety. He kills aimlessly, as huntsmen kill. He is without any sense of guilt, and cares nothing for the old or the very young. Achilles did not take part in the Trojan war to rescue Helen: he went because he wanted to kill and because he wanted to see all Troy reduced to ashes and flame." Thus comprises the eighth chapter, aptly called The Heroes. And all too human, one and all.
Three and a half stars.
Then along comes John Payne's book on Heinrich Schliemann: polyglot, megalomaniac, dreamer. Self-taught scholar and discoverer of fabled Troy. If he sounds familiar, blame it on fiction, which has produced countless mavericks in the belligerently obsessive, demoniacal mold of archaic archaeologist Herr Schliemann. Yet, even without his crowning archaeological achievements, Schliemann's Dickensian oeuvre, those Conrad-worthy travels and travails at sea, indeed, a life lived in numerous eventful, almost incredulous acts--would have been well worth the read.
Payne tells Schliemann's story in ten chapters. The first (An Enchanted Childhood) feels like an early chapter from a Dickens tale, while the second (The Storm) reads like a short story by Joseph Conrad. At this point, most readers are hooked for the long haul. And as the next five chapters reveal, it's quite the haul for Herr Schliemann, both as a business magnate and citizen of the world--his businesses spanned Germany, Russia, France, Greece, and the United States--and as a treasure hunter-cum-collection adventurer which, back in the day was termed an archaeologist. The last two chapters (The Last Years and The Enduring Flame) tell of Schliemann's creeping infirmities and increasing eccentricities, of his unceasing curiosity and obsession with antiquity, and the eventual fates of his discoveries.
The eighth chapter captivated me most, and is not so much about Heinreich Schliemann but of the all-star cast of characters from Homer's Iliad and The Odyssey, whose stories have spanned centuries and continue to flourish in man's creative consciousness. Unsentimental as he was in telling Schliemann's story, Payne does not hold back in extolling Priam's nobility of spirit, whom "Herodotus found it difficult to believe was mad enough to sacrifice Troy and all the Trojans simply in order that Paris might possess Helen," and the virtuousness of Hector, "the man caught in the web, waiting impatiently for his own doom, dissembling, hoping for a way of escape, falling into dreams and out of them, remembering his childhood, more aware than anyone else of the evanescence of life and the terrible responsibilities he carries." Precisely he identifies Odysseus as "the man who cares little for the gods, but relies on his own rude strength," who "is an excellent soldier, and the rankest amateur as a sailor, for how otherwise would he have taken so long to make the comparatively short journey from the Dardanelles to Ithaca?" Meanwhile, Achilles is "the hero in love with death, the violently anarchic monster in the human soul," who "kills for the pure joy of killing, contemptuous of danger, certain only of the blessedness of destruction. To say he is ruthless and vengeful is to underestimate his terrible sobriety. He kills aimlessly, as huntsmen kill. He is without any sense of guilt, and cares nothing for the old or the very young. Achilles did not take part in the Trojan war to rescue Helen: he went because he wanted to kill and because he wanted to see all Troy reduced to ashes and flame." Thus comprises the eighth chapter, aptly called The Heroes. And all too human, one and all.
Three and a half stars.
May 2, 2015
I came across this book by complete accident. It has no writing on the spine and I picked it up simply to see what it was. I read the back, then opened it and read the first couple of pages and decided from that, I just had to read it!
I'm not a scholar, have no interest in archeology or history. I rarely read biographies but this book just took a hold of me.
Schliemann led a fascinating life and this book is written in such a way that I absorbed the facts and history very easily. It was almost like reading a novel in that I did not want to put it down, I had to know the next stage of this mans life.
A truly absorbing and fascinating read.
I'm not a scholar, have no interest in archeology or history. I rarely read biographies but this book just took a hold of me.
Schliemann led a fascinating life and this book is written in such a way that I absorbed the facts and history very easily. It was almost like reading a novel in that I did not want to put it down, I had to know the next stage of this mans life.
A truly absorbing and fascinating read.
May 7, 2011
Inspired by my Latin teacher in high school I read this exciting story of Heinrich Schliemann's search for the real city of Troy. She was married to an archaeologist and they would spend summers in Central America. While learning Latin I was also learning about the Greek culture that so heavily influenced Rome. In doing so I was led inexorably to this exciting story of the man who believed that Homer's Troy was a real place. Schliemann was vindicated and Robert Payne's book tells about his incredible journey in search of his dream. This is an excellent book to read in conjunction with The Iliad to more completely savour the grandeur that was Mycenaen culture.
March 6, 2023
Definetly a product of its time, it fails to satisfyingly provide commentary on the actions and opinions of Schliemann, though it does provide a broad view of his life with many insights into why he did what he did.
I especially enjoyed the last chapter, where it briefly went over the recent discoveries since Schliemann's death. These payed a lovely tribute to those involved in these discoveries, and was a very satisfying ending to the book.
Overall, an interesting read with fun insights into the life of a fascinating, though very morally questionable, man who certainly did a lot throughout his life.
I especially enjoyed the last chapter, where it briefly went over the recent discoveries since Schliemann's death. These payed a lovely tribute to those involved in these discoveries, and was a very satisfying ending to the book.
Overall, an interesting read with fun insights into the life of a fascinating, though very morally questionable, man who certainly did a lot throughout his life.
January 25, 2024
Book has sat on my shelves for years. I pulled it off because it would be a short read. I'm glad I did because it filled in a lot of empty spots in my self education;alIthough I 'm sure much of it is out of date. Especially the author's overall opinion of Heinrich Schliemann. At worse he was a successful grave robber; at best a successful financier and amateur archeologist. Always a step ahead OF THE LAW/ and the feeling that the world owed him an exception to the rules of the game.
August 1, 2017
Found this book in my great grandpa's collection of old archaeological books, and decided to read it when I realised that I saw the diadem IRL just weeks before in Berlin.
This book is so fascinating! Schliemann is one of the most interesting figures I've ever read about, surprised that I'd never heard of him before.
This book is so fascinating! Schliemann is one of the most interesting figures I've ever read about, surprised that I'd never heard of him before.
January 10, 2023
The story has been told and retold, but never as well as Robert Payne.
There is a reason this book keeps being reprinted. It is easy to follow and fun to read "The story of Heinrich Schliemann and the buried cities of ancient Greece." We get a blow-by-blow telling of Schliemann's thoughts and plans as he unregenerately dives into hills and pilfering trinkets.
There is a reason this book keeps being reprinted. It is easy to follow and fun to read "The story of Heinrich Schliemann and the buried cities of ancient Greece." We get a blow-by-blow telling of Schliemann's thoughts and plans as he unregenerately dives into hills and pilfering trinkets.
November 20, 2021
An easy read. It respectfully tells the twofold story of a brilliant man and his epic discoveries, and the bitter griefs of his life, wracked by his own genius.
December 16, 2024
A wonderful book. Strangely, the account of Schliemann's early life is more thrilling than his discoveries at Troy. Delightfully written by Payne.
March 16, 2025
Absorbing and fascinating story of Heinrich Schliemann, an amateur archeologist by Robert Payne in “The Gold of Troy”.
More at
https://medium.com/@vram45/the-gold-o...
More at
https://medium.com/@vram45/the-gold-o...
January 21, 2026
A fascinating read, I hadn’t heard of Schliemann until I found this book in a charity shop.
December 10, 2022
This book attracted me from the first pages at the end of my secondary school days when I was in the school library, and since that day, for a week, I have been stuck in the library during school recess, leaving breakfast behind until I finish reading it. Perhaps the writer's style of telling the story of Heinrich Schliemann and his search for the gold of Troy and his life, which set plans to reach this gold, is what stuck with me the most.
شدني هذا الكتاب منذ الصفحات الاولى في نهاية ايام دراستي للمرحلة الثانوية حينما كنت في مكتبة المدرسة ومنذ ذلك اليوم ولمدة اسبوع وانا عالق في المكتبة في وقت الفسحة المدرسية تاركا وجبة الافطار خلف ظهري حتى انهي قرائته. ولعل اسلوب الكاتب في سرد قصة هنريش شيلمان وبحثه عن ذهب طروادة وحياته التي وضع خططها ليصل الى هذا الذهب اكثر ما علقني به
شدني هذا الكتاب منذ الصفحات الاولى في نهاية ايام دراستي للمرحلة الثانوية حينما كنت في مكتبة المدرسة ومنذ ذلك اليوم ولمدة اسبوع وانا عالق في المكتبة في وقت الفسحة المدرسية تاركا وجبة الافطار خلف ظهري حتى انهي قرائته. ولعل اسلوب الكاتب في سرد قصة هنريش شيلمان وبحثه عن ذهب طروادة وحياته التي وضع خططها ليصل الى هذا الذهب اكثر ما علقني به
February 7, 2013
Heinrich's life was full of striving to win the things that mattered to him. He grew up poor in Germany and in love with hearing stories of Greek heroes from his father. He fell in love at a young age (7 to 11)and was devastated when he had to move away from the girl he loved when his mother died.
He was determined that he would make enough money to marry the girl he loved and return to him once he did so. He slaved away for 16 years, teaching himself multiple languages, and getting involved with a trading company until he was moderately wealthy. He set out to find the girl he had sacrified everything to earn his wealth for only to find she married a farmer a few weeks before he reached out for her.
He continued the course and accumulated more and more wealth. He moved to Russia and cornered the market on several items and became very wealthy. He had few friends and his eventual marriage was unhappy. Finally toward the end of his life had enough money to do things he loved and married a woman that made him happy and he, her.
The author here does highlight both positive and negative sides of Heinrich and his character but it's a little jarring how he stops the flow of the story to analyse Heinrich or Homer at times.
He was determined that he would make enough money to marry the girl he loved and return to him once he did so. He slaved away for 16 years, teaching himself multiple languages, and getting involved with a trading company until he was moderately wealthy. He set out to find the girl he had sacrified everything to earn his wealth for only to find she married a farmer a few weeks before he reached out for her.
He continued the course and accumulated more and more wealth. He moved to Russia and cornered the market on several items and became very wealthy. He had few friends and his eventual marriage was unhappy. Finally toward the end of his life had enough money to do things he loved and married a woman that made him happy and he, her.
The author here does highlight both positive and negative sides of Heinrich and his character but it's a little jarring how he stops the flow of the story to analyse Heinrich or Homer at times.
October 15, 2014
I have had this book on my shelf for many years and finally got round to finishing it. As one reviewer has stated, it was worthwhile having my copy of The Iliad handy (Fagles translation, of course:
http://www.amazon.com/Iliad-Penguin-C...).
Not only does Payne describe the history and the archeology well, Schliemann himself is captured perfectly. I felt as if I was next to him in the diggings, having to survive his onslaughts and brazen temper. But, through his faults, he was dedicated to the very end and unwilling to back down from his goals. Stood up time and again, he stuck to it and finally gained the recognition he deserved.
There is not a whole lot wrong with this book, other than perhaps it was a little too short. Then again, who would sit through 800 pages of a biography? Oh well, this was sure an excellent book and I am glad that I finally got around to completing it, though it took awhile to get there.
Hopefully this would inspire folks like me to dig out the Iliad and other works on the ancient Mycenaen culture.
Highly recommend for history buffs... or, well, anyone!
http://www.amazon.com/Iliad-Penguin-C...).
Not only does Payne describe the history and the archeology well, Schliemann himself is captured perfectly. I felt as if I was next to him in the diggings, having to survive his onslaughts and brazen temper. But, through his faults, he was dedicated to the very end and unwilling to back down from his goals. Stood up time and again, he stuck to it and finally gained the recognition he deserved.
There is not a whole lot wrong with this book, other than perhaps it was a little too short. Then again, who would sit through 800 pages of a biography? Oh well, this was sure an excellent book and I am glad that I finally got around to completing it, though it took awhile to get there.
Hopefully this would inspire folks like me to dig out the Iliad and other works on the ancient Mycenaen culture.
Highly recommend for history buffs... or, well, anyone!
September 22, 2016
Quite a good read on Schleiman's life and his quest for uncovering the remains of Troy. I read this before going to see the ruins at Troy and it made the visit that much more exciting and memorable knowing a bit of the history of the early archeaological finds (if you want to call Schleiman's practices "archaeology"). Overall, great book, and spectacular read if you're into history of ancient Greece.
September 26, 2012
Found this musty hardcover in my parents' basement, with my grandmother's name in the front. My 10 year old read it and recommended it. I would never have read this book otherwise. The style is more narrative than scholarly. For the most part, it was an enjoyable read but I would be interested in more historical context and an update on what has happened at the archaelogoical sites since 1959.
July 2, 2013
I learned a great deal from this book. Even though Heinrich Schliemann doesn't come off as a very nice person, his experiences are eye-opening.
August 16, 2007
One of the best stories about Heinrich Schliemann that I have ever read.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews