"Finding the Walls of Troy": Frank Calvert, Excavator

Author(s): Susan Heuck Allen

Source: American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 99, No. 3 (Jul., 1995), pp. 379-407
Published by: Archaeological Institute of America
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/506941
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"Finding the Walls of Troy":Frank Calvert, Excavator
SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
Abstract
Heinrich Schliemann was not the first to conduct ex-
cavations at the mound of Hisarlik, now known as Troy.
At least seven years before Schliemann initiated his probe
on the mound in 1870, Frank Calvert, the owner of a
large part of the site, had begun to clean the area of
the theater and make promising trial excavations. In
1865 he had announced these findings to the scholarly
community in London. Nevertheless, his significant con-
tributions to our understanding of this and other sites
in the Troad have continued to go largely unnoticed.
Putting away pure literary speculation or "enthusiasm,"
Calvert was a pioneer in the use of archaeology to am-
plify the historical record of the Troad. This article
examines his goals, methodology, and archaeological
achievements through an analysis of his publications
and previously unpublished correspondence with Schlie-
mann and Charles Thomas Newton.*
* I should like to thank the American
Philosophical So-
ciety for a generous grant enabling me to do research at
museums and archives in Britain, Germany, Turkey, and
Greece. I also wish to thank the descendants of Frederick
Calvert and his son-in-law, Francis Henry Bacon, for their
generosity in sharing with me diaries, photographs, and
letters saved by Francis Henry Bacon. I thank Dyfri Wil-
liams, Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the Brit-
ish Museum, and Lesley Fitton for considerable help with
my research there. I thank David Jordan, Acting Director
of the Gennadius Library of the American School of Clas-
sical Studies at Athens, for his overwhelming generosity,
and Nurten Sevinc of the Qanak Kale Archaeological Mu-
seum for permission to examine the unpublished Katalog
der Sammlung Calvert in den Dardanellen und in Thymbra,com-
piled by A. Bruckner and revised by H. Thiersch in 1902.
I would also like to thank Omer Bey of the Canak Kale
Archaeological Museum for a trip to Pinarbapi. I have also
benefited from communications withJ.M. Cook, Frederick
Calvert, M. Wood, D.E Easton, D.A. Traill, and M. Robin-
son. Special thanks to Peter S. Allen and the AJA reviewers
for their meticulous attention and recommendations. This
article is an expanded version of a paper delivered at the
1993 annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of
America (AJA 98 [1994] 325). It is part of a larger unpub-
lished study of a portion of the Calvert Collection, which
I discovered in 1991 in storage at the Worcester Art Mu-
seum. I dedicate it to my family.
The following abbreviations are used:
Briefe E. Meyer ed., Briefe von Heinrich Schlie-
mann (Berlin 1936).
BW I E. Meyer ed., Briefwechsel von Heinrich
Schliemann I (Berlin 1953).
BW II E. Meyer ed., Briefwechsel von Heinrich
Schliemann II (Berlin 1958).
Easton D.E Easton, "Troy before Schliemann,"
Studia Troica 1 (1991) 111-29.
379
American Journal of Archaeology 99 (1995) 379-407
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Although largely unknown outside the small circle
of Trojan specialists, British expatriate diplomat
Frank Calvert (1828-1908) made a pioneering con-
tribution to the archaeology of Troy and the Troad
(fig. 1).1 His explorations of the Troad as excavator
and collector span more than 60 years from the 1840s
to 1908, during which time he discovered more than
17 sites and excavated at least 30 in the Troad and the
Thracian Chersonese, not the least of which is Troy
itself.' Calvert's archaeological work was meticulous
and pioneering, but in the 20th century it has been
overlooked or ignored by all but a few specialists.
J.M. Cook and A.C. Lascarides were the first schol-
ars in recent times to credit Calvert's outstanding
achievements. Cook observed that "he is our prin-
cipal authority for the field archaeology of much
H. Schliemann, Ilios: The Cityand Country
Ilios
of the Trojans (London 1881).
IPT H. Schliemann, Ithaque, le Peloponese et
Troie (Paris 1869).
Katalog A. Briickner and H. Thiersch, Katalog
der SammlungCalvertin den Dardanellen
und in Thymbra(Unpublished manu-
script, 1902).
Korrespondenz J. Hermann and E. Maass, Die Korre-
spondenz zwischen Heinrich Schliemann
und Rudolf Virchow1876-1890 (Berlin
1990).
Lehrer and M. Lehrer and D. Turner, "The Making
Turner of a Homeric Archaeologist," BSA 84
(1989) 224-68.
LH Levant Herald.
MSH W.M. Calder III and D.A. Traill eds.,
Myth, Scandal and History (Detroit
1986).
Traill D.A. Traill, Excavating Schliemann (Illi-
nois Classical Studies Suppl. 4, 1993).
1Calvert communicated his findings at Troy to the
Archaeological Institute through C. Sprengel Greaves,
"Communication," ArchJ 22 (1865) 337.
2 The source for this information is an unpublished list
that Calvert compiled (Gennadius Library: Schliemann
Archive 81/1039b 206a-b) "to explain better the ancient
sites I have either discovered, determined the names of-
or made excavations at (principally for vases [e]tc.)." Cal-
vert gave a similar list in a letter addressed to H. Schlie-
mann, 81/974, 209b, dated 17 November 1879. In 1923
Francis H. Bacon, son-in-law of Frederick Calvert, Frank
Calvert's brother, gave a number of letters to the American
School of Classical Studies at Athens. In his letter to B.H.
Hill of 26July 1923, he wrote: "in going through the ruined
Calvert house at the Dardanelles, I found in the attic
amongst some rubbish a bundle of letters marked 'Schlie-
380 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
Fig. 1. Familyportraitof 1866,showingFrankCalvert(seated at far left) as a man of 38, two yearsbefore he met Schliemann.
(Courtesy Elizabeth Bacon)
of the Troad. Permanently resident at the Darda-
nelles, and a familiar figure in the countryside, Cal-
vert had advantages that no other archaeologist in
the Troad has enjoyed .... He was much respected
by visitors and scholars of all nations who came to
the Troad.":•Lascarides wrote that "Frankwas the
cicerone of all visitors in the area from about 1853
onwards.... There is no longer any doubt that Frank's
intimate knowledge of the antiquities of the Troad
played the greatest part in directing Schliemann to
Hisarlik and supplying him not only with a wealth
of personal experience gained during years of dig-
mann Correspondence'They were some letters sent by Dr.
Schliemann during the firstyearsof his excavationsat His-
sarlik to Mr.FrankCalvertand his brothers.... Mrs.Bacon
and I thought them worth preserving and so we give them
to your School. Perhaps you may know that Dr. Schlie-
mann came to the Troad with the intention of excavating
for Troyat Bounarbashi, but was persuaded by Mr.Frank
Calvertto begin at Hissarlikwhere Mr.Calverthad already
bought a field and it is referred to in this correspondence."
This packet (MSS.70.40) was the seed of the large archive
(now ironically known as the Schliemann Archive) at the
Gennadius Library (infra n. 9).
'J.M. Cook, The Troad:An Archaeological and Topograph-
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[AJA 99
ging here and there, but also in guiding Schliemann's
reading. ... The influence of this still shadowy per-
sonality was paramount in confirming [Schliemann's]
determination to proceed with excavations on that
hill."4 L. Deuel, Heinrich Schliemann's biographer,
called attention to the fact that Schliemann (1822-
1890) had never properly acknowledged this debt.5
More recently, D.A. Traill has shown by a careful scru-
tiny of the diaries, letter copybooks, and early publica-
tions that Schliemann frequently did not give Calvert
his due, and this fundamental work has been re-
viewed and augmented by M. Lehrer and D. Turner.6
icalStudy(Oxford 1973)36. This invaluablestudy provided
my introduction to the problem. Professor Cook gener-
ously providedme with his and NicholasBayne'snotes taken
from the Katalogand addenda to his volume. I follow his
spellings for place names in the Troad.
4 A.C. Lascarides, The Searchfor Troy:1553-1874 (Lilly
Library Publication 29, Bloomington 1977) 63.
5L. Deuel,MemoirsofH. Schliemann:A DocumentaryDrawn
from His Autobiography,Writings, Letters, and Excavation Re-
ports (New York 1977) 5.
6 See Traill.His most importantarticles concerning Cal-
vert include "FurtherEvidence of Fraudulent Reporting
in Schliemann's Archaeological Works,"Boreas7 (1984)
1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT,EXCAVATOR
M. Wood7 and D.F Easton8 have investigated Cal-
vert's role in the excavation of Troy through his corre-
spondence with Charles Thomas Newton (1816-
1894), Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at
the British Museum from 1861 to 1885. Further study
of his published articles, partially published and un-
published correspondence,9 and the unpublished
catalogue of his now scattered collection of arti-
facts"' demonstrates his singular contribution to the
archaeology of Troy and the Troad. In spite of new
work by a number of scholars, the myths so skillfully
manufactured by Schliemann die hard."
According to his gravestone (fig. 2), Calvert was
295-316 (Traill73-95); "Schliemann's'Dream of Troy':The
Making of a Legend," CJ 8 (1985) 13-24 (Traill 29-40);
Schliemann's Acquisition of the Helios Metope and His
Psychopathic Tendencies,"in MSH 48-80 (Traill97-125);
and "How Schliemann Smuggled 'Priam'sTreasure'from
the Troad to Athens," Hesperia 57 (1988) 273-77 (Traill
167-72). Traillwrites that "Schliemann'segotism and false
claims have robbed Calvert of his proper place in the his-
tory of archaeology. Most classical archaeologists have never
heard of him. Yet he was the first to excavate on what is
now generally regarded as the site of Troy" (Traill 89). This
is not exactly correct, for as Cook (supra n. 3) 37, 94-95
discovered, John Brunton may have preceded him by a
few years although he was simply prospecting during
a day off and had no illusions about Homer. Lehrer and
Turner 224-68.
7 M. Wood, In Search of the Trojan War (London 1985)
42-46. Wood is to be credited with publishing some of the
correspondence between Calvert and Newton in the De-
partment of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British
Museum.
8Easton.
9With the exception of one letter, September 1863
from Frank Calvert to Newton, published in part by Wood
(supra n. 7) and Easton, all correspondence quoted here
between Frank Calvert and Newton is unpublished. It is
housed in the Department of Greek and Roman Antiqui-
ties and Archives of the British Museum and is here quoted
or referred to with the kind permission of the Keeper, Dyfri
Williams. All correspondence between the Calverts, and
others with H. Schliemann, is in the Gennadius Library
of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens and
is here referred to or quoted with the kind permission of
David Jordan. All letters quoted or referred to here are
unpublished with the exception of those published partly
or in full by E. Meyer (1888-1970) in Briefe and in two later
volumes, BW I and II. Numerous authors have described
Meyer's inadequacy as an editor and his censorship of ma-
terial unsympathetic to Schliemann. This is immediately
obvious after reading the letters themselves. Calder
W.M.
III has also noted that Meyer's knowledge of English was
insufficient to the task and many of the errors in the pub-
lished letters are his, not the writers'; see "A New Picture
of Heinrich Schliemann," in MSH 17-47, esp. 21.
10Once the preeminent collection of artifacts excavated
in the Troad,the portion in England and the United States
is the focus of my forthcoming monograph. G. Gamer and
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381
born on Malta in 1828,12 but he and his family
moved to the Dardanelles when he was still a child.
There his entrepreneurial brother Frederick joined
his maternal uncle, C.A. Lander, in diplomacy and
business and later rose to the rank of British consul
and Prussian vice-consul at the Dardanelles (Qanak
Kale) around the time of the Crimean War.'3 Cal-
vert's five older brothers held full or vice-consulships
for the United States, Prussia, and Britain throughout
the eastern Mediterranean at Alexandria, Constan-
tinople, Rhodes, Damascus, Monastir (Macedonia),
and Naples.14 Frank Calvert matured in their
shadow and eventually followed suit, occasionally
C. Ozgiinel are publishing the majority of the collection,
which is still in Qanak Kale.
11G. Gamer, "Frank Calvert, ein
Vorliufer Schliemanns.
Wer hat Troia entdeckt?" in I. Gamer-Wallert ed., Troia:Briicke
zwischen Orient und Okzident (Tiibingen 1992) 34-50. Gamer
(41) was the first to publish with a focus on Calvert. Whereas
Cook interpolates genius from Calvert's skeletal writings,
Gamer challenges the hagiographic trend in Calvert studies.
But the above-mentioned work is, in general, derivative
(of Cook, Traill, and Lehrer and Turner). M. Robinson has
written an unpublished M.A. thesis on Frank Calvert: The
Pre-Schliemann Years(Harvard Univ. 1990). Robinson's ex-
cellent article "Pioneer, Scholar, and Victim. An Appre-
ciation of Frank Calvert (1828-1908)," AnatSt 44 (1994)
153-68 appeared just as this article was going to press. She
has made numerous critical contributions to Calvert schol-
arship, particularly in her exploration of documents in
the Public Record Office, Kew, England and in the Archives
of the United States Department of State, Washington, D.C.
Uncritical acceptance of the myth (C.W.Blegen's Troyand
the Trojans [London 1964] 27) continues to be a problem
in the 1993 film on Priam's Treasure produced by Archaeol-
ogy as well as in a traditional treatment of Schliemann in an
otherwise exemplary introductory textbook by C. Renfrew
and P. Bahn, Archaeology: Theories, Methods, and Practice
(London 1991) 28.
12Contrary to Traill 6, who states that he was born in
1830. The information comes from his gravestone (fig. 2)
in the Consular Cemetery at Canak Kale, once the Calvert
family's private burial ground.
13Frederick Calvert came in 1834 (W.N. Senior, A Jour-
nal Kept in Turkeyand Greece in the Autumn of 1857 and the
Beginningof 1858 [London 1859] 156). Senior, an Oxford
don and political economist (1790-1864), recorded the
former as having been British consul for 10 years prior
to 1857 (182). Frederick's tombstone in Qanak Kale says
that he served as consul for 17 years, i.e., from 1846 to 1862.
For Lander, see C. Fellowes (1799-1860), A Journal Written
during an Excursion to Asia Minor (London 1839) 57.
14Numerous errors have obfuscated the history of the
family. The eldest brother, Henry, is frequently omitted:
Cook (supra n. 3) 35; Traill 167, n. 3. Contrary to Lascarides
(supra n. 4) 63, Frank never married and of the seven Cal-
vert children only one, Frederick, produced heirs. His de-
scendants are now scattered in England, Zimbabwe, and
the United States.
382 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
Fig. 2. Frank Calvert's gravestone from family cemetery at
Canak Kale. (Susan Heuck Allen)
15Newton wrote to him as consul on 12 August 1874.
Calvert referred to his own work as acting British consul
in a letter to Schliemann on 6 October 1888.
16Frederick Calvert "dabbled in antiquarian interests,"
according to Lascarides (supra n. 4) 63, excavating two
tumuli, that of Patroclus at Sigeum and another above
Erenk6y from 1857 to 1859; see Frank Calvert, "Excavations
in the Troad,"LH (4 February 1873). The finds from Sigeum
appear in the Katalog, site no. 21: 171-79. (All references
to the Katalog are taken from the Table of Contents.) There
is, however, confusion concerning the tumulus of Patroclus,
for Cook (supra n. 3) 36 attributes the excavation there
to FrankCalvert as did Schliemann in a letter to Virchow
(Korrespondenz 283). More recently,A.-U.Kossatz-Pomp6in-
correctly attributes the excavation of the tumulus behind
Erenk6y to Frank Calvert ("Balli Dag, der Berg von
Pmnarbapl. Eine Siedlung in der Troas,"StudiaTroica2 [1992]
171-83, esp. 177).Frederickwas outspoken concerning the
true site of Troy- that it lay on the property of his own
farm (Communicationto the ArchaeologicalInstitute read
by C. Sprengel Greaves, "Communication," ArchJ 18 [1861]
363-64). James Calvert, United States consul at the Dar-
danelles before Frank, corresponded with Newton (infra
n. 41). Frank Calvert sent his brother Henry a letter of in-
troduction to Newton on 30 May 1866. Later Henry gave
a significant Coptic inscription to the British Museum (let-
ter from Schliemann to Frank Calvert, 12 August 1871).
Charles wrote from his post at Monastir to the secretary
of the Museum concerning a statue of Hercules (1 August
1868). Edmund, who was stationed in Constantinople, was
frequently called upon for help in the capital.
The Calvert women were also interested in archaeol-
ogy. Sister Louise Calvert,James's wife, Lavinia Abbott Cal-
vert, and Frederick's daughter, Edith Calvert, visited
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[AJA 99
as acting British consul at the Dardanelles from the
1870s onward'5 and becoming United States con-
sular agent in 1874. He seems to have been a com-
petent diplomat, but his real passion throughout his
life was archaeology. Several members of his family
had antiquarian interests,16 occasionally donating
pieces to the British Museum or corresponding with
noted experts of the day, but Frank was the most ac-
tive and scholarly. Though he had no formal edu-
cation beyond the age of 16, later a source of a cer-
tain amount of embarrassment to him, his family's
interests and excellent library afforded the youngest
Calvert brother access to the literary sources nec-
essary for his later work.17
The Calvert family possessed three residences: a
formal consular house at the Dardanelles (figs. 3-4),
which the German historian and classical archaeolo-
gist Ernst Curtius (1814-1896) described as "the head-
quarters of all Trojan research"'8 and Karl Bernhard
Stark (1824-1879) referred to as a "palace on the
sea";19a "hill villa," or country house, at Erenk6y
overlooking the Hellespont some 12 miles southwest
of the Dardanelles;20 and a rambling farmhouse on
Schliemann's excavations (the first two are mentioned in
a letter from Frederick Calvert to Schliemann, 2 April 1873
and another of 20 October 1871).Edith had a continuing
correspondence with Schliemann, represented in unpub-
lished letters at the Gennadius Library, and was present
at the 1890 Hisarlik Conference (infra n. 175 and Korre-
spondenz pl. 17).
17Letter from Frank Calvert to Schliemann, dated 17
March 1881 (85/156).
18 E. Curtius, "Ein
Ausflug nach Kleinasien und Grie-
chenland," PreussischesJahrbuch29 (1872) 58. His traveling
companions were K.B.Stark,H. Gelzer,G. Hirschfeld, and
W. Dorpfeld's future father-in-law, E Adler.
19K.B. Stark, Nach dem griechischen Orient (Heidelberg
1874) 173. This house was also described by G.W.EHoward,
the Earl of Carlisle, in Diary in Turkishand GreekWaters(Lon-
don 1854) 98 and Senior (supra n. 13) 146, 154-55, who
recorded "a fine stone house ... in rather an Italianate
than a Turkish style. It contains large rooms and spacious
halls."The structure was severely damaged in the earth-
quakeof 9 August1912describedin detail in EdithCalvert's
10 August 1912 letter, subsequently published in LH. It
went out of family hands in the 1960s. Upon researching
the site of the consular mansion in 1993,I found that the
vilayet, or city hall, of QanakKale now stands on the site
of the house and the family'sfamous gardens now consti-
tute the city park of Qanak Kale.
20 Fellowes (supra n. 13) 57, Carlisle (supra n. 19) 95.
Senior (supra n. 13) 168 wrote "Mr.Calvert'shouse is in
the centre of the village, spacious, very long, consisting
as it does of two Turkishhouses thrown together and com-
manding magnificentviewsof the Hellespont and Aegean"
According to Cook (supra n. 3) 390, the Calvertskept an-
tiquities (inscriptions) here. The location of the summer
1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT, EXCAVATOR 383

Fig. 3. Calvert House at the Dardanelles. (Photo Francis Henry Bacon, courtesy Elizabeth Bacon)

Fig. 4. Frank Calvert in foyer of Dardanelles House. (Photo Francis Henry Bacon, courtesy Candace
Bacon Cordella)

house (now destroyed) is shown on the plan accompany- of the village is given in M.G.A. Choiseul-Gouffier, Voyage
ing Calvert's article on Ophryneion (infra n. 35). A view pittoresque de la GrkceII (Paris 1822) pl. 51.

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384 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN [AJA 99

Fig. 5. Calvert family farm, "Thymbra Farm," at Akga K6y, ca. 1899. Frank Calvert standing next to sculptures and
inscriptions that were part of the Calvert collection. (Photo Francis Henry Bacon, courtesy Elizabeth Bacon)

Frederick's qiftlik, Thymbra or Batak Farm, at Akpa
K6y, 4 miles southeast of Hisarlik, where the family
produced valonia, the chief export of the Troad at
that time.21 The last occupied a site that the young
Calvert identified as ancient Thymbra (fig. 5), but
his elder brother Frederick claimed was Troy.22 They
also owned land across the straits behind the Otto-
man fortress of Kilit Bahir, where Frank Calvert lo-
cated the site of ancient Kilios.23 These properties
provided thousands of acres24 as a private proving
ground, giving Calvert access to the archaeological
riches of the Troad from an early age.25 The resi-
dences often appear in travelers' accounts as havens
of civilization26 in an otherwise desolate landscape27

21Carlisle (supra n. 19) 77-78, 92, 97. Senior (supra n.
13) 156, 160, 165 recorded that the farm was purchased
around 1847 and gives a description of it. Frederick Cal-
vert, great grandson of the British consul, has kindly in-
formed me that his father, Gerald Calvert, gave up posses-
sion of the farm in 1939. During my research trip in 1993,
I found the farmhouse still used as such, but in a much-
altered form.
22Calvert wrote to Schliemann on 1 November 1868
that the "farm called Batak occupies the site of an ancient
town. It is supposed to be ancient Thymbra.... many of
the vases in my collection have been taken out of the ne-
cropolis of this town." Material from this site is in the Brit-
ish Museum and the Qanak Kale Archaeological Museum.
Katalog, site no. 26: 257-98. Cook (supra n. 3) 119-22 dis-
agrees with the attribution of the site to Thymbra due to
the lack of numismatic evidence and simply records a
sixth-fifth century B.C. cemetery. Frederick's claims were
presented in a communique to the Archaeological Insti-
tute on 5 July 1861 (Greaves [supra n. 16] 363): "Since my
return we have gone thoroughly into the question [as to
the precise location of Troy], and have become convinced
that the theory ... which places the site of Troy at Aktchiheni
(my farm buildings) is nearly correct."
23Carlisle (supra n. 19) 77, 97. Katalog, site no. 10: 59-95.
Pieces from his excavations at Kilios are now in the Worces-
ter Art Museum and the Qanak Kale Archaeological Museum.
24Discrepancies in the size are given by Carlisle (supra
n. 19) 77, who estimated "in excess of 3000 acres,"and Senior
(supra n. 13) 162, "2000 to 3000 acres."
25The only documented excavation prior to those of
Frank Calvert was the opening of the "tumulus of Achilles"
on the Sigeum promontory in 1787 by order of Choiseul
de Gouffier, French ambassador to Constantinople, which
Frank Calvert (supra n. 16) generously mentioned in his
retrospective article in LH.
26Schliemann refers to the "splendid garden ... [and]
the great enjoyment to hear the divine voice of your Ladies"
in a letter to Frank Calvert on 4 October 1871.
27Schliemann's publicist, Carl Schuchhardt (1859-
1943), recalls: "At the present time this lovely spot is the
only oasis in the deserted plain of the Skamander, and
every visitor to Troy who gains admission here will in his
later reminiscences forget the sandy ride and the melan-
choly clay huts of the villages in the recollection of the
'Villa Thymbra' and its friendly host" (Schliemann'sExcava-
tions: An Archaeologicaland Historical Study [London 1891]
87). This renowned homestead attracted scholars, who
traveled through the Troad in search of Homer's Troy.
Twentieth-century Calvert hospitality was recalled in 1993
by Jerome Sperling who, in the 1930s, used to hike with
John L. Caskey from the University of Cincinnati's Troy
excavations to Thymbra Farm where they enjoyed conver-
sation with Frederick's grandson, Gerald Calvert.

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1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT, EXCAVATOR 385

Fig. 6. Cabinet display of vases excavated at Thymbra and located at Thymbra Farm. (Courtesy Eliza-
beth Bacon)

and served as showcases for the family's other hobby,
collecting ancient artifacts (fig. 6). Although appar-
ently Frederick originally intended to display these
by creating a museum,28 the antiquities remained
in the residences until long after the brothers
had died.
Scholars, lords, and princes sought out Frederick
Calvert in his capacity as British consul and his
younger brother as a guide to Trojan topography.29
Frank had developed quite a reputation as a result
of his early explorations and discoveries. He would
take travelers on a standard itinerary of his favorite
sites and give them an opportunity to peruse the
family's collection of antiquities.30 Some visitors left

28 Senior (supra n. 13) 96 recounts: "Mr. Calvert is be-
ginning to form a museum, which will have much interest
from the fragments he is gradually picking up." Could the
concept of forming a museum collection have been yet
another idea picked up from the Calverts by Schliemann?
After the gift of some antiquities, Frederick wrote Schlie-
mann on 19 November 1871: "I wish to house them here
in a room which I shall actually reserve for all objects of
advantage of having Mr. Frank Calvert as a guide. Mr. Cal-
vert has lived so long in the country and is so well acquainted
with its archaeology, in the interest of which he has ex-
cavated on various historic and prehistoric sites, that I could
not fail to obtain a better knowledge of the whole district
than has hitherto fallen to the lot of most visitors" ("Notes
from Journeys in the Troad and Lydia,"JHS 1 [1880] 75).
30 The collection is always mentioned prominently in

antiquity found in the neighbourhood."
29Lord Carlisle (supra n. 19) 72-75 describes a harrow-
ing forced march with the young Calvert up ihgri Dag to
the summit where Carlisle "took the liberty, on this spur
of Ida, of imitating the oft repeated example of Jupiter
on its summit" and fell asleep. According to a letter from
Frank Calvert to Schliemann on 3 March 1869 (631143),
Calvert also escorted Victoria's son, Prince Arthur. Ernst
Curtius sought out Calvert and described his visit in a let-
ter to his wife from Qanak Kale, "Letter to Clara Curtius,"
dated 4 February 1871, in E Curtius ed., Ernst Curtius. Ein
Lebensbildin Briefen (Berlin 1903) 606. Later still, long after
Calvert had made his reputation through his writings, A.H.
Sayce (1845-1933), the Oxford don sometimes employed
by Schliemann (Traill 226-30), wrote: "I enjoyed the
the travelers' accounts of the family. Carlisle (supra n. 19)
96; A. Baumeister, "Reisen in Kleinasien," AA 71 (1854)
509-12; Curtius (supra n. 29) 606; Stark (supra n. 19) 173-74,
374-79; H. Gelzer, "Eine Wanderung nach Troja,"Offentliche
Vortrdgegehalten in der Schweiz 11 (Basel 1873) 6; Schlie-
mann, 1868 Diary, 148; IPT 213. Calvert wrote Schliemann
on 12 February 1873 mentioning that Count Ludolf had
visited the collection. Some of the material has perished,
been given away (16 May 1877 letter sent by H.H. G6rringe
of the United States Navy concerning Frank Calvert's gift
of antiquities to the United States), or sold (S.H. Allen,
"In Schliemann's Shadow: Frank Calvert, the Unheralded
Discoverer of Troy,"Archaeology48:3 [1995] 50-57). Although
I have read unpublished family documents relating to the
Smyrna disaster, none mentions the loss of antiquities. Thus,

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386 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
valuable accounts of Calvert's expertise and obser-
vations while others had a profound impact on the
young man and his work. Although Schliemann later
wrote that in 1839 Calvert had pointed out a site
to the great marine cartographer T.A.B. Spratt (1811-
1888), this is unlikely since he was only 11 years old
and probably not even resident in the Troad at that
time. In 1849 the Russian diplomat and scholar Peter
de Tchihatcheff left a lasting impression on his "young
friend Calvert" by instilling in him a love for natural
science that permeated Calvert's publications.31 In
July 1853 Charles Thomas Newton, then British Vice-
Consul at Mytilene charged with acquiring antiquities
for the British Museum,32 visited various sites with
Calvert, including Pinarbapi or Bunarbashi (thought
by many to be Homer's Troy),33Hisarlik (identified
by E. Clarke as Ilium Novum in 1812),34 Ophry-
neion," and Hanay Tepe. Newton's acute observa-
tions concerning the ceramics of PinarbaS"36 and
"the suggestive irregularities of the ground" at Ilium
Novum probably sparked young Calvert's interest in
excavating these sites, although Newton noted for
Hisarlik that "the remains visible above the ground
are very trifling.""7
I have not been able to substantiateLascarides'claim (supra
n. 4, 64), subsequently repeated by Traill 79, that most of
it perished during the Izmir fire of 1922. Edith Calvert's
letter of 10 August 1912, later published in LH, mentions
the fate of the collection in the earthquake of 9 August:
"Agreat number of the glass vases and other antiquities
have been smashed to atoms. In fact, the damage done is
incalculable."
:1 Calvertwrote Schliemann on 30 November 1879 that
his remarks were later inserted on the 1839 map. He was
21 when he met the savantTchihatcheff(P.de Tchihatcheff,
Asie mineure, description physique, statistique et archeologique
de cette contree 1 [Paris 1853] ix).
2 Lascarides
(supra n. 4) 62.
:3 C.T. Newton, Travels and Discoveries in the Levant I
(London 1865), reprinted in Hildesheim in 1989.This site
was also known as Bounarbashi, Bunarbashi, Bounarbaschi,
and Balli Dag.
4 E.D. Clarke, Travels in Various Countries in Europe,Asia,
and Africa 3 (London 1817) 130-33, discussed by Easton
115-16.
Newton's (supra n. 33) 126 account appeared after
-
Calvert's and is based heavily on Calvert's article "Contri-
butions to the Ancient Geography of the Troad. On the
Site and Remains of Ophrynium," ArchJ 17 (1860) 286,
291-96.
3: Newton (supra n. 33) 126 noted that the pottery did
not resemble "the very early pottery so abundant on the
Homeric sites of Mycenae and Tiryns as known thanks to
Thomas Burgon."
:• Newton (supra n. 33) 132.
:" Other travelers in 1853 also recorded Calvert's work
here (Baumeister [supra n. 30] 511; Carlisle [supra n. 19]
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[AJA 99
Newton left a record of one of Calvert's first at-
tempts at excavation of the mound of Hanay Tepe,
conveniently situated only 500 m from the veran-
dah of the family farmhouse at Akga K6y. Although
the Calvert brothers may have prospected the mound
since their purchase of the land in 1847, Frank sank
a shaft in the center of the mound and drove a hori-
zontal gallery through the mound from the south
to the shaft in Newton's presence in January 1853.38
Of the outcome Newton noted, somewhat conde-
scendingly, that "nothing was found in the interior
except a layer of ashes near the bottom, but the ex-
cavation was not carried low enough to obtain a con-
clusive result; for it is well known that the most im-
portant remains have been found in Greek tumuli
below their apparent base.""39 Following the Hanay
Tepe foray Newton witnessed Calvert excavating
pithos burials in the "Hellenic cemetery" of Thymbra,
the rich necropolis that stretched between Hanay
Tepe and the house.40 Again Calvert excavated in
front of his learned colleague, hoping to learn from
him and perhaps thinking that Newton would be a
useful contact later on.41
Having benefited from Newton's discipline and
92-93; and H.E Tozer, Researches in the Highlands of Turkey
I [London 1869] 45). Calvert refers to his earlier excava-
tions of pithos burials in the Troad in his 1859 site report
(infra n. 43) 2. He also noted his excavation methods (infra
n. 43) 1, 3.
Newton (supra n. 33) 134. Robinson (supra n. 11)
3- to
seems overemphasize class snobbery in Newton's treat-
ment of the Calverts, and Frank Calvert specifically.
4)
Newton wrote: "Below these was native rock, proof
that no earlier interments had taken place in this ceme-
tery" (supra n. 33) 134-35, 355, n. 62.
41 The earliest
preserved letters to Newton date from
1862, although it is clear that the two men corresponded
as early as 1860 when Newton was still posted to Italy and
prior to his ascending to the appointment of Keeper in
1861. It may possibly have been Newton who suggested
ArchJ as a venue for his communications. Calvert corre-
sponded with Newton concerning identifications of sites
(letters of 12 February 1862, 6 November 1863, 12 August
1874, and 30 May 1886). Both he and his brother James
also made inquiries as to whether the museum was inter-
ested in certain purchases (8 October 1863 and 25 August
1868). Newton finally invited Calvert to send his Troad col-
lection to London for sale in a letter of 12 August 1874.
In 1862 and 1868 the brothers also consulted with W.H.
Waddington whose collection was later bought for the Cabi-
net des Medailles, perhaps trying to play one off the other.
H.I. McAdam has written a useful biography of this states-
man and collector, but neglects to mention any contacts
with the Calverts: William Henry Waddington:Orientalist and
Diplomat 1826-1894 (Beirut 1991). Ten years after the orig-
inal meeting Calvert wrote to Newton on 24 September
1863 with an offer to share excavations at Hisarlik with
1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT,EXCAVATOR
training, Calvert concentrated on Hanay Tepe. In-
spired by Kiel classics professor P.W.Forschammer's
(1801-1894) theory that it was a natural hill, but that
"excavation alone can settle this point,"42Calvert re-
solved to dig to disprove Forschammer. His under-
standing of stratigraphic method of excavation is
clear both from his discussion of the depth and char-
acter of five successive layers of the mound from Turk-
ish to Classical, Archaic, and prehistoric levels of
calcined bone and ash. His section of the mound
drawn to scale clearly shows the strata.43 His famil-
iarity with geology, seen in his treatment of the geo-
logical features of the tell, was probably a legacy from
his association with Tchichatcheff. At any rate, for
these and other reasons Calvert's publication of the
site was exemplary by the standards of the day and
praised more than 70 years later by Winifred Lamb.44
In presenting finds from his test shaft, Calvert dis-
cussed the clustering of burials and the different
treatment of adults and children. He included the
lecture that he had often given visitors concerning
the distinctive pithos burials of the Troad.45 After
considering the alignment, disposition, and condi-
tion of skeletons, he dated the Archaic and Classical
burials by their associated grave goods and provided
an elevation of one of the tombs and scale drawings
of the artifacts. Interested in natural science, he noted
the effects of the environment on finds, such as a
skeleton that was well preserved "owing to the exclu-
sion of air and damp2"
He then discussed the horizontal trench that had
the British Museum (infra ns. 80-82). In order to validate
his claims Calvert cited Waddington as support for the
importance of the site.
42P.W.Forschammer, "Observations on the
Topography
of Troy,"Journal of the Royal Geographical Society 12 (1842)
28-44, quoted by Calvert (infra n. 43).
4' F Calvert, "The Tumulus of Hanai Tepeh in the
Troad," ArchJ 16 (1859) 1-6. This was submitted by Calvert
in September 1856 and presented by John Anthony on
3 December 1859. The excavation began in 1853 (supra
n. 38), not in 1858 (Traill 102). Calvert may have reopened
it in 1856 for that is the date he gives in LH (4 February
1873). Or it may be a typographical error. He gives 1857
as the date in Ilios (infra n. 160) 709.
44W. Lamb, "Schliemann's Prehistoric Sites in the
Troad," PZ 23 (1932) 111-25. Editorial remarks following
the 1856 report were quite favorable: "The Institute is in-
debted to ... John Anthony... for the communication
of the foregoing memoir, first fruits of the researches of
Mr. Frank Calvert... prosecuted with unusual advantage.
We hope to place before our readers at no distant period
further results of his valuable investigations" (supra n. 43).
45Reported
by Senior (supra n. 13) 160-61, 170.
46This may be the first
published description and illus-
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387
helped to illuminate the mound's construction. He
noted that in the layer with calcined bones he had
found "three or four vases of coarse pottery and rude
form"'46Assuming that the Iliad preserved certain
historical facts and, at the same time, recognizing
that this assumption was, of necessity, an act of faith,
he looked for illustration and confirmation in topog-
raphy. It is interesting to note that Calvert associated
the layer of calcined bones and the coarse pottery
of rude form with the heroes of Troy. Inasmuch as
any of the events of Homer can be connected with
archaeological remains in the Troad, Calvert dated
the Late Bronze Age layer correctly.
Frank Calvert did not agree with his brother
Frederick's theory that Thymbra Farm was situated
on the site of Homer's Troy.47 By 1857, Frank Cal-
vert had already purchased acreage on the plain of
Troy, which shows the direction of his attention by
that time. Yet, eager to relate the tumulus to the Iliad,
he suggested, based on analogous construction of
Patroclus's pyre (II. 23.255) and the common tomb
of the Greeks (5.331), that Hanay Tepe represented
the communal burial of the Trojans.48
In 1859 Calvert explored the southwest coast from
Cape Lekton to Alexandria Troas,49 using Strabo as
his guide to identifying the sites of Larisa50 and
Colonae.51 In his publication of these identifications
one appreciates his sensitive analysis of the literary
testimonia and modern arguments as well as his keen
eye for pertinent topographical, geological, and
vestigial architectural features.52 At this time he also
tration (wood cut, Calvert [supra n. 43] 4) to scale of Grey
Ware characteristic of Troy VI.
47In 1856, when the article was written, Frank still pub-
licly espoused the belief that it lay at Pinarbapi (supra n.
43) 5. Frederick claimed that it lay at Akga K6y (Thymbra).
For some reason Frederick reported in 1861 (Greaves, supra
ns. 16 and 22) that both brothers were convinced that
Homer's Troy lay at Thymbra. There is no evidence, how-
ever, for Frank ever holding this view.
48Calvert (supra n. 43) 4-6.
49Katalog, site no. 3: 11.
5o E Calvert, "Contributions to the Ancient Geography
of the Troad. On the Site and Remains of Larisa," ArchJ
18 (1861) 253-55. Not mentioned in Katalog.
51E Calvert, "Contributions to the Ancient
Geography
of the Troad. On the Site and Remains of Colonae," ArchJ
17 (1860) 287-91. Cook (supra n. 3) 219 credits Calvert with
virtually resolving the problem of Colonae and Larisa.
52 He found the fortification wall of Colonae, and in the
necropolis built-stone tombs, cist graves, and pithos burials
(supra n. 51). Katalog, site no. 12: 98-102. The finds are split
today between the British Museum and the Canak Kale
Archaeological Museum.
388 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN [AJA 99

Fig. 7. Eveline Abbott Calvert at Thymbra Farm, 1892, seated between Aeolic cap-
ital from Neandria on the left and Calvert Stele, now in the collection of the Mu-
seum of Fine Arts, Boston, on the right. (Photo Francis Henry Bacon, courtesy
Elizabeth Bacon)

excavated a site on the summit of ~igriDag, which
he successfully identified with the ancient city of
Neandria (fig. 7).53
Calvert also traversed the north coast near the
family's country house at Erenk6y, excavating the
necropoleis of Dardanos54 and Ophryneion, the
latter a town that figures in the flight of Xerxes from
the Greeks.55 After an analysis of ancient sources,
he proceeded to note important topographical, geo-
logical and palaeontological phenomena56 as well
as Ophryneion's visible architectural features and
underwater harbor installations with bronze fish-
hooks and netting needles. He accompanied his
descriptions with a plan.57 Within the 6-ft-thick for-
tification walls he found evidence of Greek occupa-
tion and on the upper acropolis Roman mosaics and
cemented buildings.58 In the rock of the ravine he
excavated eight to ten wells containing Attic black-

53Katalog, site no. 16: 130-55. The finds are in Canak
Kale and Worcester. Calvert had opened a dozen shallow
graves in the west cemetery (W.C. Lawton, Report on the In-
vestigations at Assos 1881 [Cambridge 1882] 147 and Cook
[supra n. 3] 204-206). Several times in his correspondence
with Newton, he asked for Newton's opinion concerning
this identification (30 May 1886). R. Koldewey credited
Calvert with the site identification in Neandria (BWPr 51,
Berlin 1891) 6. The capital, found byJ.T. Clarke ("AProto-
Ionic Capital from the Site of Neandreia," AJA 2 [1887]
143), was taken to Thymbra Farm for study (fig. 7). For
Calvert's later work at Neandria, see infra n. 168.
54Senior (supra n. 13) 163. Katalog, site no. 5: 13. Cal-
vert (supra n. 43) 3 n. 1 records vases that he found in a
pithos grave. A sketch of this pithos burial had already
appeared in ILN (26 April 1856).
55Hdt. 7.43; Xen. 8.3-4; and Strab. 395. Calvert (supra
n. 35) 286, 291-96. Calvert returned to this site in 1881
according to the letters that he wrote to Schliemann 16
June and 2 July of that year.
56Not content with the mere study of human remains,
he described geological stratigraphy of the site with its Plio-
cene fresh water clay formations and oolitic drift with re-
mains of mastodons and other pachydermata (supra n.
35, 292 and infra n. 181).
57This was based on a chart by John Brunton.
58Calvert (supra n. 35). Calvert records a platform with
wall foundations, bounded by deep ravines. Below the site
was a lower platform and an ancient mole that appears
on Calvert's plan (supra n. 35) 286. Newton's account (supra
n. 33) 132-33 is largely based on Calvert's, but records a
platform where he saw marble fragments, sherds, and wall

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1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT, EXCAVATOR 389

Fig. 8. Frank Calvert and his niece Alice Calvert Bacon seated near the settlement walls of Plnarbapl on the Balli Dag
with the Scamander River in the distance. (Photo Francis Henry Bacon, courtesy Candace Bacon Cordella)

glaze pottery. The necropolis contained pithos burials
and a few stone coffins.59 With Herodotos in hand
and using Greek coins as evidence, Calvert identified
the site as Ophryneion and dated it on the basis of
pottery.60 With the publication of this article in De-
cember 1860, he was selected Honorary Correspond-
ing Member of the Royal Archaeological Institute
of Great Britain in London.61
Calvert gained confidence from the warm recep-
tion of his publications of early excavations and iden-
tifications of known sites and his new status as
honorary member of the Institute. Spurred by
Newton's earlier skepticism about the suitability of
PlnarbaSi as the site of ancient Troy, Calvert entered
into the debate concerning the location of Homer's
Troy in 1864 with the publication of his 1853 exca-
vation of the "tumulus of Priam" at on the
PinarbaSl
Balli Dag (fig. 8).62 Challenged by Newton's observa-

foundations. This was bounded by deep ravines where to
the southwest Calvert had located terracotta water pipes.
He mentions that Calvert had discovered a long wall of
travertine blocks with rubble fill to the southeast.
59Calvert
(supra n. 35) 291-96. The Greek and Roman
coins and Greek terracottas and bronzes that he found
in the settlement became part of his growing collection
as did material from the extensive necropolis. Katalog, site
no. 17: 155-63. Material from this site is now in the British
Museum and the (anak Kale Archaeological Museum. The
nearby artificial mound above Erenk6y was shown by
Frederick's excavation not to have been a mortuary site:
Calvert (supra n. 35) 295; Calvert (supra n. 16).
60oCalvert (supra n. 35) 293 had found 14 coins of
Ophryneion.
61 Calvert (supra n. 51) 287. It is not clear whether one
had to be renewed annually, but "Frank Calvert, esq.," is
mentioned only once, in the 1866 list of subscribing mem-
bers, ArchJ24 (1867) 2. According to Lascarides (supra n. 4)
65, Calvert was made an Honorary Corresponding Mem-
ber based on his communications to this body. Greaves
wrote to him concerning "the favorable manner in which
his memoir was received at our May meeting" (supra n. 16).
A close reading, however, of Calvert's letter to Newton on
12 February 1862, in which he states that his brother was
mistakenly enrolled as a member of the Institute in Rome
after Frank had asked Newton about receiving their periodi-
cals, suggests that the latter may have interceded on Calvert's
behalf in facilitating this honor. It appears that Calvert's first
trip to London was only in 1883 when he accompanied
his ill sister Louise (7 October 1883 unpublished letter
from his niece, Edith Calvert, to Schliemann).
62Although it is generally thought (Easton 122-23;
Traill 102) that this excavation took place in 1863 as a re-
sult of Calvert's having been inspired by reading Maclaren,
Baumeister (supra n. 30) 511 recorded his 1853 work already

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390 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
tions and "determined to ascertain the true charac-
ter of these mounds," Calvert decided to test them
by excavation and opened a shaft at the base of the
mound and continued "along the surface of the nat-
ural rock through a mixture of earth and stones as
far as the masonry in the center rested upon it." He
concluded that the foundations were those of a stone
tower or statue base and illustrated them in a sec-
tion drawn to scale. As it pertained to stones used
for building material, he discussed the geology of
the site.
In his 1864 article he aimed at disproving J.-B.
Chevalier's 1791 supposition that the tumuli of the
Troad were the burial mounds of Trojan heroes by
publishing his findings and dating the site on the basis
of pottery styles to ca. 500 B.C.63Two of the other
tumuli standing at the site, which had often been
romantically described as Homeric, Calvert confi-
dently dismissed as being heaps of refuse stone
thrown out during quarrying.
Likewise refuting Chevalier's 1791 theory that
PinarbapS was the site of Homer's Troy,64 Calvert
cited the stonework of the fortifications as "poste-
rior to that of Homeric Troy, the comparatively small
hewn stones in regular layers being dissimilar to the
more massive masonry that characterises the remains
in a published 24 November 1854 letter. Senior (supra n. 13)
173 also mentioned Calvert's having opened up the Tomb
of Priam: "He found a sort of well and chamber, constructed
to protect some valued deposit, but nothing was in it."Cal-
vert may have gone back to the site in 1863 to reevaluate
it before publishing his results. Calvert's "Contributions
to the Ancient Geography of the Troad. On the Site of Ger-
githe," ArchJ 21 (1864) 46-53 was presented on 5 February
1864.
6• Calvert (supra ns. 16 and 62). A.-U. Kossatz-Pompe
(supra n. 16) now inclines toward an early date for the tumuli
with a later period of reuse.
"4J.-B. Chevalier, Description of the Plain of Troy (Edin-
burgh 1791).
65Newton (supra n. 33).
6 Calvert
(supra n. 62) 48. Also Calvert (supra n. 16).
Katalog, "Gergis" site no. 6: 13-18.
67Calvert (supra n. 16). Cook (supra n. 3) 140, 349 dis-
agreed with this attribution and suggested another, but
this has not been followed by Kossatz-Pompe (supra n. 16).
"8J.G. von Hahn, Die Ausgrabungen auf der homerischen
Pergamosin zwei Sendschreibenan GeorgFinlay (Leipzig 1865).
Calvert's stature is reflected by von Hahn's eccentric method
of referring to different areas of his excavation by the names
of eminent archaeologists, e.g., Forschammer Winkel, Le-
chevalier Viereck, Choiseul Sporn, and Sprattterrasse.
Among these was the "Calvert Nische" (pl. 1).
It may also have been architect Ernst Ziller who sug-
gested that Schliemann meet Calvert while he was in the
Troad for they had worked together at Pmarbapi in 1864.
Ziller was the first-documented individual to have discussed
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[AJA 99
of Tiryns, Larisa (at Argos) and Mycenae, true
Homeric cities." Through Newton he knew that the
surface sherds postdated those characteristic of
Homeric sites.65 After noting that the necropolis
contained only pithos graves with inhumations and
Attic black-glaze pottery of a much later date,66 he
reasoned on the basis of ancient testimonia and
numismatic evidence that the citadel might be that
of Gergis.67 Later in 1864 the Austrian consul for
East Greece, J.G. von Hahn (1811-1869), conducted
excavations in the settlement at Pinarbasi, accom-
panied by Ernst Ziller (1837-1923), an architect from
Athens, and joined by Frank Calvert.68Cook saw von
Hahn's results as the inspiration for Calvert's switch
of allegiance from Pinarbapl to Hisarlik,69 but in fact
they were irrelevant for Calvert, who was convinced
before von Hahn began that Troy lay elsewhere. If
anything, after reading the results of Calvert's work,
von Hahn had to cope with the unassailable conse-
quences of Calvert's excavations and his persuasive
conclusions.70
Following the negative evidence from his own ex-
cavations at PinarbaS171and Newton's assessment of
Hisarlik's potential, Calvert purchased more acre-
age to add to his already 2,000-acre farm around Ilium
Novum/Hisarlik,72 including the eastern half of the
the question of Troy'slocation with Schliemann, on 25July
1868, shortly before his meeting with Calvert (Traill 99).
According toJ. Cobet, who has read Ziller's private papers,
Ziller gave a copy of the reports to Schliemann in the sum-
mer of 1868: "Troia vor Schliemann," in W.M. Calder III
and J. Cobet eds., Heinrich Schliemann nach hundertJahren
(Frankfurt 1990) 144. I owe this reference to W.M. Calder III.
69 Cook
(supra n. 3) 36, 95.
70Cook (supra n. 3) 36, 95. Calvert knew long before
von Hahn's 1864 excavations (perhaps as early as 1853)
from the negative results of his own excavations and from
Newton's assessment of the pottery that the finds at
Pmarbapi were much later. Penny Wilson-Zarganis, Librar-
ian of the British School at Athens, graciously showed me
an unpublished letter from von Hahn to ancient historian
G. Finlay (1799-1875), dated 10January 1865, which is part
of the Finlay Collection. This communication to Finlay
concerns the implications of Calvert's work and Gergis iden-
tification for Pinarbaqi's claim. In it von Hahn goes so far
as to admit that he agrees with Calvert.
71 Frederick Calvert (supra n. 16) wrote to Greaves in
1861 that a year before his "brother began to have strong
doubts respecting the site near Bounarbaschi, which is gen-
erally admitted and, we had always upheld to be the true
site. ... We have made progress in discovering, if we have
not actually discovered the real site of old Troy."Actually
it is clear that Calvert had privately abandoned the
PinarbaSi theory much earlier in favor of the region around
Ilium Novum (supra n. 47).
72Contrary to Cook (supra n. 3) 95 and Wood (supra
n. 7) 45, who erroneously state that Calvert acquired the
1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT,EXCAVATOR
tell. There in 1855-1856 some 150 soldiers, under
the command of British engineerJohn Brunton, had
dug briefly at Ilium for an extra pint of stout and
had found a huge Corinthian capital and Roman
mosaic.73 Whether these finds had prompted Cal-
vert to buy the land at Ilium Novum or whether, as
Easton suggests,74 Brunton excavated on this piece
of land because it was owned by the Calverts is
unclear.
Spurred on by Charles Maclaren's revival in 1863
of the ancient idea that Homer's Troy and Classical
Ilion were on the same spot,75 by September 1863
Calvert had himself already excavated a trench on
the southern part of the tell, presumably in that por-
tion of land that he already owned. Calvert's letter
to Newton dated 24 September 1863 described his
ownership of part "of the site of Ilium (Novum)"
Easton has noted that Calvert's subtle bracketing of
Novum in reference to Ilium at Hisarlik was a tenta-
tive identification of Hisarlik as Troy.76 Calvert
wrote: "I have discovered that the site of the temple
of Pallas occupied the prominent mound which rises
out of the plain--an excavation I made twelve feet
long by eight feet broad and three deep, disclosed
a number of fluted columns, a capital, an inscrip-
tion, and friezes whilst others appear on all sides.'77
Presumably referring to the southeastern trench, he
continued enticingly: "Ashort time since whilst clear-
land at Hisarlik only after von Hahn'sexcavations, the ac-
quisition had nothing to do with von Hahn. The purchase
of land predated Senior's visit in 1857 when he saw "the
rough buildings which Frank Calvert had put up as
the beginning of their farm." Frank was already farming
it with a Mr. Freeman from Erenk6y, Senior (supra n. 13)
164, 168. Calvert mentions his ownership of the land of
Ilium Novum in his letter to Newton, 24 September 1863.
According to a letter written to Schliemann dated 23 Feb-
ruary 1871, Calvert held the land in the name ofElia Frangi
and his brother Christo. He had purchased the fields piece-
meal over a number of years.
73J.H. Clapham ed., John Brunton's Book (Cambridge
1939) 68. Cook (supra n. 3) 58, 137 discovered this impor-
tant account. Upon his return, Brunton gave the portable
finds to the British Museum through Lord Panmure on
8 December 1856 (Register, Department of Greek and
Roman Antiquities).
74Easton 121.
75Maclaren (1782-1866) was founder and editor of The
Scotsman (Lascarides [supra n. 4] 54, 64) and had written
several publications on the subject of Trojan topography,
including The Plain of TroyDescribed:And the Identity of the
Ilium of Homer with the New Ilium of Strabo (Edinburgh 1822)
and, because the first had not been widely read, A Disser-
tation on the Topographyof the Plain of Troyincluding an Ex-
amination of the Opinions of Demetrius, Chevalier, Dr. Clarke,
and MajorRennell(Edinburgh 1863). He was credited by
Frank Calvert in his "Trojan Antiquities," on 7 November
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391
ing out brushwood from the theatre, a torso, and two
forepaws of a lion were brought to light-just below
the surface.'78 Here it appears, from the southwest-
ern angle of this trench, that he may have dug until
he reached the wall and then stopped. Because of
similar finds made by Brunton, Calvert, and Schlie-
mann, Easton has suggested that all three dug in the
same area, that of the large depression of Theater
B of Troy IX, on the southeastern slope of the
mound.79
Confident about the significance of Hisarlik, but
hampered by a lack of funds,80 Calvert sought finan-
cial help as early as 1863. First he approached New-
ton, now Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities
at the British Museum. Having corresponded over
the years, Calvert had written as recently as 12 Feb-
ruary 1862 to apprise him of his archaeological finds
and site identifications in the Troad, including the
discovery of Cebren and his exploration of the Cave
of Andeira, and to request help in dating one of his
tombs by means of an Egyptian scarab found therein.
Calvert realized that he needed active assistance
for his costly project at Hisarlik and was willing to
turn over his lands to the British Museum. Perhaps
the above-mentioned excavation was intended to pro-
duce finds that would persuade Newton and the Mu-
seum to undertake the project. In the same letter
to Newton, Calvert proposed that the British Museum
1874, Athenaeum 2454, 610-11. Wood (supra n. 7) 45 sug-
gests an interesting possibility- that Maclaren, who made
the armchair identification of Hisarlik as Troy, may have
met (and perhaps have been guided by) the Calverts in
his first trip to the Troad in 1847. Maclaren wrote: "To me
the eminence seemed nearly square and its breadth little
more than a furlong, say 700 feet... with a few scattered
trees. ... It was strewed with innumerable small morsels
of pottery and tile, and some bits of marble, and bore, in
patches, in the first week of May 1847, a miserably thin
crop of wheat or barley."
76Easton 124. Cook (supra n. 3) 36, 95 and Traill 102
report wrongly that Calvert's work at Troy began in 1865.
77Schliemann later referred to this excavation in a let-
ter of 2 May 1872: "the temple ... in your field there where
the old excavation is, for some has been made two or three
centuries ago by the Turks who dug for marbles for their
tombs." The old excavation noted here is probably the quar-
rying efforts remarked upon by Clarke (supra n. 34).
7 Published by Easton 123-24. Calvert's southeastern
trench is shown on Atlas pl. 116 (infra n. 83).
79Easton 121, 123. An anonymous AJA reviewer has
pointed out that there is no clear evidence that Brunton
ever dug at Hisarlik--only at Ilium Novum.
"0 "I confess my means for carrying on excavations are
limited," Calvert wrote to Newton 24 September 1863. While
waiting for the Museum's answer, Calvert continued to write
Newton concerning the sale of tetradrachms (24 January
1864).
392 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
be allowed to keep all the objects found. In return
Calvert required only "direction of the excavation,
or that my name might be attached to any discov-
eries made.' He would not accept payment for his
services, unless "the British Museum on the results
of the excavation being known, might think it fit to
make me a compensation.... This I think is a liberal
proposal, which combined with my knowledge and
experience, that could be brought to bear favourably
on the enterprise, makes me entertain a hope that
the British Museum may be disposed to accept it"81
The subsequent failure of the British Museum to ac-
cept this proposal has been treated by Wood, Traill,
Easton, and Allen.82
Following this stunning rejection, Calvert per-
severed, purchasing part of the highest mound, or
acropolis, in 1864 or 1865. By 1865 he had excavated
three additional trenches on the northern and north-
eastern flanks of the mound, clearly marked on
Schliemann's later plan.83 Having discreetly kept the
news of his earlier finds private while awaiting the
museum's decision, he now reported his excavations
81 He did mention
correctly that all duplicates by Ot-
toman law had to remain in the country. Elsewhere in the
same letter, he wrote "if anything could be managed with
the British Museum on excavations here (and elsewhere
if they desired it) I would be very happy to offer my ser-
vices. This correspondence and the proposal itself were
rediscovered by Easton 123 and published by Wood (supra
n. 7) 43. Ten years later Calvert (supra n. 75) stated this
offer and its subsequent rejection publicly: "I suggested
to the British Museum the advisability of making excava-
tions in this promising field, but my proposal was declined.
82Letter from Newton to Calvert, 3 February 1864 pub-
lished in Allen (supra n. 30); Traill 31; Wood (supra n. 7)
45; and Easton 123. Robinson (supra n. 11) 164 has sug-
gested that Frederick's actions and Frank Calvert's subse-
quent defense may have played a role in the museum's de-
cision. She also alleges that Newton advised the museum
to reject Calvert's proposal because of his prejudice against
Calvert as an excavator.
:•Calvert's four trenches are marked as no. 5 on
Adolphe Laurent's 1872 plan, pl. 116 of Schliemann's Atlas
des antiquitis troyennes(Paris 1874). This plan is among the
plates included in the reprint of a selection of material
from Schliemann's Atlas,trojanischeAlterthiimer(Leipzig 1874)
(infra n. 144), M. Korfmann ed., Heinrich Schliemann:Bericht
liberdie Ausgrabungenin Trojain denJahren 1871 bis 1873 (Mu-
nich 1990).
'4Greaves (supra n. 1) 337.
15
It is well known that this gladiator metope was dis-
played at the Thymbra farm for many years (H. Schlie-
mann, Troja:Results of the Latest Researches and Discoveries
on the Site of Homer's Troy, 1882 [London 1884] 200; W.
D6rpfeld, Trojaund Ilion [Berlin 1902] 433) and later pur-
chased by Schliemann and now part of the Schliemann
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[AJA 99
publicly to C. Sprengel Greaves, who announced at
the 7 July meeting of the Archaeological Institute84
the "extensive excavations at Ilium Novum, and also
the discovery of ruins as supposed, of a Temple of
Minerva, consisting of marble columns, architraves,
and portions of bas reliefs, one of them being part
of the figure of a gladiator.'85 His two northern
trenches revealed both the Temple of Athena and
what he then considered to be remains of the "Lysim-
achean Wall;' a wall that he believed had been built
by Alexander's general, Lysimachus, in the early third
century B.C., but that is now thought to be Roman.86
These were later obliterated by Schliemann's north-
ern platform. The Greek and Roman necropolis to
which he referred in later correspondence must have
been encountered at this time just outside the
"Lysimachean Wall'87 The northeastern trench
seems to have followed an angle of masonry, which
Easton has suggested may have been the northern
end of the Troy VI city walls.88
In his trenches, which reached a depth of 12-15
ft, Calvert excavated layers of "accumulated rubbish"
Collection in Berlin. A letter from Calvert to Schliemann on
12 July 1882 records the sale. In his letter to R. Sch6ne,
General Director of the Prussian Museums, Berlin, on 26
July 1882 Schliemann gloats over Calvert's needing money
and selling the piece for less than its value (Briefe126, p. 216).
86Easton 125. Calvert (supra n. 75). He also referred to
this find in LH (supra n. 16).
87Letter from Calvert to Schliemann on 30 November
1879. Vases now in the Worcester Art Museum may have
been excavated in this area at this time. He also found a
quarry or "latomie" (Calvert, supra n. 75).
88Easton 125 based this on a study of Schliemann's
plans (supra n. 83) with the indications of Calvert's trenches
and the placement of walls within them. However, an ex-
amination of the Atlas (supra n. 83) pls. 116, 214, and 215
shows significant discrepancies between pi. 116 and pls.
214 and 216 in the size and shape of the northeastern trench
as well as in the placement within it of the crucial angle
of masonry. Pl. 116 shows an enlarged northeastern trench,
probably as a result of Schliemann's extending the trench
to the south. In it the masonry of the bastion is plotted
further to the south. Pl. 214 shows the trench (no. 31) as
much smaller, although the angle of the wall is still within
the limit of the trench. Note that the angle of the wall is
placed in a more northerly position than on 116. P1. 215
also shows a narrower trench and does not include the wall
in it, but seems to abut it on the south, perhaps the reason
why the sounding was not more broad. Since there are dis-
crepancies in the positioning of the trench, the position-
ing of the walls within the trench, and the size and shape
of the excavated area, I cannot see any definitive evidence
for Calvert having excavated this wall (Easton 121) although
he seems to have dug up to the line of the wall as in the
case of the southeastern trench (supra n. 78).
1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT,EXCAVATOR
with no pottery earlier than that of the Archaic
period, seventh-sixth century B.C.89Without having
reached virgin soil, Calvert noted in his 4 February
1873 Levant Herald article that at the very least this
proved that Classical Ilion predated the earliest-
known references to it by 150-250 years.
In 1865 Calvert also published his discovery and
identification of the remote site of Cebren at Qal
Dag. As with his other publications, he carefully ana-
lyzed the literary testimonia and topographical and
geological features of the site before treating the
architectural remains of the fortified town, whose
walls were reminiscent of the cyclopean masonry of
Tiryns and Mycenae.0o Here, as elsewhere, he based
his identifications primarily on the evidence from
coins found at the site. In that report he alluded to
another important identification - of remains "in the
neighbourhood of Tchigri Dag" as Neandria. A year
earlier he had promised to send Newton a memoir
on Neandria, but it was never published. In 1866 he
was working in the area of Balikesir. These explo-
rations also remain unpublished. Nothing is known
of his activities in 1866 and 1867.
It was on 15 August 1868 that Calvert met Schlie-
mann. Schliemann's writings commemorate the his-
toric meeting, but, as Traill has argued, they are de-
fective, to say the least.9' Frustrated by his own lack
of resources, Calvert seized on Schliemann's ability
to carry out the extensive excavations of which he
had dreamed. For this reason he made "in the inter-
est of science a sacrifice of personal considerations
urging Dr. Schliemann to carry out what had been
for years my particular ambition'92 Schliemann
noted the critical meeting in his diary entry for 16
August: "Yesterday I made the acquaintance of the
famous Archaeologist Frank Calvert who thinks as
'9Calvert (supra n. 16). Wood (supra n. 7) 45 states that
Calvert did, in fact, reach Bronze Age levels on the north,
immediately below the foundations of the Athena temple,
but that the prehistoric foundations were not recognized
as such until the 1930s. The evidence he uses for this ob-
servation, however, is not clear.
E Calvert, "Contributions to the Ancient Geography
of ,.o
the Troad. On the Site and Remains of Cebrene," ArchJ
22 (1865) 51-57. Katalog, site no. 11: 95-97.
91Traill 73-90 has illuminated the sequence of events
as misrepresented by Schliemann in IPT 161-62 and in
his manipulation of diary entries.
92Calvert's letter to the Guardian (11
August 1875).
': Traill's translation (79) from modern Greek. Compare
the translation by Turner in Lehrer and Turner 245. Turner
continues: "The meeting with Calvert on August 15 was
crucial in making Schliemann realize not only that Troy
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393
I do that the Homeric Troad is nowhere else but at
Hessarlik [sic]. He advises me strongly to dig there.
He says the whole mound is man-made. He showed
me his large collection of vases and other antiquities
which he has found during his excavations'93 Cal-
vert was equally impressed by Schliemann. In re-
sponse to the later gift of a book by Schliemann,
Calvert wrote that "truth ungarnished appears in all
the descriptions you give. The work you have in hand
will doubtless prove as interesting."94
Once back in Paris, Schliemann accepted the chal-
lenge, bombarding Calvert with queries concerning
the site, which, according to Lehrer and Turner's
analysis, he may not even have noticed during his
trip.95 Answering Schliemann's impatient questions
in letters of 10 and 29 October (now lost),96 Calvert
assured Schliemann, quoted recent authors' opin-
ions, gave information on many topographical points
concerning the Troad, knowledge that would have
taken Schliemann years to amass, and then focused
on Hisarlik. On 1 November, he wrote in response
to specific inquiries that "the artificial mound ...
has taken its elevated form from being kept in on
all sides by a wall made of the debris of temples and
the rubbish accumulating therein. It is, however, only
a spur of the flat table land immediately connected
with it. The spur on which we find the elevated
mound is the most remarkable on this range and
its commanding position would at once point it out
as the most eligible spot on the plain. It has been
built over and over again until it was raised to its
present elevation" In response to Schliemann's en-
thusiasm he then continued: "it will give me much
pleasure and satisfaction in giving you all the assis-
tance I can in carrying on your excavations at Ilium
Novum to settle the ground question 'ubi Troja fuit.'
was not a Homeric myth, but that it was there to be dug"
(258). Gamer (supra n. 11) has suggested a quid pro quo re-
lationship between them at the beginning.
94Letter to Schliemann, 1 November 1868, published
in Lehrer and Turner 265-66.
95Schliemann's diary entry for 9 August 1868 (p. 139)
describes an unnamed site "on a hill almost 100 feet high,
covered with a great deal of soil, but recently partly ex-
cavated, a temple or palace of excellently worked cyclopean
stones. From there I had a fine view over the plain of the
Troad." Was this Hisarlik? Lehrer and Turner 252-54. The
lack of reference to Hisarlik before 14 August led Traill
83 to posit a missing page. Although Lehrer and Turner
247-48 subsequently disproved this, Traill still believes there
is a lacuna in the text.
96 D.E Easton, "The Schliemann
Papers," BSA (1982)
93-110, esp. 99.
394 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
Ole ...........
IV
&~ j-
SAN**
P 4* l 4 4 A
Ll4t4:ibLb*
Fig. 9. Frank Calvert'sschematic section of Hisarlik, from the south looking north, sent to Schliemann with letter
of 3 February 1869. (Courtesy Gennadius Library,American School of Classical Studies at Athens)
All my lands are at your disposal, to examine as you
may think best."97
Calvert stated his position, aims, and motivation.
On 23 December 1868 he wrote Schliemann from
the Dardanelles: "allow me to inform you that I have
not come to any arrangement with any other party
for excavating- it is true that I have been and am
seeking opportunities for carrying on other excava-
tions independently of the one in view and clear up
as much as possible during my lifetime the archaeol-
ogy of the Troad- still as to Hissarlik I have given
you my promise and there is nothing now to prevent
our views from being carried out except the firman."
Schliemann wrote on 24 December 1868: "I am
now decided to dig away the whole of the artificial
mount [sic] of Hissarlik." But he still had misgivings:
"What has led you to conclude that the hill is ar-
tificial?"Calvert wrote back on 13January 1869: "The
decision you have come to regarding the excavation
of Hissarlik has given me great pleasure. You may
be sure you will have my hearty cooperation as far
as lays [sic] in my power to carry out this interesting
exploration - and let us hope the results may crown
the hopes of our expectations in finding the walls
of Troy."In answer to a specific question regarding
ownership of the mound, he responded: "Part of the
artificial mound is my property and . .. you have
my consent to clean it out."98This was a gentleman's
97This portion of the 1 November 1868 letter (63/450)
was published in BW I 110, p. 140.
98This letter (now lost) was published in BW I 113, pp.
142-44.
99This letter (87a/49) was written in response to
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[AJA 99
iZC I B? :~
:: 4 c
,
4... L 4
4A : % 4
,4 -
A4 r
agreement and Calvert went to great lengths to
uphold his end of the bargain. When asked on 22
January 1869 to telegraph the impatient Schliemann
with the height of the mound, he did so. Calvert then
took great pains in his letter of 3 February to clear
up Schliemann's hazy understanding for it was clear
that he "had not seized the right idea of the true na-
ture of the Hissarlik mound." Calvert continued:
It has taken me years to become the possessor of the
part of the mound, with the express purpose of ex-
cavating it.... My ideas were based on finding the
walls of Troy,the antiquities in the shape of marbles,
coins, [e]tc paying for the expenses of excavation and
value of field which would be rendered useless for
agricultural or any other purpose. When you stated
to me your wish to find the walls of TroyI at once con-
sented, for to tell you the truth I cannot spare the
necessary amount for excavating the mound at
present- and as it is generally understood and your
not mentioning anything to the contrary, the objects
found remain to the proprietor of the land. I am will-
ing nevertheless to meet you halfway, if you agree
to it, which is that half of the objects found are to
be my property after deduction made of duplicates
which may or may not be claimed by Turkish Govt.
The division to be made as follows the objects to be
separated into two portions of as equal value as
possible and then to draw lots - afterwards exchanges
can be made between us.99
On 13January Calvert also counseled Schliemann
on appropriate excavation methods for testing the
Schliemann'sletters, dated 21 and 22January.In the same
letter he wrote that "anew law has been promulgated by
which excavations have been prohibited throughout the
Turkish dominions."
1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT,EXCAVATOR 395

tIsi II
A- ?

a*:4'
t;/4-1
tA.? 4Y:::i4l~I4 j ~ ,
SP~k~ rk-t,~1:.~. .
i-:- i~F~-i i,~_~iii
ii~ir C'4 ~ k
7--:-_j:::: A. ::,:~_~ii:E~

I / / -~ / /~t~~ / /

t:A4:Z ::,-::-:- I
i*-ii ~:-i~eii~~~-iii~:ii~i-i~1(Ai~:#4
~.
4'~4 9~4 OC44t?4 ? i4~ A
4. J i~O ~ ~ e (%Pc-ii~f4

Fig. 10. Calvert'ssection of Hisarlik, sent to Schliemann in letter of 10 May 1871, in order to clarify the relative
depth of the Temple of Athena (3), discovered by Calvert,and structures subsequently discovered by Schliemann
(4 and 5). (Courtesy Gennadius Library,American School of Classical Studies at Athens)

mound to determine a suitable location for concen-
trating his effort: "the plan I would adopt would be
to make open trenches across the mound down to
the natural soil, and others at right angles and only
when anything interesting comes to view to open
out the structure or foundations'" Schliemann sub-
sequently followed this advice in the first trenches
of the brief 1870 season. Calvert continued: "In this
manner much unprofitable ground might be left un-
touched. I believe it was in this manner that Layard
excavated the Nineveh mound. Wherever I have ex-
cavated in this mound the soil is artificial (not only
on the slopes but on its summit) in some places
deeper than others; the average'00 I should say
would be 10 to 12 feet.... I naturally conclude the
rest of the flat hill is similarly composed of artificial
soil."1'1Since he had not reached virgin soil, Calvert
surmised that the earth on the summit was composed
of cultural debris. In his letter of 3 February 1869
Calvert gave Schliemann minute descriptions of the
site and a rough section (fig. 9) showing the stratig-
raphy of the tell as it had appeared from Calvert's
own excavations. He sent another section drawing
(fig. 10) in a letter on 10 May 1871 in order to elu-
cidate the relative depths of strata and important
features excavated by him and Schliemann.1'02 With
this in mind and in view of Calvert's specific advice,
it is difficult to understand how D6hl can claim that
Schliemann was "the first excavator in the Mediter-
ranean area to have recognized (a continuous se-
quence of cultures that flourished on the hill of His-
sarlik) and to have considered the consequences"103

100 Not "averoft" as in Meyer edition (BWI 113, p. 144).
See Calder (supra n. 9) for Meyer'sinaccuracies.
101Letter of 13
January 1869 (BWI 113, pp. 142-44).
102 In a letter to Schliemann, dated 10
May 1871, Cal-
vert attempted to clarify stratigraphyfor Schliemann by
using an illustrativesection of the tell (59a/b)noting a late
structure found by Schliemann, the earlier Temple of
Athena found by Calvert,and cultural debris overlyingthe
virgin soil of the mound. In the same letter, Calvert used
the builder's marks that Schliemann found on blocks in
his excavationsto show that Schliemann had, in fact, found
a continuation of Calvert'swall. Because of the mention
of these same builder's marks,Easton 125 has interpreted
this to be part of the TroyIX enclosure wall rather than
that of Lysimachus.
103H. D6hl, "Schliemann the Archaeologist,"in MSH
95-109. Calvertclearly had advised Schliemann that there
were several different superimposed strata. This was not
Schliemann's innovation. Traill 258 has criticized D6hl's
remarks (infra n. 175) 104 that in the 1870s "Schliemann
was the only classical archaeologist who thought it impor-
tant to dig down to virgin soil" and referred t6 Calvert's
letter of 13 January 1869. Note Max Miuller'sremarks on
the cavalier treatment of pottery from different levels by
Schliemann quoted by Calder (supra n. 9).

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396 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
Bloedow is similarly uncritical, calling Schliemann
the field archaeologist an "autodidakt"who was dig-
ging at a time when "scientific methods of excava-
tion did not yet exist or were only in their very first
stages.'104Calvert had been excavating stratigraph-
ically since 1853.
In a letter of 13 January 1869 Calvert advised
Schliemann on accepted digging procedure: "The
method adopted in this country is for one man to
dig and another to shovel the loose soil.' In a letter
of 3 February(87a/49)he advised Schliemann: "You
will find 10 to 12 feet of soil very heavy work re-
moving and many things maybe found at this depth."
He had shared pragmatic advice earlier with New-
ton in his letter of 24 September 1863, noting that
"the abrupt hill" offered "aneasy method of getting
rid of the rubbish in any excavation.'Most of Calvert's
remarks were cautionary.
Trusting in Schliemann, Calvert shared with him
not only the site itself and half of the artifactsfound
therein, but also his experience, the fruit of decades
of excavation throughout the Troad. He patiently
answered question after question from Schliemann
who seems to have had little or no personal recollec-
tion of the site."15On 22 January 1869 Schliemann
requested"amem. of the ancient classicsand modern
publications which you advise me to take with me
for consultation.'16Calvertwent further and shared
with Schliemann at his request all of the ancient
sources and works of modern scholars bearing on
the question of the location of Troy.He later recalled:
104E.E Bloedow, "Schliemann'sAttitude to
Pottery,"in
J. Hermann ed., Heinrich Schliemann: Grundlagen und Ergeb-
nisse modernerArchdologie100Jahre nach Schliemanns Tod(Ber-
lin 1992) 211-21.
This extreme ignorance is readily apparent in letters
05,
exchanged between the two from October 1868 through
February 1869, many still preserved at the Gennadius Li-
brary.Particularlyrevealing are Calvert'sresponses to the
lost early letters of October 1868 and 22 January 1869.
"IlThis letter is now lost but,
fortunately, Calvert quoted
it in his own to the Guardian (supra n. 92), which has been
analyzed carefully by Traill 35-36. Traill 36, n. 26 and 85,
n. 36 has corrected July 1869 to be January of the same
year. Thus he dates it to the time of Schliemann's study
in Paris. He notes that the apparatus of learned arguments
that Schliemann adduces in support of his identification
of Hisarlik as Troy is not in the diary (81). Traill assumes
that the apparatus of learned arguments dated from his
study in Paris, but as Calvert later claimed, and as is in-
dicated by the early correspondence between the two, Cal-
vert supplied all of the literary sources to Schliemann in
the autumn of 1868 and early 1869.
107Supra n. 92.
10"E. Meyer published the letters that Schliemann wrote
to his sister and brother-in-law Hans Petrowsky on 22 August
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[AJA 99
"until I mentioned them to him, Dr. Schliemann knew
nothing of Maclaren or Eckenbrecker, the only two
writers who hit upon the theory that Hissarlik was
the site of Homer's Troy.... From me he took note
of their works.'107
Meanwhile Schliemann was taking copious notes
and, within weeks of his meeting Calvert, was pomp-
ously writing friends and family members about a
book he was composing on his excavationson the bat-
tlefield of Troy.'08Seeking additional information,
Schliemann sought to reassure Calvert that "mybook
treats almost exclusively of Ithaca, but I must add
something ab[ou]t the Plain of Troy."'19Within
months of Schliemann's visit with Calvert he had pub-
lished a book, Ithaque, le Peloponese et Troie,with the
focus on Troy. There he claimed "apres avoir atten-
tivement examin6e a deux reprises toute la plaine de
Troie, je partage pleinement la conviction de ce
savant [Calvert], que le haut plateau d'Hissarlik est
l'emplacement de l'ancienne Troie et que la susdite
colline est le site de sa Pergame."110Traill has shown
how Schliemann recast the events concerning his
1868 trip to the Troad in order to garner all the glory
of the discovery for himself.'1 This occurred a year
before Schliemann ever put spade to earth at Troy.
All he had needed to do was to shape the vast mass
of knowledge that Calvert had shared with him.
Although Schliemann had thanked Calvert for the
"highly interesting and valuable communications ...
of which I have largely made use for my work" and
had assured the latter that "the name of the great
1868 (Briefe6, p. 111);his father (9 December 1868, BWI 111,
p. 140); and his son Serge (1 November 1868, BW I 109,
p. 139). Surviving in his letter copybooks are letters he wrote
to Mr. Betolaud de la Drable on 17 September 1868, barely
a month after he had met Calvert, concerning "mes fouilles
AIthaque et ATroja."Next he corresponded with H. Jans-
sen on 30 September 1868: 'je me suis en train d'ecrire
un livre sur mes recherches archeologiques en Ithaque et
sur le champs de bataille de Troja."On 30 November 1868
he wrote to his brother: 'j'ai glorieusement refute les recits
de Strabon sur Ithaque et Troie etj'en ai fini, une fois pour
toutes, du dogma absurde des archeologues modernes, de
reconnaitre dans les hauteurs de Bounarbaschi l'emplace-
ment de l'ancienne ville de Troie."
10929 October 1868 letter to Calvert, preserved in 1868
copybook and published in Lehrer and Turner 265-66.
lo IPT 133-226, esp. 175. Traill 79-89 has discussed
the lack of correspondence between this account and the
diary. See also Lehrer and Turner.
"11Traill 29-40 and 73-89. Lehrer and Turner have
further shown how Schliemann gave a verbatim regurgi-
tation of material from von Hahn's report in IPT They also
question (257) whether the entries in the diary
Pinarbail
were written before Schliemann's meeting with Calvert.
1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT,EXCAVATOR
scholar Frank Calvert to whom the science of archae-
ology is greatly indebted for so many important
discoveries, has been frequently mentioned in the
book'"12 the latter was surely unprepared for
the thoroughness of Schliemann's self-promotion."13
Furthermore, at that time Calvert had considerable
work to attend to aside from his chores for Schlie-
mann. Long before he assumed the title of United
States Consular agent at the Dardanelles, he was aid-
ing his brothers in their consular duties. When family
difficulties and concomitant financial difficulties
arose in 1862,114Calvert became more involved in
family affairs. These duties had distracted him from
his archaeological pursuits and may have encour-
aged him to seek help, first from Newton and the
British Museum, and then from Schliemann."5 As
long as Calvert alone had access to Hisarlik, he could
excavate at his own pace and publish his findings,
time permitting. What he felt about this unforeseen
avalanche of energy is unknown. None of Calvert's
diaries is preserved, but a gracious response by let-
ter to Schliemann is.116
Running out of patience and against Calvert's ad-
vice to wait for the firman, Schliemann dug two per-
pendicular 30-m-long trenches on the western side
of the tell, rather than on Calvert's land, on 9 April
1870. He explained in a letter to Calvert on 2 May
1872 that "the other half being higher, it struck me
there ought to be the king's palace" Because he had
begun without permission from the Turkish land-
owners or the government, he was forced to stop
work and could not proceed for more than a year.
112Schliemann's letter to Calvert on 26 December 1868
(BWI 112, pp. 141-42).
113 "I take Mrs. Schliemann with me and we shall at once
publish in Greek, French, and German the description of
our own diggings with which your name is so closely con-
nected, and for which we feel an immense enthusiasm"
(letter to Calvert on 25 April 1871, Briefe 12, p. 116).
114Robinson (supra n. 11) 156, 159 has discovered and
referred to important files concerning Frederick Calvert's
fraudulent activities, Public Record Office at Kew, England.
Foreign Office documents describe Frederick's fall from
grace in that year. In particular, see file PRO/FO 78 2066.
115Robinson (supra n. 11) concludes, on the contrary,
that Frederick's absence freed Calvert to engage in archae-
ological pursuits.
116Probably in the earthquake of 1912, his unpublished
writings were destroyed (Edith Calvert [supra ns. 19 and
30] and E H. Bacon [supra n. 2]). On 8 March 1869 (691143)
Calvert wrote: "Many thanks for your letter and the work
you were so good as to send me. I have read the book
through and find it highly interesting- it is evident the
author is thoroughly acquainted with Homer and has made
it his "vade mecum"--The Preface has excited my warmest
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397
Calvert, by association, was penalized for Schlie-
mann's transgressions."117
When, with firman in hand, Schliemann began
to dig in earnest in 1871, he no longer heeded
Calvert's cautionary advice on excavation method-
ology. Instead he boasted to Calvert: "I now have my
firman and shall recommence excavations ... on a
large scale at Hissarlik where I shall take away the
whole hill"118In his letters to others he was equally
pompous: "Ishall merely limit myself cutting through
the mountain a tremendous trench thirty metres
broad and at least 122 m long11""9 (This became the
great north-south trench.) In another letter Schlie-
mann continued: "Weshall begin the excavation from
the foot of the mountain and dig until we reach the
virgin soil and follow same up. The lowest range of
buildings on this virgin soil must, of course, be the
most ancient."'20 The importance of digging down
to virgin soil had already been impressed upon him
by Calvert. To Calvert he wrote: "I am now progress-
ing much faster than before, and hope to accomplish
in 2 months hence a cut through the whole hillock,
on the virgin soil, of 23 metres broad. If I then see
any encouragement, I can attack the remainder from
three sides at once."121United States Ambassador
G.H. Boker, one of Schliemann's staunch supporters,
wrote to Schliemann on 29 December 1872: "The
photographs give me a very distinct idea of the mag-
nitude of your works. You seem to have engaged in
an effort to disembowel the earth. The air of the
figure leaning on his spade, and gazing at the tower
of Ilium, seems to say: 'Troy, Hell, or China'!"
admiration ... I am highly flattered by the manner in which
you have made mention of me in your work-you have
given me more praise than is my due for the services ren-
dered to archaeology."Later he asked Schliemann to inter-
cede on his behalf in acquiringthe Prussianvice-consulship
for the Dardanelles as it "would give me greater facilities
for carrying on my archaeological researches and Prussia
is known to be one of the great patrons of archaeology."
He discreetlydoes not mention Troy.Robinson (supran. 11)
has suggested that another reason for his silence would
have been the fear of Schliemann's bringing up of the past.
117Allen (supra n. 30). A letter from Calvert to Schlie-
mann on 30 April 1872 refers back to the first excavation
and reveals that Schliemann had agreed to begin excavating
on Calvert's land, but had not kept his word.
11812
August 1872 letter.
119Letter to diplomatJ. Brown at the American Embassy
in Constantinople, dated 5 October 1871 (BW I 156, pp.
187-88).
120Letter to Brown, dated 8 October 1871 (BW I 157,
J.
pp. 188-89).
121 25 and 26
June 1972 (BW I 183, pp. 210-11).
398 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
With the prospect of the destruction of his site
at hand, in spite of Schliemann's deceitful behavior
and exploitation of his knowledge and experience,
Calvert continued to offer assistance to him, coun-
seling him on archaeological methodology. In re-
sponse to Schliemann's foundering and repeated
pleas for help, Calvert tried to guide him in the dat-
ing of strata by looking at the style of associated pot-
tery: "The precise date [of the level] perhaps can be
ascertained by the pottery found by yoU.'122In an-
other letter Calvert inquired: "What period would
you attribute to the fine pottery you find at such tre-
mendous depth? This would certainly be a guide to
your discovery in what age you are working""23Here
again Calvert's contributions to Schliemann's later
methodology have not been recognized by either
Dohl or Bloedow, who both have praised Schliemann
for his observation of pottery.124
On 10 June 1872, Calvert offered Schliemann the
opportunity to dig on his land. At that time he ad-
vised him of the leveling activities that had occurred
in the past, which had changed the stratigraphy of
the mound, noting "the edge of the plateau, where
the ashes and remains... appear to have been cleared
off the rock and thrown down the hill towards the
plain" (letter 67/187). A month later Calvert analyzed
Schliemann's excavated architectural remains and
identified the fragments of one of the buildings as
Corinthian and those of another as Doric.125 Con-
cerned about the treatment of his part of the site,
he resumed his cautionary statements concerning
excavation on 8 July 1872, advising the neophyte "to
run a narrow trench from there (as a 'reconnais-
sance')" and a week later on 16 July 1872: "Do not
open large trenches, but small ones, in which two
men might work abreast. Throw up the earth on each
side. If you see anything promising there you might
make the cutting accordingly- in the theatre you
might make a small experimental digging close to
the marble that appears above the soil" (letter 67/233).
Finally he curtly explained the concept of terminus
post quem dating to his colleague: "It is not the most
ancient article found in a rubbish heap that proves
122Letter of 12 December 1871 (BWI 167, 197).
p.
123Letter of 7
June 1872.
124Supra ns. 103-104. E. Burnouf's letter of 8
May 1872
(BWI 179, p. 209), which Bloedow translates and cites as
crucial for Schliemann's development, postdates those from
Calvert: "you must save these large vases, always with an
indication of the stratum in the earth where you found
them. This is very important in connection with all the
objects which you discover .. because ... it will be nec-
essary for you to put back together everything which
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[AJA 99
its date, but the most modern - this is an accepted fact
by all archaeologists" (letter of 12 February 1873,
108a/51). Schliemann then parroted this, saying that
"potsherds ... give us two termini for the date of
the enclosing walls: they can neither be older than
the oldest potsherds, nor later than the latest."26
A cooling of the partnership is perceptible in the
letters of spring 1872 as it became clear that the two
men differed in their interpretation of the remains.
In response to Schliemann's incorrect dating of ob-
viously early material to the time of Homer, Calvert
made it clear that he did not support all of his ideas,
writing: "I do not doubt that the Homeric site will
be found - but those vases found together with stone
implements I cannot reconcile in my mind with the
Homeric period.... This confirms me in my opin-
ion as to the great age of your owls heads [e]tc and
the great gap missing in the history of Ilium or His-
sarlik"127In response to Schliemann's questioning
of Calvert's archaeological judgment, the latter re-
sponded on 13 April 1872: "I am not an enthusiast,
and when I make a statement it is based on fact." On
21 April 1872 Schliemann retorted: "You must ex-
cuse me that I trouble you so much but I am working
for the glory of Troy and you cannot but benefit your-
self by my success" Calvert wrote back coolly on 3
May: "Your excavations must be very interesting, and
I will visit them sometime when you come to some-
thing decisive" When Schliemann chastised Calvert
in his 23 July letter for lack of interest in his "godly
wall;' the latter responded tactfully on 24July: "I am
not indifferent to the discovery of the Trojan walls,
and it was only that I was not sure whether your la-
bours had been crowned with success, that I did not
offer you my congratulations, for when you wrote
to me you had not gone to any depth ... I need not
assure you how glad I will be to see the mystery of
Troy solved thanks to your perseverance and expen-
ditures you have succeeded in doing what no other
person has attempted on such a large scale" Speak-
ing frankly, Calvert wrote Schliemann on 12 Febru-
ary 1873: "In these days of materialism everything
must be proved and the days of enthusiasm are
you have found, namely into the same Level. Otherwise
you will not be able to draw any specific conclusions from
your magnificent discoveries." Elsewhere Wood (supra n.
7) 66, forgetting Calvert, credits Newton with leading Schlie-
mann to assert his dependence on pottery for dating.
125 Letter 67/221 of 7
July 1872.
126Letter of 13 September 1873 to the Kolnische
Zeitung
(BW I, 218, p. 239, quoted by D6hl [supra n. 103] 106).
127 24
February 1872 (112a/61).
1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT,EXCAVATOR
past- and what alone is accepted is fact.... My ideas
are to establish the truth."
Traill has focused attention on the tragic conse-
quences of Calvert's relationship with Schliemann,
the most serious being Schliemann's usurpation of
Calvert's identification of Hisarlik as the site of Troy
(to the extent that his own descendants refer to his
discovery of Troy as being "a family myth").28 Other
infractions included Schliemann's false claim of
finding the Temple of Athena;'29 his repeated ex-
ploitations of Calvert's generosities;'13 his betrayal
of Calvert's trust;'13 and his deceitful treatment of
Calvert over the Helios metope.1•2 At the same time
Calvert attempted in vain to sell Schliemann his half
of the site.'13 Schliemann continued to manipulate
Calvert in his purchase of important historical in-
scriptions.34" He even went so far as to involve Fred-
erick Calvert in his scheme to smuggle "alittle broken
pottery" ("Priam's Treasure") out of Turkey by leav-
ing it for a night at Thymbra Farm.'35 Calder has
argued that Schliemann invented his childhood
dream of Troy.'36Wood went even further, noting
that Schliemann had expropriated Frank Calvert's
lifelong fascination with "finding the walls of Troy"
for use in his own manufactured and ever-evolving
autobiography. 137
It was only after considerable aggravation and hu-
miliation at the hands of Schliemann'38 that Calvert
was urged by his friends to speak up and fight
back.' 39After summarizing most of the archaeolog-
ical work in the Troad, including his own, he stated
in his article of 25January 1873 in the Levant Herald,
128 Traill90-92 and Wood
(supra n. 7) 55. Personal com-
munication with Kendall Bacon, great-great-grandnephew
of Frank Calvert.
129IPT 234.
1's"Traill 33 and 90-91.
'3' Traill 33 and 90-91.
132Exhaustively treated by Traill 101-12.
133
"I am in great want of money at the present moment
and it is for this reason I wish to sell, for I bought it with
the express purpose of excavating the site ... that of the
only true Troy" (4 May 1872).
1'4Traill 105 publishes a letter from Schliemann to Cal-
vert dated 18 March 1873.
135Schliemann's letter to Frederick Calvert, resident at
Thymbra Farm, is dated 31 May 1873. Traill 167-72. See
infra n. 187.
136As Calder and Traill have shown (W.M. Calder III,
"Schliemann on Schliemann: A Study in the Use of Sources,"
GRBS 13 [1972] 350-52; Traill 29-40), Schliemann seems
to have manufactured his dream of excavating Troy (Cal-
vert, supra n. 92). It should be noted that he also claimed
to have followed scientific methodology "to obtain tangible
negative proofs" (Traill 32), a method in fact used by Calvert
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399
published on 4 February 1873, that "Mr. H. Schlie-
mann in 1870-1872 continued the excavations I had
commenced." Yet even here Calvert gave Schliemann
a balanced treatment in his prescient assessment of
the Hisarlik excavations. He noted "incontestable
proofs of the existence of a settlement at a very early
date, several centuries before the Trojan War as
shown by the stone relics in the lower strata of ex-
cavations,... a most important link, however, is miss-
ing between B.C. 1800 and B.C. 700, forming a gap
of over one thousand years, including the date of
the Trojan War, B.C. 1193-1184, no relics of an inter-
vening epoch having yet been discovered between
that indicated by the presence of prehistoric stone
implements and, &c., and that by the pottery of the
Archaic style."The missing levels, later known as Troy
VI and VII and dating from 1800 to 1100, were not
recognized in excavation until 1890. Thus he con-
cluded that Schliemann had to that point unearthed
nothing to be connected with the heroic age of
Homer. As Traill has noted, this observation was
incredibly astute, even more so since it was made
prior to the excavations at Mycenae.140 Because of
the similar age of the prehistoric levels at Hisarlik
and much of Hanay Tepe, Calvert further concluded
that Hanay Tepe must no longer represent the tomb
of the Trojans. He continued circumspectly: "It is
possible that Hissarlik was a ruin when Homer
wrote."
Anticipating the results of the 1990s excavations in
the Lower City by Manfred Korfmann, he wrote that
"the large excavations at Hissarlik are but a trifle in
comparison with the vast extent of accumulated ar-
in his soundings at Pmarbaip. Both IPT 161-62 and
Schliemann's letter to the Guardian of 31 March 1875 (Traill
34) echo the words of Calvert (supra n. 43).
137Calder (supra n. 136) first suggested Schliemann's
fabrication of the dream of Troy, and Traill subsequently
elucidated and expanded on this theory. As Traill 38-39
sees it, Schliemann discovered his childhood passion for
archaeology after his successful 1871-1873 campaign at
Hisarlik (Wood [supra n. 7] 48).
138Schliemann repeatedly criticized Calvert's ideas
when writing to the Calvert brothers, as for instance in
a letter toJames on 21 November 1871 (Briefe16, pp. 118-19).
139Calvert's letter to Schliemann, 5
February 1873. At
the same time he cautioned Schliemann: "I hear that new
orders have been issued to the authorities of all the prov-
inces to prevent the exportation of antiquities."
140 Traill 33, 90, and 102-103. Here Robinson
(supra n.
11) 160 is incorrect when she suggests that Calvert'spub-
lication of the LH article was in any way connected with
Schliemann's boasting concerning the Helios metope. Cal-
vert did not find out about this until his April trip to Con-
stantinople (7 April 1873 letter to Schliemann).
400 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
tificial soil elevated above the Plain and extending
far beyond the hillock"141 Calvert then closed his
article with the generous wish that his "energetic
friend Mr. Schliemann, in his further contemplated
researches, may be able to complete the missing link,
and discover the lost Homeric Troy, for if ever the
world-famed city existed, the probability is that His-
sarlik marks its site"
It must be pointed out that Calvert as a gentle-
man had shared his opinions with Schliemann pri-
vately at least a year before he aired them pub-
licly.142But as Traill has shown,143Schliemann seems
to have had no tolerance for Calvert espousing any
ideas in print about Hisarlik/Troy, and especially
those that did not agree with his own. Subsequently
he attacked Frank and Frederick Calvert vehemently,
first in letters and then in his 1874 publication
Antiquites troyennes,144in which he claimed that he
had discovered the Temple of Athena, dismissing
Calvert's trenches as "deux petits fosses qui existent
encore aujourd'hui et il se trompe en affirmant que
j'ai continue ses excavations."145Months later in the
Athenaeum (2454:610-11) Calvert responded in his
own defense after Schliemann had portrayed him
as an adversary. Concerning the identification of
Hisarlik with Troy, "it was in truth I myself who first
convinced him of that identity and persuaded him
to make the excavations which have yielded such in-
teresting results." Then he noted that this was only
after the British Museum had failed to respond fa-
vorably to his proposal. "In 1868 Dr. Schliemann first
visited the Troad. He asked me my opinion as to the
true site of Troy, admitting that he had not as yet
given any attention to the problem. I, on my part,
frankly communicated to him the results of my re-
searches and the grounds on which I had arrived
at the conviction, regarding the location of Homer's
Troy, that if Troy ever existed, it must have been at
Hissarlik." He went on to describe Schliemann's ex-
cavation in 1870 of"a few insignificant walls ... at
141 Korfmann has proven the existence of a densely
packed lower city in the Late Bronze Age.
142Supra n. 127.
143Traill 29-40 and
supra n. 138.
144 In a letter to Calvert on 27 March 1873, he wrote that
"it will require long articles from Mr. Burnouf and other
scholars to let evaporate the wrong you have done the sake
of Troy and to me in my tremendous labours" (Briefe 32,
pp. 129-30). Schliemann wrote his publisher, Brockhaus,
on 1 April 1873 (Briefe 33, pp. 130-31) and made his dis-
pleasure public in Antiquites troyennes(Paris 1874), also pub-
lished in German and English.
145Antiquites troyennes 234. See Traill 33-36.
146This argument is quoted and
analyzed by Traill 35.
147Calvert's letter to the Guardian
(supra n. 92). See
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[AJA 99
once pronounced by him to be the ruins of Priam's
Palace." Calvert then humbly pointed out using strati-
graphic principles that "since the doctor had found
these on top of the debris they must be from a much
later period than the Heroic Age." To set the record
straight he then enumerated all of the finds that he
himself had made and that Schliemann had claimed
were his own, such as the temple and the "Lysima-
chean Wall." Calvert refuted the preposterous claim
of "deux petits fosses" by referring to the plan that
Schliemann himself had published, clearly marked
with four "trenches dug by Frank Calvert," all but
one of which had been obliterated by Schliemann's
excavations.
Schliemann wrote to the United States Ambas-
sador G.H. Boker on 2 December 1874 that "Frank
Calvert has published a monstrous libel against
me.... It is beneath my dignity to answer libels . .. it
is the fate of all discoverers to be envied, ill treated,
pursued and libelled and all this will cease only at my
death." He responded publicly in the 31 March 1875
Guardian: "Not the least funny thing in Mr. Calvert's
article is the assertion that it was he who first indi-
cated to me Hissarlik as the site of Troy, and that I
avowed him that I had not previously given any at-
tention to the subject . . . I first saw Mr. Calvert on
my return from the plain of Troy, was happy to hear
that he shared my opinion regarding the identity
of the Homeric Ilion with the posterior city of that
name."'46 In his rebuttal, Calvert quoted Schlie-
mann's letter of 22 January 1869 to him: "Had any-
body else proposed to me to dig away a hill at my
own cost, I would not even have listened to him."'47
Between the years 1873 (when they had fallen out
over the Helios metope) and 1879 there was appar-
ently little or no direct communication between the
two. On 4 May 1873 Schliemann haughtily answered
a poignant letter from Calvert148 with a formal re-
sponse in French. In it he feigned interest in reopen-
ing excavations in Calvert's field but said that he had
Traill 36, n. 26 and 85, n. 36.
148After months of bitter discourse concerning
Schliemann's underhandedness, Calvert, acting as manager
for his brother James, United States Consul at the Dar-
danelles, opened a scathing letter from Schliemann about
the affair in which he complains about Calvert's harrass-
ment and threatens to appeal to the United States ambas-
sador in Constantinople for protection. The letter, dated
24 April 1873, is preserved in Schliemann's copybook, p.
208, and published by Traill 109-10. An original draft of
Calvert's response, dated 25 April 1873, shows his tortured
reaction to this dishonesty: "With regard to future exca-
vations in my field in the interest of science, I shall not
stop them on account of the misunderstanding between
us.... I feel much hurt by the expressions you make use
1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT,EXCAVATOR
been dissuaded by Mme. Schliemann "en disant que
nous ne pouvons pas aborder cette enterprise gigan-
tesque en vue du proces dont vous nous menacez
a la fin de nos fouilles." Just weeks later came the
discovery of"Priam's Treasure,"'49after which Schlie-
mann had no need of Calvert.
In 1875 Schliemann commenced protracted ne-
gotiations with the Turkish government for permis-
sion to excavate again at Troy. After he had paid a
sizable sum to the Turkish government for their half
share of Priam's Treasure, in 1876, he was given
a new firman. The proposed renewal of work at
Hisarlik made a rapprochement with Calvert desir-
able and Schliemann tried unsuccessfully to repair
the breach in their personal relationship with the
gift of a volume by Gladstone. On 29 May 1876
(71/168), less than two months before his brother
Frederick's death, Calvert returned the volume and
responded to Schliemann: "You will remember that
in the controversy which arose between us you did
not confine yourself to scientific argument but ad-
vanced a most unfounded and uncalled for accusa-
tion against my brother and myself- I have already
intimated to you through your man Nicola that in
any private capacity I could enter into no negotia-
tions with you until you had made reparation for
this wrong- committed though it may perhaps have
been in the heat of argument- still less can I think
of accepting any favour at your hands until the satis-
faction I demand has been given - at the same time
I shall in my official capacity, assist you as an Ameri-
can citizen in your dealings with the local authorities
of in your letter to my brother. If I give you 'tracasseries,'
you must remember that it is in upholding what I consider
my right, and that I have done all in my power to assist
you in your works since you first arrived - and always sacri-
ficed my time when your interests were if now,
concerned--
you consider you have no further need of me, it is very
ungracious of you to use that word, in recompense for all
that I have done for you. And remember if it was not for
me and the excavations made previously in my field (pur-
chased expressly for the purpose) you would never have
undertaken the work and reaped the benefit of my expe-
rience .... At the same time, for the sake of science, I as-
sure you I will not distract you in your work, nor bring
an action against you before counseling a lawyer, and if
he sees thatjustice is on my side, not until you have finished
your labours and returned to Athens.... I place this con-
fidence in you, that, if I am present or not, at the excava-
tions, the result will be the same." This and Schliemann's
response, preserved in the copybook, were published by
Traill 111-12. After this, relations broke down for more
than five years.
'14 It was not announced until 5 August 1873 in the Augs-
burg Allgemeine Zeitung. Traill 127-66; D.E Easton, "Schlie-
mann's Mendacity: A False Trail?" Antiquity 58 (1984)
200-202; and Easton, "Priam's Treasure," AnatSt 34 (1984)
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401
and uphold your rights to the best of my power."'15
After being prevented from excavating at Troy,Schlie-
mann turned to Mycenae and Tiryns in the summer
and left Calvert alone.
In 1878 W.C. Borlase wrote an expose of
Schliemann's erroneous account of the excavation
of Priam's Treasure in which he frequently referred
to Calvert in glowing terms and to the primacy of
Calvert's excavations. Enraged, Schliemann re-
sponded to Sir E Max Milller (1823-1900) branding
Calvert "afoul fiend and a liar who has been libelling
me for years."'151Since Schliemann was again plan-
ning to mount excavations at Hisarlik, however,
he must have wanted to make amends with Calvert
once and for all, if for no other reason than to have
access to the land that he had not bought. The means
by which they effected their rapprochement is not
preserved in their correspondence.152 The general
consensus is that they each decided to recognize
Maclaren's identification of the mound, albeit from
an armchair rather than an excavation, and not bicker
about the primacy of their own claims. Practically
speaking, however, by 1879 they had come to a ne-
gotiated understanding and Schliemann was under-
writing the cost of Calvert's renewed excavations at
Hanay Tepe.
It is clear from Schliemann's correspondence with
R. Virchow (1821-1902) that he wanted to patch up
relations with the individual who had been so use-
ful in the past.'15 Schliemann tried to have Calvert
decorated for his labors by the British and Prus-
sian governments,154 apparently unsuccessfully. In
163-64.
150 Schliemann's activities from 1874 to 1876 are sum-
marized by Traill 12-13. Schliemann sent Calvert WE.
Gladstone's Homeric Synchronism:An Enquiry into the Time
and Place of Homer (London 1876).
15'W.C. Borlase, "AVisit to Dr. Schliemann's Troy,"Fras-
ers Magazine 17 (1878) 236-37; E. Meyer, "Schliemann's Let-
ters to Max Miller in Oxford,"JHS 82 (1962) 97-99.
152 In an original draft of a June 1878 letter to an un-
specified ally (preserved among the Calvert-Schliemann
letters presented by F.H. Bacon to the Gennadius Library,
supra n. 2), Calvert noted that "I am perfectly aware that
Dr. Schliemann's tongue has not spared me."
'15 Writing to Virchow on 26 January 1879, Schliemann
notes his intention to begin excavations at Hisarlik on 1
March, continuing through May (Briefe 66, pp. 158-59). I
have analyzed the impact of the Virchow-Schliemann corre-
spondence on our knowledge of Calvert and Schliemann
in "Implications of the Schliemann-Virchow-Sch6ne Corre-
spondence (1876-1884) for an Understanding of Schlie-
mann's Relationship with Frank Calvert" (in preparation).
154Letters to R. Virchow on 26
January 1879 (Briefe 66,
pp. 158-59; Korrespondenz6, pp. 87-89) and 6July 1879 (Briefe
67, pp. 59-60; Korrespondenz35, pp. 115-16).
402 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
a series of letters, Calvert graciously replied: "I have
never sought this kind of honour- my idea is that
the time is not far distant when men will be judged
by their actions, not by the number of stars they carry
on their breasts."'55"I have often been disappointed
in life and now, unless the fait is accompli, place no
hopes on possibilities. I am prepared for negative
results, like a philosopher."'156"I thank you most sin-
cerely for the great interest you have taken to obtain
for me the decoration or other acknowledgement
from the German govt. and also for the acknowledge-
mentof any suggestionI maygive you regardingthe Troad-
although some time I regret you have alluded to the
past."'57 Ironically, this is exactly what Schliemann
had neglected to do with Calvert's most important
identification, and one based on archaeological
excavation - the suggested identification of Hisarlik
as Troy itself, shared with Schliemann at the Dar-
danelles 11 years earlier.
Heretofore Calvert had been limited by his lack of
financial resources;15"hence his original intention to
fund the Hisarlik excavations by the sale of coins and
sculpture on the art market. Because of his lack of
resources, if he had ever located a cemetery, he would
have chosen to excavate tombs rather than the ac-
companying settlement. 59A change of approach is
visible in 1878-1879, when, with Schliemann's sup-
port, he had the opportunity not just to conduct a
surface survey of an ancient settlement, but, for once,
to undertake the more strenuous demands of the
systematic excavation of a site.'16 In excavating
'55Letter (80/674,212a) from Calvert to Schliemann, 15
July 1879.
156Letter (81/1079,240a-c) from Calvertto Schliemann,
28 December 1879. In an earlier letter (26 August 1879)
he wrote:"Manythanks for the kind interest you havetaken
on my behalf to obtain a decoration from the German
government--I do not however expect to receive it if the
intention has been communicated to the British govt." This
pessimism may reflect the treatment to which the family
was subjected after Frederick's misdeeds (supra n. 114).
•7 Undated letter (81/974, 215a). The italics are mine.
Virchow tentatively acknowledged that Calvert's work had
preceded Schliemann's:"The first actual excavationswere
conducted by Mr. Frank Calvert. These excavations, how-
ever, were confined to the surface" ("Troy and Hisarlik,"
Appendix I in Ilios 681). In the same volume Schliemann
credited Calvert with the identification of Neandria (56),
Scamandria (57), Asarlik or Eski Hisarlik, as pointed out
to Spratt for the 1840 map of the Troad (60), the ancient
bed of the Scamander River in the Kalafat Azmak (99),
the region of Aianteion, and the port of Karanlik (104).
He still, however, could not bring himself to acknowledge
fully Calvert's earlier work at Hisarlik, Ilios 20.
I5, When Calvert was charged by Schliemann with lack
of enthusiasm, he replied (7July 1882): "my niece tells me
you complain of my indifference to archaeology- this is
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[AJA 99
Hanay Tepe, Calvert found that, contrary to his earlier
observation of its funerary character,161the site also
comprised a prehistoric settlement with two distinct
strata (A and B), a later prehistoric sacred enclosure
(C), and assorted Classical and modern burials. For
this reason he did not hesitate to refute his youthful
hypothesis, i.e., that the tumulus represented the com-
munal burial mound of the Trojan heroes.162 In his
published report he laid out the prehistoric strata,
providing plans and sections drawn to scale as well
as copious illustrations of constructional details. He
also described the inhabitants' building techniques
noting copious traces of fire in Stratum C, Troy VI,
which he attributed to altar fires, and poignant de-
tails such as a child's toe prints in once fresh mud-
bricks. Pottery styles and manufacturing techniques
are more than adequately noted and he reconstructed
the ancients' diet based on animal bones and gra-
naries at the site. Particularly illuminating are the
discussions of the contents and contexts of two in-
fant burials, one of which he excavated with a knife
to ascertain the position of the body the remains
of which he saved for study by R. Virchow.163After
describing "afilamentary substance ... amongst the
bones,"'64 the remains of woven matting and per-
haps the earliest published description of phytoliths,
he ended with a thorough description of the site's
formation processes.
In 1879 Calvert and Schliemann made ajoint gift
of the material from the Hanay Tepe excavations to
the K6nigliche Museum in Berlin.'65 The two men
unkind of you, for circumstances prevent me from doing
more in my favourite pursuit. .... Unfortunately, I have
not the unlimited time and means you have at your dis-
posal." At the same time he was forced to sell a group of
antiquities because of his financial straits (supra n. 85).
155'Letter to Schliemann, 13 October 1881; Calvert
(supra n. 35) 289-90.
'•6 E Calvert, "Thymbra, Hanai Tepeh," Appendix IV in
Ilios 706-20. In his discussion of his surface survey he al-
luded to hand mills, stone axes, sherds, spindle whorls,
and flint flakes indicative of the prehistoric settlement.
161
Supra n. 43.
162Supra n. 160 and Calvert
(supra n. 16).
163 R. Virchow
published the skulls from Hanay Tepe
and Ophryneion in "Alttrojanische Griber und Schiidel,"
Abhandlungen der Kiinigliche Akademie der Wissenschaftenzu
Berlin (1882). In the same work he gave a complete review
of Calvert'sexcavationat HanayTepe and his workat Oph-
ryneion. Allen (supra n. 153) discusses Schliemann's ha-
rassment of Calvert in connection with this appendix and
his denigration of it to Virchow in a letter of 30July 1880.
Korrespondenz 163 p. 216; and Calvert (supra n. 160) 713.
1'4Letter to Schliemann, dated 14 March 1879.
165Schliemann's letter to R. Virchow, dated
4June 1879
(Briefe 65, pp. 157-58), Korrespondenz 25, pp. 104-106. In
his note at the end of Calvert's Appendix, Schliemann com-
1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT,EXCAVATOR
also planned a collaborative program of excavations
throughout the Troad in 1880, using Calvert's knowl-
edge and expertise and Schliemann's money.166 In
a letter of 16 December 1879 (207a1b) Calvert gave
Schliemann permission to search in any of his lands
for burials comparable to those inhumations at
Hanay Tepe. This time he made no conditions. In
1881 Calvert once again gave Schliemann permis-
sion to excavate on his portion of Hisarlik and in
1882 Schliemann concentrated on the hitherto
largely neglected eastern half of the mound, Calvert's
land.1"7At this time they discussed Schliemann's in-
clusion of Calvert's study of Neandria in his own
forthcoming publication, Troja.168
It seems that where old hostilities had existed
friendship now grew. Calvert commended Schlie-
mann for the publication of Troja:"It will crown the
great work of your labours at Troy- the extensive
excavations will not be obliterated by time [as
Calvert's own had been by Schliemann], but remain
a standing monument to the energy and persever-
ance of a distinguished devotee to archaeological
science."1''' Later Calvert even risked a joke, ruing
the fact that Schliemann had "carried away such a
pares the gray pottery from Hanay Tepe with the Lydian
pottery from Hisarlik, especially vessels with animal pro-
tomes on the handles. See also M. Bertram, "ZurGeschichte
der Berliner Schliemann-Sammlung," in Hermann (supra
n. 104) 397. Shortly thereafter Virchow convinced Schlie-
mann to give the Trojan Collection to the people of Berlin
(Traill 15). After this Calvert's gift was completely over-
shadowed (Allen, supra n. 153). The collection as a whole
is known today as the Schliemann Sammlung.
166Calvert wrote to Schliemann on 10 November 1880:
"pioneer work should be undertaken now with not more
than six men in the necropoli of ancient towns" (84/908,
236a-b). This work is discussed in Allen (supra n. 153).
167Letters to Schliemann, dated 17 March and 12 and
19 October 1881.
1~ As time permitted in the 1870s and 1880s, Calvert
had gathered data for an article on the relationship of
the Archaic gray wares from Neandria and those "Lydian"
gray wares from Hisarlik and other older sites (letters from
Calvert to Newton, 2 December 1874, 16 May 1883, and
30 May 1886). Responding to his letter in 1874, Newton
asked him to write it up for publication in the Transactions
of the Royal Society of Literature. Calvert noted in a letter to
Schliemann of 1 February 1881 that "the vases and terra-
cottas [from Neandria] are early and very remarkable--
they appear to furnish the link between the pottery of your
sixth or Lydian city of Troy (and upper strata of Hanai
Tepeh) and the Archaic Greek- for they are both repre-
sented in curious transitions" (85/58, no. 230a/b).
A letter from Calvert to Schliemann on 1 February 1881
describes his analysis of three architectural styles in the
city walls of Neandria, based on his examination of the
ruins and tombs. In 1882 he was working on his publica-
tion of Neandria (two of many letters to Schliemann, who
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403
disagreeable souvenir of Troy, as the fever."'17In
1884 Calvert was Schliemann's guest in Athens.'71
In 1885 Schliemann sent wedding presents to Cal-
vert's niece Alice on the occasion of her wedding
to the Boston archaeologist EH. Bacon (the drafts-
man on the Archaeological Institute of America's
first excavation- to Assos in the Troad) and aided
Frederick Calvert's other descendants financially
when they suffered a disaster.'72 During the same
year Calvert congratulated Schliemann on receiving
the Royal Gold Medal of the Institute of British Ar-
chitects from Queen Victoria."17
Meanwhile Calvert continued to advise Schlie-
mann on the nature of archaeological sites in the
Troad. In his letter of 14 September 1886 Calvert
counseled: "to find a great depth of accumulated ma-
terial as at Hissarlik is exceptional. There are pre-
historic settlements on which no other subsequent
buildings were placed. These are not in the form
of a mound and are difficult to detect by the unprac-
ticed eye."174 In 1889 and 1890 Calvert participated
in Schliemann's international conferences at Hisarllk
and signed the official protocol on 30 March 1890
(fig. 11).175
was going to publish the study, dated 3 and 16 May 1883).
By June 1883 Calvert's report was too long to include in
Schliemann's work. It was never published (supra n. 53).
'16Letter of 24 December 1883 (93/1058, no. 152a/b).
Meyer misread devotee as devoted (BW II 144, p. 168).
1716 September 1882.
171 Letter from Calvert to Schliemann of 23 September
1884 speaks of Calvert's trip to Athens.
172Calvert announced the wedding of his niece (27 Feb-
ruary 1885). Alice Calvert Bacon thanked Schliemann for
his generosity to the couple (25 April 1885), and her sister
Edith thanked Schliemann for helping the family after a
fire in the Adrianople consulate where her brother was
consul (letter of 26 September 1885). Schliemann sent con-
gratulations to EH. Bacon and Calvert's niece, Alice Cal-
vert Bacon, on the occasion of the birth of their son (14
September 1886).
17329 April 1885. A letter from the Institute of 16 March
1885 explained that it was awarded because of his "work
at Hissarlik, Mycenae-Orchomenos, and Tiryns and for
his publications" (BW II 187, pp. 206-207).
174 As Cook (supra n. 3) 219 would later attest, "Calvert
alone knew what classical city sites looked like; by com-
parison his successors have been gropers in the dark"'
17 Letter of 12 November 1889: "I shall assist with great-
est interest at the conference and thank you for giving me
the opportunity of hearing the arguments on the impor-
tant questions of Troy"Although not mentioned by Traill,
Calvert attended both events. The conference on 12 De-
cember included E. B6tticher, W. D6rpfeld, G. Niemann,
and H. Steffen. Fig. 11 shows the postprandial visit to Hanay
Tepe. See also H. D6hl, Heinrich Schliemann: Mythos und
Argernis (Munich 1981) 35, lower.
The March 1890 conference included R. Virchow, E von
404 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN [AJA 99

Fig. 11. First Hisarlik Conference, December 1889 at Hanay Tepe. From left, F. Calvert,H. Steffen, H. Schliemann,
G. Bey, and G. Niemann. (Photo Deutsches Archiiologisches Institut, Athens, Troja 120)

At age 40 Calvert had written enthusiastically to his
new friend Schliemann that he wanted to clear up
as much as possible in his lifetime the archaeology
of the Troad.76 He spent most of his life doing just
that. At age 56, he wrote optimistically to Schlie-
mann: "Far from the mine of scientific riches being
exhausted in this portion of Asia Minor, I am of the
opinion more remains buried than has been brought
to light.'77 Not content to limit his studies to the re-
cent human occupation in the Troad, Frank Calvert
also published articles on the geology178 and palae-
ontology of the region. In 1880 he published an
important study of the coastal formation of the
shores of the Hellespont in which he presented his
theories on rising sea level and coastal erosion.179
Calvert collected botanical specimens for Rudolf
Virchow.iso From the time of his excavations at
Ophryneion he had gathered numerous fossils, as

Duhn, K. Humann (Berlin), C. Waldstein (Smithsonian,
American School of Classical Studies, and the Archaeo-
logical Institute of America), C.L.Babin (Paris),O. Hamdy
(Constantinople),and FrankCalvert,"the doyen of Trojan
antiquaries"(Lascarides supra n. 4, 76). In a photograph
of the participants in the second conference (23 March-
7 April 1890), both Calvert and his niece Edith (supra n.
16), a fan of Schliemann's,are pictured in E. Meyer,Kauf-
mannundForscher (G6ttingen1969)337 and D6hl (supra)19.
176Letter to Schliemann, 23 December 1868.
177 27 February 1885 (96/135, no. 223 alb).
178 In a letter to Schliemann (25 October 1881) he an-
nounced his intention to make "a geological map of the
whole straitsand adjoiningcountry."This would entail "the
putting together of a number of observationswhich I have
had the opportunity of makingwhich no one else has had"
(15 November 1881).
179His theories on rising sea level and coastal erosion
were presented to the Berlin Anthropology Society on 20
December 1879 and published in his article "Uber die
asiatischen Kiiste des Hellespont,"ZfE 1880,31-39. There
is no reference to Calvert'sarticle on coastline change or
to any of Calvert'sgeological observations, made in the
course of excavation and published in his archaeological
articles, in the recent study of the geology of the Troad
by G. Rapp and J. Gifford eds., Troy,theArchaeological Geol-
ogy (Suppl. Monograph 4, Princeton 1982).
180Cook (supra n. 3) 35. These were for his friend,
Rudolf Virchow. Letters from Calvert to Schliemann, 12
October 1880 and 9 May 1882, mention Calvert's"collect-
ing plants for Virchow."P.Ascherson et al. singled out Cal-
vert for his contributions of 31 species of plants in "Cata-
logue of the PlantsHithertoKnownof the Troad,"Appendix
VI in Ilios727-36. Calvertcollected from 1880 to 1884 and

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1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT, EXCAVATOR
well as prehistoric stone and bone tools.181 He also
located underwater ruins in the Bay of Artaki near
Cyzicus182 and rediscovered and reactivated the
ancient gold mines of Astyra and others near Lapseki
(Lampsacus).'83
Throughout his life he continued to excavate'84
and explore sites'85 and to write his archaeological
memoirs.86 Calvert's last publication appeared in
1902, when he was 74. It is a summary of his archae-
ological achievements in identifying the sites along
the north coast of the Troad, focusing on the site
gave more than 700 specimens to Berlin for the Dahlem
Museum. His eldest brother Henry collected plants from
Egypt and Armenia for Cambridge, Oxford, and Kew Bo-
tanical Gardens: J. Lanjouw and EA. Stafleu, Index Herbar-
iorum. Part 2. Collectors (Utrecht 1954) 112.
181 Described by the LH editor as an experienced geol-
ogist, Calvert announced on 8 March 1873 the discovery
of a mastodon or dinotherium bone with the engraved
figure of a horned quadruped and traces of seven or eight
other figures. He had found it in a geological formation
that was clearly Miocene due to fossil bones, teeth and shells
found therein. After consultation with SirJohn Lubbock
in London he pronounced the bones to be of the dinothe-
rium and the shells to be melania. In another deposit, sup-
posed to be Miocene, he had found stone tools ofjasper-
some up to 9 lb in weight stratified under 400-500 feet
of rock. After announcing the existence of the material,
Calvert chose responsibly to refrain from excavating the
promising site until the proper specialist should arrive.
On the basis of other exciting prehistoric finds and geo-
logical strata, he suggested that "the antiquity of man is
no longer to be reckoned by thousands, but by millions
of years" ("Important Scientific Discovery. Proofs of Man's
Existence during the Miocene Period," LH of 4 and 19 March
1873). Palaeontologist M. Neumayr came to the Troad in
1874. Robinson (supra n. 11) has discussed Calvert's col-
laboration with Neumayr and their subsequentjoint article
"Die jungen Ablagerungen am Hellespont," Denkschriften
der KaiserlichenAkademieder Wissenschaften40 (1880) 358-78.
182Letter to Schliemann on 14 December 1881 men-
tions his finds at Pandermos in the Bay of Artaki.
183Letter to Calvert
concerning the Astyra mines from
his foreman Batthus dated 4 May 1886. He obtained the
concession for these before 1884 as well as for those near
Lapseki, Cook (supra n. 3) 36.
184His latest recorded excavation took place at Tavolia
on the north coast of the Troad on 15 August 1887, Calvert
(supra n. 179) 34-36 and (infra n. 188) 241-42.
185Robinson (supran. 11) 162 has noted that during this
time he was recognized by the Archaeological Institute of
America for the help he had contributed to the Assos
excavations.
186Schuchhardt (supra n. 27) 86 records Calvert's dat-
ing of plundered finds from a spectacular stone-built tomb
at (oban Tepe. Years later Calvert wrote from "some mem-
oranda which I found amongst my archaeological notes
which relate to certain explorations to which I was not
a party made so long ago as 1887" This tomb was in one
of four tumuli near Pinarbapi in which workmen under
the direction of a Turkish village priest secretly excavated
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405
of Tavoliajust east of Karanlik Limani (a harbor that
the Calverts knew well'87), which he seems to have
thought was the port of Troy.'88In the commentary
that followed this last article, his young colleague
H. Thiersch (1874-1939) celebrated and amplified
Calvert's contributions to the field.'89
In the end it is clear that at Hisarlik, and in the
Troad in general, Calvert was the pioneer, using ar-
chaeology to disprove hypotheses, and the first in
the Troad, after centuries of literary speculation, to
solve historical questions with the spade. In the 1850s
by night on 6 March 1887.Having visited the site and seen
the rich finds at Government House before they were re-
moved for safety purposes, Calvertpublished a section and
elevation of the looted tomb. He enumerated the finds as
well, which included "asolid golden chaplet with thin oak
leaves and small acorns on long vibrating stems; three
golden fillets, with embossed pattern; a number of fine
strips of gold":"On the Tumulus of Choban Tepeh in the
Troad,'JHS11 (1897) 319-20. A diadem in the British Mu-
seum closely resembles the chaplet described by Calvert
from this tomb (Schuchhardt[supran. 27] 86). D. Williams
andJ. Ogden, GreekGoldjewellryof theClassicalWorld(Lon-
don 1994) nos. 60-61, pp. 106-107.
187D.F Easton, "Schliemann'sDiscovery of Priam'sTrea-
sure: TwoEnigmas,"Antiquity55 (1981) 179-83; Traill.The
family knew of the harbor from their two attempts to help
Schliemann remove antiquities from the country (Traill
168, 170;Easton 182-83). On both occasions Frederickwas
present. Frank Calvert'sletter to Schliemann of 4 August
1872 mentions that "Frederickhas gone down to help with
the embarkation of the marble."It was probably Frederick
who convinced Frankto export the Helios metope quietly
for Schliemann (Frank Calvert'sletter to Schliemann of
28July 1872).Schliemann'sdesperate letter of 31 May1873
to Frederickand a later unpublished letter from Frederick
to Schliemann (1 August 1873) make it clear that he aided
Schliemann in 1873 by at least keeping the six bags over-
night at the farm.
188E Calvert,"Beitriigezur Topographie der Troas.Der
Hafen von Ilion,"AM 27 (1902) 239-45, translated by H.
Thiersch, and supra n. 179, 34-36; Cook (supra n. 3) 83.
Here he had found remains of a small settlement with a
huge and rich (largely looted) necropolis with tombs, the
associated finds ranging in date from the sixth century
B.C. to the Roman era; elsewhere at the site in the lower
half of the excavation he found prehistoric remains com-
parable to those of the lower levels of Hisarlik. The finds
are listed in the Katalog,site no. 24, pp. 181-255. Although
Calvertneglected to give a date for his excavationsat Tavolia,
his colleague H. Thierschcites 15 August 1887 for the open-
ing of a tomb rich in terracottasof the late fifth and fourth
centuries B.C. ("Zusatz," AM 27 [1902] 248). Calvert also
discussed his identification and excavations at Rhoiteum
and Ophryneion (supra n. 188: 242-44 and 244-45).
189Calvert (supra n. 188) 246: "M6ge Herr Calvert,
dessen wachendeFiihrsorgeuns so vieles fiir die Geschichte
der Troas gerettet hat, darin nichts anderes sehen als ein
Zeichen des Dankes ffir die durch seine Untersuchungen
empfangen Anregungen!"
406 SUSAN HEUCK ALLEN
Fig. 12. Frank Calvert at Thymbra Farm, 1892. (Photo
Francis Henry Bacon, courtesy Elizabeth Bacon)
Calvert was an innovator with his stratigraphical ex-
cavations as well as in his understanding of the sig-
nificance of ceramics and their value for dating
archaeological contexts. Moreover, his understand-
ing of geology led him to hypothesize about coast-
line changes in the Troad with truly innovative in-
sight. In these areas as well as in his sense of
topography and command of ancient sources for the
region he was unparalleled. These were the gifts he
bequeathed to Schliemann, along with the identifica-
tion (through excavation) of Hisarlik as the mound
of Troy. Thus Schliemann was not exactly an auto-
didact. It is clear from Schliemann's correspondence
with Frank Calvert that Calvert actively guided him
in his research. Yet Schliemann published extensively
and Calvert did not. Whether Calvert would have
made a major impact on the field of archaeology
is moot. His attitude toward the archaeological record
was certainly more cautious than that of Schliemann.
It is an irony of history that this seminal individual
who contributed so much to our knowledge of the
190The fact that it still rankled with him can be seen
in a note from EH. Bacon to B.H. Hill, of the American
School of ClassicalStudies at Athens, written 15 yearsafter
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[AJA 99
Fig. 13. Wilhelm D6rpfeld at ThymbraFarm,with Calvert
Stele on the left. (Photo Francis Henry Bacon, courtesy
Elizabeth Bacon)
Troad is still virtually unknown, and that this pre-
eminent collection of excavated artifacts from the
Troad, dispersed in museums across Europe and
America, is rarely, if ever, identified with the man
who created it, Frank Calvert (fig. 12).
Why did he not fight back after Schliemann's death
in 1890? Why did he not reestablish his own claim
to the recognition of Troy's location at Hisarlik in
the remaining 18 years of his life when he was out
of Schliemann's shadow? Perhaps because it might
havejeopardized what Calvert had always wished for
and what he and Schliemann had in fact achieved
together- scholarly recognition of Hisarllk as Troy.
Surely his willingness to support Schliemann even
after his death came from his deep commitment to
furthering the knowledge and history of the Troad.1o9
Perhaps justice was served in the end. Although
Schliemann lived to see the stirrup jars of Troy VI,
long sought after proof of the site's contemporane-
ity with other Homeric sites such as Mycenae and
Tiryns, he never knowingly gazed upon the walls of
Calvert'sdeath: "I think Mr. Calvert did not quite-like it
because Dr. Schliemann never gave him credit for direct-
ing him to Hissarlik"(supra n. 2).
1995] "FINDING THE WALLS OF TROY": FRANK CALVERT,EXCAVATOR
Troy.191 He died in 1890, three years before they
were identified by his architect and assistant, Wil-
helm D6rpfeld (1853-1940) (fig. 13).192 Yet Frank
Calvert, whose personal ambition it had been to find
those walls, did live to see the magnificent Late
Bronze Age fortification walls uncovered in the
1893-1894 season. He must have derived great plea-
sure from this fitting if unsung achievement, a final
triumph for his unselfish life's work as steward of
the archaeological resources of the Troad.
Calvert died on 12 August 1908 at age 80. An obit-
uary in the Levant Herald on 15 August reads:
The Late Mr. Frank Calvert
Closely following upon the death of Mr. Edmund
Calvert, we regret to announce that of his younger
191Wood
(supra n. 7) 56 illustrates a damaged portion
of the city wall on the southeastern side of the citadel where
Schliemann had broken through (south and west of
Calvert's trench). On the north Schliemann removed the
remains of the wall completely. He also removed the "Ly-
simachean Wall" and in two places behind it an earlier
wall of finely worked limestone blocks that he considered
too fine to be early. Easton argues that Schliemann un-
covered most of the northern Troy VI city wall and some
of the southern side ("Reconstructing Schliemann's Troy,"
in Calder and Cobet [supra n. 68] 436), but see my re-
marks (supra n. 88).
192 W.
D6rpfeld, Troja und Ilion (Athens 1902).
•'•1 a member of the Berlin Society, Calvert was
As re-
membered: "Einem anderen um die archaologische Wis-
senschaft verdienten und vor kurzem heimberufen Mann
galten Worte dankbaren Erinnerns seitens des Herrn
Brueckner:'Ich bitte zuvor des Hinscheidens eines Mannes
erwihnen zu diirfen, der manchem unter uns als eine
besonders sympathische Erscheinung im Gedichtnisse
heften wird: am 12 August hat Frank Calvert, der
langjahrige amerikanische Vizekonsul in den Dardanel-
len, achtzigjihrig seine fiber der Troas wachenden Augen
geschlossen. Unsere Gesellschaft verdankt es ihm, dass er
seine Entdeckungen im troischen Neandreia Rob. Koldewey
mitteilte und damit den Anlass zu einem unsrer Winckel-
mannsprogramme (1891) schuf. ZwanzigJahre vorher war
er es gewesen, der, mit der alteren Ansetzung von Troja
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407
brother, Mr. Frank Calvert for many years U.S. Con-
sular Agent at the Dardanelles, but better known as
an authority in Trojan Archaeology. Mr. Calvert was
an advocate for the claim of Hissarlik as the real site
of Troy at a time when most archaeologists placed
it at Balli Dag, and it was at his instigation that the
late Dr. Schliemann decided upon excavating the
former place, with such success that the true posi-
tion of Homer's Troy is now established beyond ques-
tion. Mr. Calvert was a corresponding member of the
Archaeological Societies of London and Berlin, and
his loss will be felt in the antiquarian world.'93
98 TRANSIT STREET
PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND 029o6
zuerst brechend, Schliemann den Weg nach Hissarlik
gewiesen hat. Es ist empfindlicher Verlust, dass er seine
vielfiltigen Erkundungen der Landschaft nicht zusam-
mengefasst hat; der Verlust k6nnte gemildert werden, wenn
sich erreichen liesse, dass seine reichen Sammlungen und
vielleicht auch Aufzeichnungen bei einander bleiben.
Als die Erben der Schliemann-Sammlung haben wir ein
besonderes Interesse daran'" (Jdl24 [1909] 34-35). Because
Calvert was a member since 1875 of the Berliner Gesell-
schaft ffir Ethnologie, Anthropologie, und Urgeschichte,
he was also commemorated in ZfE: "hatte er sich in
Kleinasien niedergelassen und schon in der 60er Jahren
Forschungen fiber die Lage homerischer Orter in der Troas
angestellt, die er im ArchaeologicalJournal ver6ffentlichte.
Er erwarb einen Teil von Hisarlik und grub dort einen
Tempel aus, ehe Schliemann hinkam, dem er seine Gra-
bungen zeigte, so dass er nicht ohne Grund in dieser
Hinsicht ein Verdienst beansprucht" (1908: 922).
In contrast with Schliemann's ostentatious mausoleum
in the First Cemetery in Athens, which depicts scenes from
the Iliad on one side and hubristically himself and his wife
Sophia supervising excavations at Troy on the other (Traill
19 and D6hl [supra n. 175] pl. 121), Calvert's modest tomb-
stone (fig. 2) declares: "I am the resurrection and the life.
He that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he
live and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never
die." It is hoped that through the research of numerous
scholars the memory of Frank Calvert will live again.