New Light On “Priam’s Treasure”

ABSTRACT: New evidence from the Heinrich Schliemann Papers in the Archives of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, along with other recent findings, throws fresh light on what was really contained in the hoard of metalwork (Treasure A1) found by Schliemann at Troy on May 31, 1873. All the objects attributed to the hoard in Schliemann’s 1874 book Trojanische Alterthümer were either drawn at Troy within days of their discovery or described by Schliemann in a draft report that was probably written before his return to Athens. Claims of concrete evidence that he included earlier finds are shown to be without foundation; nothing was added later. “Priam’s Treasure,” for Schliemann, was never Treasure A1 alone but the wider collection shown on plates 192–209 of the Atlas Trojanischer Alterthümer .