Schliemann, originale

E' buffo - in qualche modo - pensare ad un ricco giapponese appassionato d'archeologia europea. Ma costui è esistito davvero: Shozen Nakayama fu il fondatore dell'Università Giapponese Tenri, con annesso loi Shankokan Museum. 

Avido collezionista, egli comprò - in un negozietto londinese dell'usato - 30 dettagliatissimi disegni ad acquerello ed inchiostro, attribuiti all'assistente di Schliemann e recanti annotazioni manoscritte di Heinrich in persona.

Il foglio più grande misura 49 cm per 68.

Una perizia calligrafica tedesca ha accertato l'appartenenza a Schliemann della grafia.

La recente riscoperta dei testi forse permetterà di gettare nuova luce sull'andamento degli scavi di Troia e di Tirinto... 

Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) d'umili origini, ricchissimo commerciante, eruditissimo autodidatta,
 scavatore del sito di Tria, avventuriero poliglotta.

Sophie Schliemann, fotografata con i favolosi gioielli in sfoglia d'oro che furono subito sospettati di falso,
 in seguito scomparirono misteriosamente per molti anni ed adesso sono, in piccola parte, esposti in un museo russo.

Museum finds original drawings by Schliemann 


A Japanese museum said it has confirmed 28 original drawings from German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann’s report on ancient Greek ruins that could shed light on the excavation of a fabled palace.

A painting of a mural unearthed at the remains of the Tiryns palace is used  as the front cover of Heinrich Schliemann’s report released in 1885 

 [Credit: Tenri University Sankokan Museum] 

Schliemann (1822-1890), who won fame for his discovery of the legendary city of Troy in Greek mythology, is also known for his unearthing of the remains of a Greek palace named Tiryns

The Tenri University Sankokan Museum said Nov. 26 the original drawings contain notes handwritten by Schliemann. 
A report on the discovery of Tiryns featured drawings and other materials and was released in 1885. 
However, journals and other information describing the excavation of the ancient palace do not exist. 
Museum officials said the drawings they possess are precious primary historical materials that can explain what happened during the excavation process. 
“The drawings depict the remains and relics with extreme accuracy in terms of scale and other aspects. 
Their quality reaches the most advanced level in the 19th century, a developing era for archaeology,” said Yoshiyuki Suto, a professor of Greek archaeology at Nagoya University Graduate School. 
“Because they include detailed instructions for publishing the report, we can learn what processes the drawings underwent until the release of the report,” he added. 
The largest drawing is 49 centimeters by 68 cm. 

A picture of earthenware shaped like animals.Names and publishing instructions  in the margin were written by Heinrich Schliemann 

 [Credit: Tenri University Sankokan Museum] 

When Tiryns, located on the Peloponnesus Peninsula, was unearthed by Schliemann in 1884 and 1885, his German assistant, Wilhelm Doerpfeld, drew accurate ground plans for the remains. 
In addition to the ground plans, the original drawings contain paintings of a mural featuring a performer riding a cow, as well as relics, such as earthenware shaped like animals. 
They were all painted with ink and watercolors. 
The ancient palace is famous for its castle walls dating to the Mycenaean Culture (late 17th century B.C.-12th century B.C.), and has been designated a World Heritage site along with the remains of Mycenae. 
Ancient Greek poet Homer praised the massive walls in his work. 

Shozen Nakayama, the founder of Tenri University who was an avid collector, bought 30 original drawings from Schliemann’s report around 1960 at a secondhand bookshop in London. 
A friend of Nakayama’s donated two of the drawings to Tokyo’s Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan. 
The remaining 28 are currently owned by the Tenri University Sankokan Museum. 
The Nara museum in 2008 asked the museum of prehistory and early history in Germany for a handwriting analysis of the 28 drawings. 
The study confirmed that some notes in the margins of the drawings were written by Schliemann. 
The drawings will go on display from April through June at the Tenri University Sankokan Museum, together with the Tenri Central Library’s first edition of Schliemann’s report on the discovery of Troy. 

Author: Yoshiko Aoyama 
Source: The Asahi Shimbun [November 27, 2014]

LA MASCHERA DI AGAMENNONE

Maschera di sottile lamina d'oro, detta "Di Agamennone", rinvenuta a Micene, nelle tombe a f; la maschera presenta anche caratteristiche stilistiche differenti da tutte le altre: i baffi e la barba sembrano seguire la moda dei tempi di Schliemann).

Dispongo - ormai - di un lungo elenco di falsi archeologici ed epigrafici, che non finirò mai di esporre perché sono troppo numerosi. E' stranamente affascinante scoprire quanti uomini (anche di valore) si siano dedicati al dannoso sport che in Inglese si definisce "Forgery". Alcuni oggetti che hanno da anni catturato la fantasia del pubblico sono notoriamente falsi. Altri sono solamente sospettati. Uno degli aspetti che oggetti tanto diversi tra loro hanno sempre e comunque in comune è la reazione violenta da parte dei sostenitori della loro veridicità, quando questa è messa in discussione. E' noto che un ricercatore vero resterebbe calmo (seppure non certamente sereno) e semplicemente cercherebbe in ogni modo di dimostrare vero il frutto del proprio lavoro, producendo nuove prove ove possibile e non sfuggendo ad un confronto accademico. Invece, il comportamento dei falsari è - all'opposto - una presa di posizione personale contro 'i propri detrattori'. Il motivo per queste razioni è nascosto dietro la loro maschera: si chiami essa orgoglio identitario, oppure politica, oppure guadagno economico, oppure desiderio di fama e considerazione, o altro ancora. Chi li ostacola nel raggiungimento del loro fine non è solamente un avversario intellettuale: è un nemico mortale, da distruggere. Behind the Mask of Agamemnon

Volume 52 Number 4, July/August 1999

by Spencer P.M. Harrington

"I have opened up a new world for archaeology," said Heinrich Schliemann after his 1871-1873 excavation of Troy. Schliemann was speaking the truth; the businessman-turned-archaeologist had shown that Homer's epics may have been based in fact. Schliemann next turned his attention to Mycenae, where the ancient geographer Pausanias had located the grave of Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek assault on Troy, and his fellow soldiers. Unlike previous scholars, Schliemann interpreted Pausanias as meaning the Homeric graves were within the walls of the late Bronze Age citadel, not outside. Tests Schliemann conducted in 1874 inside the wall revealed house walls, a tombstone, and terra-cotta artifacts--promising evidence for a future investigation.

Two years later, between August and December, he excavated at Mycenae on behalf of the Greek Archaeological Society, which held the excavation permit. His work was supervised by Panagiotis Stamatakis, a conscientious Greek archaeologist who often accused Schliemann of destroying classical antiquities in his quest for Homeric remains. Schliemann's workmen soon exposed stelae marking the perimeter of a grave circle 90 feet across just within the citadel's gate. By the end of August the first of five late Bronze Age shaft graves was found within it. This grave circle became known as grave circle A, its five tombs indicated with Roman numerals. A second grave circle, known as B, was found by Greek archaeologists outside the walls between 1951 and 1952. Its graves are labeled with Greek letters.

While Schliemann's diary and newspaper and book accounts of the location and dates of his discoveries in the shaft graves are often vague and contradictory, it is clear that by the end of November he had excavated tombs containing the bodies of several Mycenaean chieftains, five of whom wore gold face masks. Elated, Schliemann sent a telegram to King George of Greece:
With great joy I announce to Your Majesty that I have discovered the tombs which the tradition proclaimed by Pausanias indicates to be the graves of Agamemnon, Cassandra, Eurymedon and their companions, all slain at a banquet by Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthos.

Though the graves were later shown to be at least 300 years earlier than the conjectured date of the Trojan War, for a time it appeared as though Schliemann had once again laid bare the Homeric world.
Of all the masks discovered at the site, the Mask of Agamemnon from grave V is the most famous. "I have gazed on the face of Agamemnon," Schliemann is said to have telegrammed a Greek newspaper on first seeing the mask. In fact, he himself never identified it as belonging to Agamemnon, but since it was the finest of the specimens it became associated with the hero. Nor did Schliemann ever note in writing the obvious stylistic differences--facial hair, ears cut out from the body of the mask--that set it apart from the others.
In any case, the masks and gold jewelry Schliemann found at Mycenae brought him world fame; he was henceforth known as the Father of Mycenaean Archaeology.
Nearly 30 years ago, William M. Calder III, now a professor of classics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, began to question the veracity of the claims in Schliemann's autobiographical writings. An award-winning author and editor of numerous books on nineteenth-century classical studies, Calder demonstrated that Schliemann had a penchant for self-mythologization.
Stories he told about himself--his desire from the age of eight to excavate Troy, his 1851 White House meeting with President Millard Fillmore, his discovery of a bust of Cleopatra at Alexandria--were patently untrue. Calder also questioned the authenticity of the Mask of Agamemnon. "I've learned to doubt everything Schliemann said unless there is independent confirmation," said Calder. While his revisionist scholarship has been criticized by some (Machteld Mellink, a former president of the Archaeological Institute of America, characterized it as a "vendetta against Schliemann"), many now concur that Schliemann was a brilliant dissembler.

Heinrich Schliemann

ARCHAEOLOGY received a manuscript from Calder restating his claim that the mask is a forgery. 
While his evidence is circumstantial, he believes that considered cumulatively it is sufficient to kindle skepticism. Because of its serious implications, ARCHAEOLOGY solicited responses from five experts, printing in full those of David A. Traill, author of Schliemann of Troy: Treasure and Deceit, and Katie Demakopoulou, former director of the National Archaeological Museum in Athens. Although several scholars refer to Traill's work, only Calder's text was circulated for comment.

Guerrieri armati. Reperto scoperto da Schliemann a Micene: è datato 1200- 1100 a.C. ed è conservato al Museo di Atene.

	"Is the Mask a Hoax?" by William M. Calder, III
	"Insistent Questions," by David A. Traill
	"The Case for Authenticity," by Katie Demakopoulou
	"Not A Forgery, How about a Pastiche?" by Kenneth D.S. Lapatin
	Epilogue In questa immagine della vetrina del Tesoro di Atreo del Museo di Atene, già si nota bene la grande differenza esistente tra la "maschera di Agamennone" e le altre.