Heinrich Schliemann
Heinrich Schliemann was a German businessman and a pioneer in the field of archaeology. He was an advocate of the historicity of places mentioned in the works of Homer. Schliemann was an archaeological excavator of Hissarlik, now presumed to be the site of Troy, along with the Mycenaean sites Mycenae and Tiryns. His work lent weight to the idea that Homers Iliad and Virgils Aeneid reflect historical events. Schliemanns excavation of nine levels of archaeological remains with dynamite has been criticized as destructive of significant historical artifacts, including the level that is believed to be the historical Troy.
Schliemann was born in Neubukow, MecklenburgSchwerin in 1822. His father, Ernst Schliemann, was a Lutheran minister. The family moved to Ankershagen in 1823 . Heinrichs mother, Luise Therese Sophie, died in 1831, when Heinrich was nine years old. After his mothers death, his father sent Heinrich to live with his uncle. When he was eleven years old, his father paid for him to enroll in the Gymnasium at Neustrelitz. Heinrichs later interest in history was initially encouraged by his father, who had schooled him in the tales of the Iliad and the Odyssey and had given him a copy of Ludwig Jerrers Illustrated History of the World for Christmas in 1829. Schliemann later claimed that at the age of 8, he had declared he would one day excavate the city of Troy.
Source: Wikipedia