Priam's Gold: Schliemann and the Lost Treasures of Troy

(, New edition)

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Troy: one of the most captivating and mysterious stories of antiquity...But was Troy an actual place or just a legend of Homer's epic It took the most unlikely of people, Heinrich Schliemann - a grocer's-apprentice turned self-made archaeologist, courageous and driven - to solve one of the greatest puzzles in history. His extraordinary discovery of the ruins of fabled Troy and the magnificent treasure of King Priam anointed Schliemann as the 'father of pre-history', but was also beset by controversy that persists to this day. The fate of the treasure itself is no less troubled. In 1945 it was spirited out of Berlin by the Red Army, to be hidden for 50 years in the vaults of the Pushkin Museum until the breakup of the Soviet Union. In this fast-paced account, Caroline Moorehead describes one of the most remarkable adventures of the 20th century, tracing Schliemann's footsteps to Troy and the convoluted journey across Europe taken by the treasure itself.

Reviews

'An engaging biography.' - The New York Times Book Review; 'Moorehead's entertaining view of Schliemann's life is in keeping with the convoluted history of the Trojan treasure itself.' - The Times; 'Few tales of mystery and imagination can match the story of Heinrich Schliemann... Vivid, graceful and engaging prose.' - The Baltimore Sun; 'Moorehead bypasses recent unearthings of Schliemann's flaws in favor of a celebration of his inspiring achievements and a retracing of the convoluted trail of his legacy to the present day.' - Kirkus

Author Bio

Caroline Moorehead, a biographer and historian, has written biographies of Bertrand Russell, Martha Gelhorn, Freya Stark and Iris Origo; as well as several non-fiction works, including Human Cargo, on refugees in the modern world, and Hostages to Fortune, a work on terrorism. Most recently, she has written two acclaimed histories centred in Occupied France during World War II: A Train in Winter and Village of Secrets. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1993 and awarded an OBE in 2005 for services to literature.