Scholar uncovers truth behind Troy

The epic battle of Troy was regarded as a mere Homeric fantasy until the late nineteenth century, when Heinrich Schliemann claimed to have unearthed the city. Schliemann was thought by many to have discovered the ruins of Troy - until now.

On March 9, Susan Heuck Allen, an archaeologist and visiting scholar from the classics department at Brown University, gave a lecture entitled "Finding the Walls of Troy."

The central Illinois chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America hosted the lecture. One of the main goals of the AIA is to encourage public awareness of archaeology. The AIA seems to have done just that with Allen's lecture, in which she finally put the record straight as to the real excavator and discoverer of the ancient city of Troy.

In Allen's discussion of Troy, she made the argument that it wasn't Schliemann who discovered Troy; he was actually stealing material from British archaeologist Frank Calvert. According to Allen, Schliemann, who was not even an archaeologist, deceived the public throughout history and took away Calvert's fame. Even to this day, Calvert's name isn't linked to any of the Troy excavations.

Patrick Sutton, junior in LAS, attended the lecture because he wants to minor in classics and hoped to gain a better insight into this field. He said he thought Allen's lecture was very interesting and he learned a lot more about Troy.

"Allen exposed (Schliemann) to be a businessman instead of an archaeologist," he said.

Sutton said he liked Allen's expanded discussion of the topic because it helped him find out the real truth about Schliemann.

"The lecture cast a whole new light on what I thought before," he said.

Gregory Whitt, biology professor at the University, said the lecture stimulated him to want to study the dispute over Troy in more detail since Allen presented such a compelling argument.

"Allen did a good job at communicating to a wide range of people," he said. "She caught the attention of the students as well as the professionals."

James Dengate, professor of classic archaeology at the University, said the lecture was a good opportunity for him to better understand the arguments about who really discovered Troy.

"I knew a lot of general information concerning Troy," he said. "But Allen really gave me more specific insight into the debate."

Allen agreed it is important for professors as well as students to know the truth.

"The truth about the subject of Troy is central to our understanding of Western Civilization and ancient Greece," she said.

Allen also stressed the importance of continuing the excavation of Troy. Based on the most recent excavations, she said Troy has been found to be about 10 times larger than anyone had ever imagined.

"There's so much more work to be done," she said. "Troy is a completely different picture than we ever thought, so there will always be more material to excavate. We are only at the tip of the iceberg of uncovering the entire story."