Content area
Full Text
David A. Traill, Excavating Schliemann: Collected Papers on Schliemann. Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press, 1993. Pp. xiv + 278, incl. 25 illustrations. ISBN 1-55540-891-5. US$54.95.
Excavating Schliemann is a collection of twenty-one articles written over the last two decades by David A. Traill. All but two focus on the writings and personality of Heinrich Schliemann. They represent Traill's contribution to what he calls the 'current re-evaluation of Schliemann' (p. xiv).
The result of publishing, under one cover, articles written over a period of time for different audiences who might have to be informed about ongoing arguments-and about points already scored in the debate-is that the reader of Excavating Schliemann is faced with an irritating amount of repetition. The case for Schliemann's untruthfulness in his writings depends upon cumulative evidence assembled by Traill (and others). Only occasionally is an outright lie proved beyond all doubt. Hence the importance of one established fact that when Schliemann claimed his...