SCHLIEMANN'S SILENT PARTNER: FRANK CALVERT (1828-1908)

About the Book

This is the first and only dedicated biography of Frank Calvert, the man to whom Heinrich Schliemann owed the start of his archaeological career. Schliemann transformed himself from a businessman into an archaeologist after availing himself of Calvert’s offer of a partnership, the benefit of Calvert’s experience, and the proffered opportunity to excavate Calvert’s land, on which Calvert had long hoped to uncover the remains of Troy. Then, spurning the partnership and never acknowledging his debt to Calvert, Schliemann went on to garner worldwide fame for himself as the inspired discoverer of Troy. The world never questioned Schliemann, and Calvert – overshadowed by the impact of Schliemann’s discoveries and fame - languished in undeserved obscurity.

In recent years, a number of scholars have thrown some welcome light onto Calvert’s contributions to Schliemann, but Schliemann’s Silent Partner explores every facet of the Calvert/Schliemann relationship from Calvert’s perspective and in the context of Calvert’s own full and varied career. Eminently readable and of equal appeal to scholars and general readers, this book examines the broad range of Calvert’s personal achievements and his collaboration with some of the great scientists of the day. Among the several appendices are an extensive bibliography, a chronological index of Calvert’s writings, and the texts of a number of Calvert’s papers, some never before published.

Objective, exhaustively researched, annotated, and illustrated with over thirty photographs, drawings, maps and documents, this definitive volume reveals Frank Calvert as an important scholar in his own right and a pioneer of Trojan exploration.

“A permanent contribution to the history of field archaeology.” William M. Calder III, William Abbott Oldfather Professor of the Classics, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign.

About the Author

Marcelle Robinson is an independent scholar with a Phi Beta Kappa, Magna cum laude degree in History and a Master's degree in Classical Studies from Harvard University, where her thesis about Calvert won the First Thomas Small Prize for excellence. After graduating, she continued her research in London, Athens, Berlin, and the U.S. The first person to write exclusively about Calvert as distinct from Schliemann, she has since published several other articles about Calvert and presented papers about him in Germany and Boston University. Another article is due to be published later this year.