Tea at Trianon: Priam's Treasure

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Priam's Treasure

There were people who thought Troy was a myth. But Schliemann found it. From Ancient Origins:

In 1871, Schliemann began excavating the site of Hisarlik. After identifying a level known as ‘Troy II’ as the Troy of the Iliad, his next objective was to uncover the ‘Treasure of Priam’. As Priam was the ruler of Troy, Schliemann reasoned that he must have hidden his treasure somewhere in the city to prevent it from being captured by the Greeks should the city fall. On the 31st of May 1873, Schliemann found the precious treasure he was seeking. In fact, Schliemann stumbled by chance upon the ‘Treasure of Priam’, as he is said to have had a glimpse of gold in the trench-face whilst straightening the side of a trench on the south-western side of the site. After removing the treasure from the ground (the objects were closely packed, and Schliemann reasoned that they had once been placed within a wooden chest which has since rotted away), Schliemann had his finds locked away in his wooden house. Apart from the gold and silver objects, the ‘Treasure of Priam’ included a number of weapons, a copper cauldron, a shallow bronze pan, and a bronze kettle. Although Schliemann reports that the ‘Treasure of Priam’ was a single find, others have doubted this claim, suggesting that it was a composite, in which the most important objects were discovered on the 31st of May 1873, whilst others were discovered at an earlier date, but nonetheless added into the treasure hoard.

Regardless of the nature of the ‘Treasure of Priam’, the Ottoman authorities wanted to get their hands on the treasure. Schliemann, however, had other plans, and devised a plan to get the artifacts out of Ottoman territory. How Schliemann managed this feat is still a mystery, and there have been numerous speculations over the years. One legend, for instance, attributes Schliemann’s successful undertaking to his wife, Sophie, who smuggled the artifacts through Ottoman customs by hiding them in her knickers. Schliemann was eventually sued by the Ottoman government. He lost his case and was fined £400 as compensation to the Ottomans. Schliemann, however, voluntarily paid £2000 instead, and it has been pointed out that this increase probably secured him something extra, though what this was exactly is unknown. (Read more.)