Famous for excavating what is thought to be the site of ancient Troy and for uncovering evidence of the historical accuracy of the epic poems the Iliad (by Homer) and the Aeneid (by Virgil), this pioneering archaeologist is also notable for his business career as an importer.
Before beginning his career with the B. H. Schröder & Co. importing and exporting company, he worked as a grocer, a shipmate, and an accountant.
He was fluent in numerous languages, including English, Dutch, Italian, French, Arabic, Turkish, and Russian.
The son of Luise Therese Sophie and Ernst Schliemann, he was born in northern Germany. Before ending in divorce, his marriage to Ekaterina Lyschin produced children named Sergey, Natalya, and Nadezhda.
He and Albert Von Lecoq are both well known nineteenth-century archaeologists.