TROY, MYCENAE, AND THE OTOLOGIC DEMISE OF SCHLIEMANN,HERR,HEINRICH

Heinrich Schliemann (1822-1890) was a self-made man with a remarkable aptitude for language and an excellent business mind. He was also the founder of Aegean archeology, providing a factual base for the writing s of Homer, which until then had been considered merely a collection o f mythologic poems. During his life, Schliemann suffered from ear trou ble, ultimately dying from an otogenic temporal lobe brain abscess. He consulted many of the most famous 19th century otologists and was eve ntually operated on by the famous Professor Schwartze. We present the life and death of arguably the most famous man of his day as drawn fro m a number of biographic sources and speculate on the ear pathology th at ultimately lead to his demise.