Secrets in the Dust

Troy - The Truth Behind the Legend (1x2)

Air date: Jun 29, 2011

In one of the epic stories of archaeology, German multimillionaire Heinrich Schliemann set out to find the true location of Troy, site of the duel of Achilles and Hector in the Trojan War, the greatest legend of the ancient world. In decades of patient detective work, fortuitous encounters, endless energy, and obsessive ambition, he discovered a fabulous horde of jewellery - Priam's Treasure - at a multilayered site he was convinced was Troy. He was right about the location, but wrong about the treasure (by 2000 years and several levels of excavation). In his quest for "authenticity", Schliemann even married a young Greek woman, making her desperately unhappy until she resigned herself to her role as his muse and helper. Schliemann managed to hide some of his most valuable finds from the Turkish authorities. But Priam's Treasure is no longer in Berlin, where he presented it as a gift to the German nation. The Soviets took it to Moscow at the end of WWII and show no sign of giving it back. This film tells Schlieman's story and also reveals the latest vital archaeological discovery: the remarkable historical truth that lies behind the legend of the Trojan War.