{"id":1384,"date":"2022-06-17T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-17T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/?p=1384"},"modified":"2023-10-02T02:42:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-02T00:42:57","slug":"mykene-63","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/2022\/06\/17\/mykene-63\/","title":{"rendered":"Schliemann at the Lion Gate? \u2013 ‘Mykene 63’ \u2013 a starting point for much more"},"content":{"rendered":"

The photograph known as ‘Mykene 63’, which allegedly shows Heinrich Schliemann standing next to the famous Lion Gate of Mycenae, is undoubtedly one of the most renowned images kept in the photographic archive of the DAI Athens. Since this year marks Heinrich Schliemann\u2019s 200th<\/sup> birthday, it is a fitting occasion to set the record straight and tell the real story behind this picture. We will also pursue some of the other threads connected to its story.<\/p>\n

The belief that D-DAI-ATH-Mykene-0063 \u2013 the photograph\u2019s official name \u2013 shows Schliemann in the upper right, standing next to the lion (figs.\u00a01, 2)<\/em>, seems to be common knowledge (D\u00f6hl 1981, cover; Rottloff 2009, cover and frontispiece). Even the Wikipedia entry on Schliemann<\/a> repeats this claim, dating the picture (without evidence) to 1885.<\/p>\n

Without going into detail about the history of our photographic archive, suffice it to say that the archive does not have<\/p>\n

\"Fig.
Fig. 1: Mycenae. Alleged figure of Heinrich Schliemann at the Lion Gate. D-DAI-ATH-Mykene-0063, detail [Attribution: unknown; Copyright: DAI Athen]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

any<\/em> pictures from 1885 and only very few from 1886. \u2018Mykene 63\u2019 was inventoried and numbered as a single entry in 1898. Consequently, we know for certain that the image cannot have been taken later than 1898; it might have been taken earlier, but nothing points specifically to the year 1885.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s look at the \u2018Schliemann assumption\u2019 from a different point of view: Schliemann was born in 1822 and would have been 63 years old in 1885. Although he was a very energetic personality, images of Schliemann at this age (American School of Classical Studies at Athens<\/a>) clearly show that he was no longer a young man with a robust physique like that of the man in the photograph (fig.\u00a01)<\/em>. It also is highly unlikely that Schliemann would have been eager, at his age, to undertake the rather youthful endeavour of climbing the gate. Moreover, by 1885, he had been familiar with Mycenae for more than a decade, since his own excavation of the site in 1874\u20131876. None of these considerations, of course, amounts to decisive proof that the person in the photograph is not Schliemann.<\/p>\n

\"Fig.
Fig. 2: Mycenae. A group of visitors, including Wilhelm and Anne D\u00f6rpfeld, at the Lion Gate. D-DAI-ATH-Mykene-0063 (Photographer unknown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n

What else do we know about the image that might help clarify its date and the identity of the person identified as Schliemann?<\/p>\n

At least two people shown in the photograph can easily be recognized: Wilhelm D\u00f6rpfeld, who is standing to the left of the gateway, and his wife Anne D\u00f6rpfeld, who is sitting on the threshold of the gate (fig.\u00a03)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 3: Mycenae. Group of travellers with Wilhelm D\u00f6rpfeld standing at left and holding his hat, and his wife Anne, sitting right, on the threshold. D-DAI-ATH-Mykene-0063, detail (Photographer unknown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since both of the D\u00f6rpfelds are wearing rings, the photo was taken after 1883, the year of their wedding. This fact, however, does not help us to narrow down the date of the photograph. We may also note, however, two clues: first, D\u00f6rpfeld himself is no longer a young man, and second, the photograph was undoubtedly taken in the spring, as indicated by the blooming flowers captured in the photograph, particularly in the lower left corner <\/span>(fig.\u00a02)<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently, a few papers came to light in DAI Athens photo archive that enable us to solve the mystery. The papers in question list 203 photographs under the rubric \u2018Diverse Privat\u201d (\u2018various private\u2019), together with a brief description of each and the approximate date when they were taken <\/span>(figs.\u00a05. 6)<\/em>. The list in fact comprises part of D\u00f6rpfeld\u2019s own private collection of photographs, most of which were taken on Institute trips. These photographs therefore were not included in the photo archive of the DAI Athens, but rather were kept by D\u00f6rpfeld himself. Since a few photographs that are preserved with the D\u00f6rpfeld papers in the Stadtarchiv Wuppertal (Municipal Archive of Wuppertal) are labelled \u2018Pri. 000\u2019 we have been able to identify one of them, a photograph of D\u00f6rpfeld and a group of travellers at the Heraion of Olympia (fig. 4)<\/em>, with one of the pictures described on the list, namely \u2018Pri. 73\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 4: Olympia, 1892: Wilhelm D\u00f6rpfeld (seated right) poses at the Heraion with a group of travellers including Count von Wesdehlen. (Stadtarchiv Wuppertal \u2018Pri. 73\u2019, Photographer unknown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to the \u2018private\u2019 list entry no.\u00a073, this photo was taken in 1892 (fig.\u00a05)<\/em>. The name of one \u201cGraf von Wesdehlen\u201d (Count von Wesdehlen) is given as further description. The only man in the Olympia photograph \u2018Pri.\u00a073\u2019 other than D\u00f6rpfeld is a distinguished gentleman standing at the centre. He must be Count von Wesdehlen.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 5. Page from of D\u00f6rpfeld\u2019s \u2018Diverse Private\u2019 list of photographs. Highlighted horizontally: description of the photograph \u201c73\u201d, which was taken \u201cwith Graf von Wesdehlen\u201d at the Heraion of Olympia. Highlighted vertically: the date, April 1892. D-DAI-ATH-Archiv-NL-D\u00f6rpfeld<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Coincidentally, images 42 and 48 on the \u2018Private\u2019 list also mention the count. The descriptions of these pictures read \u201cL\u00f6wentor mit Graf Wesdehlen\u201d and \u201cL\u00f6wentor in Myken\u00e4 mit Graf Wesdehlen\u201d: they thus were both taken at the Lion Gate at Mycenae, both feature Count von Wesdehlen and both date to May 1891 (fig.\u00a06)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 6. Page of D\u00f6rpfeld\u2019s \u2018private\u2019 list of photographs. Highlighted are descriptions of the photographs \u201c42\u201d and \u201c48\u201d, taken at the Lion Gate of Mycenae \u201cwith Count von Wesdehlen\u201d, in May 1891. D-DAI-ATH-Archiv-NL-D\u00f6rpfeld<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

If we compare the man photographed in Olympia to the man standing on the right side of the Lion Gate at Mycenae in \u2018Mykene 63\u2019, we recognize that they are the same person, obviously Count von Wesdehlen (fig.\u00a04.\u00a07)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Who was Count von Wesdehlen? A quick Internet search reveals that Ludwig Friedrich Graf von Wesdehlen (1833\u20131904) (Bringmann 2001, 76\u201377) was the German ambassador to Greece from 1890\u00a0to 1894 (https:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Liste_der_deutschen_Botschafter_in_Griechenland).<\/p>\n

In 1868, Wesdehlen<\/a> had married Augusta Alexandrine von Pourtales, who was seventeen years younger. Since the same younger woman appears sitting close to Wesdehlen both in the picture taken at the Heraion (fig.\u00a04)<\/em> and in the picture taken at the Lion Gate (fig.\u00a07)<\/em>, we may conclude that she was indeed his wife.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 7: Count von Wesdehlen presumably with his wife. D-DAI-ATH-Mykene-0063, detail (Photographer unknown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As stated above, Wesdehlen\u2019s tenure at the German Embassy of Greece commenced in 1890, but we do not know the precise date of his arrival. The photograph \u2018Mykene\u00a063\u2019 thus could have been taken in the spring of 1890, when Schliemann was still alive and might have joined the group of visitors. However, both the copybook<\/a> of Schliemann\u2019s letters from 1890 and his excavation diary<\/a>, which are kept today in the Gennadius Library of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, inform us that Schliemann sent letters from the Dardanelles as early as February 28th<\/sup> 1890, and undertook excavations at Troy from March 23rd<\/sup> to July 27th<\/sup> of that year. In light of the blooming flowers and the light clothing worn by the people in the photograph, it is obviously highly unlikely that the photograph could have been taken in February, while Schliemann was still in Greece. Schliemann died in December 1890. We thus can rule out the possibility that it is Schliemann who was photographed with Wesdehlen at Mycenae. Although it is impossible to determine in exactly what year the photograph was taken, the evidence above and D\u00f6rpfeld\u2019s \u2018private\u2019 list of photographs in particular point to the spring of 1891, several months after Schliemann\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Count von Wesdehlen \u2013 social pleasantries with \u2018Philadelphia\u2019 and the DAI Athens, and the officers of the topographic project \u2018Karten von Attika\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having solved the initial question concerning \u2018Mykene 63\u2019, let\u2019s pick up the thread of Count von Wesdehlen and his wife. They are actually mentioned several times in records from these years. Julius Ziehen repeatedly describes Wesdehlen as \u201cstiff\u201d in his travel memoirs. But both Ziehen and Wilhelm Barth also note various episodes that cast this distinguished gentleman in a sympathetic light. In his history of the well-known, still existing German-Greek Club \u2018Philadelphia<\/a>\u2019, Barth (Barth 1936, 57. 54) relates that the \u201cunforgettable German ambassador Count von Wesdehlen\u201d not only gave \u201cmoral and financial\u201d support for the purchase of a piano for the men\u2019s choir of the Greek Musical Society (Griechische Musikalische Gesellschaft), but also introduced a longstanding tradition: \u201cIn this year, 1891, the birthday of the German Emperor [Wilhelm II \u2013 K. Brandt] was celebrated with special magnificence. The German ambassador Count Wesdehlen made sixty bottles of Champagne available to the Club for the evening, as he put it in his accompanying letter.\u201d This enthusiastically received gift marked the beginning of a beloved tradition, because Wesdehlen\u2019s successors in office did likewise for many years.<\/p>\n

The Count evidently enjoyed celebrations: Ziehen recounts another evening that illuminates a very different side of the history of the Institute. It is well known that Ernst Curtius, together with Johann Kaupert, had pushed for the DAI, in collaboration with the Prussian military (the Imperial Prussian General Staff), to conduct a topographical-archaeological survey (effectively, an ordinance map) of Attica to document archaeological find sites. This project, \u2018Karten von Attika\u2019 (Curtius\u2013 Kaupert 1895\u20131903; Lohmann 2010), lasted from 1875 to 1894. In some cases, the general staff officers assigned to work on the survey lived in the headquarters of the Institute on Akadimias Street; after the DAI Athens had more space in its new location in the Fidiou, it hosted these men more frequently and for longer stays. Close professional exchanges and social contacts naturally resulted, to which Ziehen\u2019s memoirs bear witness (e.g. Ziehen 1980, 147\u2013150). When two captains were due to return to Germany in 1892, the captains planned a special farewell party: \u201c[…] It was decided that we would transform the hall on the ground floor of the Institute into a banquet hall with rugs provided by everyone and have an evening like a German beer hall. The ingredients for it would be procured from Germany by means of the shipping privileges enjoyed by the Institute heads: beer from Munich, wurst, and everything else that is regarded as the simplest of pleasure back home but has an especially high market value here. Everything was prepared so splendidly that even the always rather dignified and stiff Count von Wesdehlen did not make his way home until a very late hour and found it very difficult to maintain decorum […]\u201d (Ziehen 1980, 171 f.).<\/p>\n

The tragic story of Georg Deneke and the Countess von Wesdehlen<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another of Ziehen\u2019s anecdotes revolves around the same group of people. The mood of this story, however, is very different. Over a year earlier \u2013 in early 1891 \u2013 Captain Georg Deneke had been dispatched to Greece to support the \u2018Karten von Attika\u2019 project. He was among a large number of guests of the D\u00f6rpfelds on May 23, 1891 (fig. 8)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 8. Captain Georg Deneke (third signature from the top) visited the D\u00f6rpfelds on May 23, 1891. Stadtarchiv Wuppertal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the summer of 1891, Deneke (born on 15th<\/sup> of April 1856) worked alongside a Captain Winterberger on the survey of northern Attica and Salamis (D\u00f6rpfeld 1891, 446; Lohmann 2010, 270\u2013272 fig.\u00a01, tab.\u00a02. 3, pl.\u00a054, 2). After a brief recreational trip to Constantinople (today Istanbul), he returned to Athens in early October. Although he apparently did not feel well, he travelled to northern Attica to resume his work. He was forced to return to the city after only a few days, however, on account of a high fever. The diagnosis was typhus. Ziehen (Ziehen 1980, 150) gives a vivid account of his encounter with the critically ill man: \u201cI was alone at the Institute on the night he returned and shocked when his batman asked me to see his sick captain. Even laymen could see that his condition was hopeless; it was written on the severely feverish patient\u2019s face. He asked me to give him a glass of cognac […]. Medical assistance was brought in that same evening, and the poor man […] was transferred to Evangelismos, the German [sic<\/em>] hospital, the very next day. He lay there in great suffering for a few days and, among others, found a touchingly devoted consoler and carer in the ambassador\u2019s wife, Countess von Wesdehlen.\u201d Deneke died on October 27, 1891, and was buried at the First Cemetery of Athens with military honours (D\u00f6rpfeld 1891, 446). The funeral cortege included Otto L\u00fcders, the German consul in Piraeus and former director (1874\u20131875) of the DAI Athens, and Winterberger and D\u00f6rpfeld in captain\u2019s uniforms (Ziehen 1980, 151). D\u00f6rpfeld gave the eulogy. His tribute to Deneke survives in written form in the notebook that lists the talks given at the Institute (fig. 9)<\/em>. According to D\u00f6rpfeld\u2019s ‘Private’ list no. “60”, a photograph was also taken of Deneke\u2019s coffin (fig. 6)<\/em>. It was presumably sent to his poor mother.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 9: Handwritten draft of the obituary of Georg Deneke by W. D\u00f6rpfeld, preserved in the notebook in which talks given at the Institute were listed. Archiv DAI Athen Sitzungsprotokolle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Deneke\u2019s sudden death profoundly shook the people who worked at the Institute and is mentioned several times in the correspondence between Athens and the Executive Committee in Berlin that survives in the archive. In addition to coping with grief, mundane measures also had to be taken, such as disinfecting the room where Deneke had lived. It may have been because of the consternation over Deneke\u2019s death that one of the few photographs of people in the photographic archive in Athens that preserves the names of the people photographed is one of Captain Deneke, taken during his fieldwork (fig. 10 a. b).<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Fig. 10 a: Captain Georg Deneke on fieldwork for the \u2018Karten von Attika\u2019 project, Attica, 1891 (D-DAI-ATH-Attika-0041, Photographer: unknown), b. Deneke sitting on a wall (D-DAI-ATH-Attika-0043 Photographer: unknown)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As a collaborator of \u2018Karten von Attika\u2019, Deneke was commemorated not only in the Athenische Mitteilungen <\/em>(D\u00f6rpfeld 1891, 445\u00a0f.), but also in Arch\u00e4ologischer Anzeiger<\/em> (anonymous 1891, 161), the scholarly reporting venue of the entire German Archaeological Institute. The latter obituary in particular contains detailed information about the officer\u2019s military career.<\/p>\n

With that, the circle that the photograph \u2018Mykene\u00a063\u2019 draws around people active at the DAI Athens in 1890\u20131892 comes to a close.<\/p>\n

This entry is dedicated to Joachim Heiden, the director of the photographic archive of the DAI Athens from 2007 to 2020, who always doubted that the person standing next to the right lion was really the elderly Schliemann, let alone that Schliemann \u2013 at the age of 63 \u2013 would have climbed up there \u2013 doubts that only grew every time the archive received a new request to publish \u2018Mykene\u00a063\u2019.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Works cited and further reading:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anonymous 1891
Anonymous, Nachruf auf Georg Deneke, in: AA 1891, 161<\/p>\n

Barth 1936
W. Barth, Geschichte der Deutschen Gesellschaft Philadelphia in Athen (Athens 1936)<\/p>\n

Bringmann 2001
C. Bringmann, Handbuch der Diplomatie, 1815\u20131963: Ausw\u00e4rtige Missionschefs in Deutschland und Deutsche Missionschefs im Ausland von Metternich bis Adenauer (Berlin 2001)<\/p>\n

Curtius 1913
F. Curtius, Ernst Curtius. Ein Lebensbild in Briefen (Berlin 1913)<\/p>\n

Curtius \u2013 Kaupert 1895\u20131903
Curtius \u2013 J. Kaupert, Die Karten von Attika (Berlin 1895\u20131903)
https:\/\/doi.org\/10.11588\/diglit.776#0003<\/p>\n

D\u00f6hl 1981
H. D\u00f6hl, Heinrich Schliemann: Mythos und \u00c4rgernis (M\u00fcnchen 1981)<\/p>\n

D\u00f6rpfeld 1891
W. D\u00f6rpfeld, Nachruf auf Georg Deneke, in: AM 16, 1891, 445 f.<\/p>\n

Lohmann 2010
H. Lohmann, Die \u201epreussischen\u201c Karten von Attika, in: H. Lohmann \u00ad\u2013 T. Mattern (eds.), Attika \u2013 Arch\u00e4ologie einer \u201ezentralen\u201c Kulturlandschaft. Akten der internationalen Tagung vom 18.\u201320. Mai 2007 in Marburg. Philippika \u2013Marburger altertumskundliche Abhandlungen 37 (Wiesbaden 2010) 263\u2013279<\/p>\n

Rottloff 2009
A. Rottloff, Die ber\u00fchmten Arch\u00e4ologen (Mainz 2009)<\/p>\n

Wikipedia s.v. \u201eHeinrich Schliemann<\/a>\u201c (Access: 17.6.2022)<\/p>\n

Ziehen 1980
H. Ziehen (ed.), Julius Ziehen: Erinnerungen 1864\u20131925 (Frankfurt 1980).<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The photograph known as ‘Mykene 63’, which allegedly shows Heinrich Schliemann standing next to the famous Lion Gate of Mycenae, is undoubtedly one of the most renowned images kept in the photographic archive of the DAI Athens. Since this year … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":1422,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82,88,32,87,78,42,89,86,47,33,79,81,80,90,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-barth-wilhelm-maria","category-curtius-ernst","category-dai-staff","category-deneke-georg-friedrich-ludwig-captain","category-dorpfeld-anne-nee-adler","category-dorpfeld-wilhelm","category-kaupert-johann-august","category-luders-otto","category-schliemann-heinrich","category-scientific-staff","category-von-wesdehlen-georg-friedrich-ludwig-graf","category-von-wesdehlen-augusta-alexandrine-grafin-nee-grafin-von-pourtales","category-von-wesdehlen-ludwig-friedrich-graf","category-winterberger-captain","category-ziehen-julius"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1384"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2361,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions\/2361"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dainst.blog\/people-at-the-dai-athens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}