Priam's Treasure

Priam's Treasure is a spectacular collection of gold and other artifacts discovered by archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann at Hissarlik in modern Turkey. Schliemann illegally smuggled Priam's Treasure out of Anatolia. The majority of the stolen artifacts are in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow.

Schliemann claimed the site to be that of ancient Troy, and assigned the artifacts to the Homeric king Priam. He was wrong, the treasure is a thousand years older than Homer's King Priam of Troy, who died about 1200 B.C. The collection, consisting of 259 items, has been at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts since 1945. Russia claims their looted art is compensation for the destruction of Russian cities and looting of Russian museums by Nazi Germany in World War II.

Sophia Schliemann wearing the "Jewels of Helen" stolen by her husband in Hisarlik.

The “Mask of Agamemnon” is one of the most famous gold artifacts from the Bronze Age. The Mask was discovered in 1876 by Schliemann during excavations at Mycenae. The gold leaf funeral mask was found over the face of a body in a burial shaft in the Mycenaean Citadel.