The otologic problem and death of Heinrich Schliemann

Heinrich Schliemann was a German classical archaeologist who devoted his life to the historical reality of places mentioned in the epics of Homer and to the discovery of Troy, Mycenae, and other ancient Aegean cities. He was born in Germany in 1822 and died in Italy in 1890. During his life, Schliemann suffered from frequent episodes of ear pain, progressive hearing loss and burning headaches. When his ear problem became intolerable he underwent an operation by the famous otologist Dr H. Schwartze and he finally died from a left temporal lobe brain abscess 1 month later. From a number of bibliographic sources, the details of his life as well as his ear history with the final months of his illness are presented. An analysis is made on the ear pathology that probably led to his death taking into account the existing medical means of that time (nineteenth century).