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Landowner · Excavator · Collector · Consul / diplomat

Frank Calvert

1828–1908 · United Kingdom

British consular agent at the Dardanelles who excavated Hisarlik, and who in 1863 wrote to C. T. Newton with Demetrios Pierides about Phoenician inscriptions.

Biography

Frank Calvert wrote to the British Museum about Phoenician inscriptions with a Cypriot collector. He was born in Valletta on 3 September 1828 and died at Çanakkale on 12 August 19081. He was the youngest of six brothers, never married, and in 1874 succeeded his brother as United States consular agent at the Dardanelles. He excavated on family land, including Hisarlik2.

In 1863 he and Demetrios Pierides of Larnaca wrote letters to Charles Thomas Newton on Phoenician inscriptions, which were published that year6.

In 1879 and 1880 reports described an archaic patera with characters of Cypriot syllabic type from the necropolis of Thymbra, on his farm4,5. Heinrich Schliemann later gave Calvert a ring8. No Cypriot antiquities in Calvert's own collection at the Dardanelles are recorded.

Life and work

  1. 1874
    Succeeded his brother as United States consular agent at the Dardanelles

    Wikipedia (2026). Frank Calvert

  2. 1877
    Excavated an object ('lagena', reg. 1877,0930.43); now in the British Museum.

    British Museum collection online, 'lagena', reg. 1877,0930.43

  3. 1877
    Sold 2 objects ('jug', 'juglet'; reg. 1877,0812.1 and others) to the British Museum through Sotheby's in 1877.

    British Museum collection online, reg. 1877,0812.1; 1877,0812.3

Through their hands

1 record
  1. n.d.

    Gift receivedSchliemann later donated the ring to his colleague Frank Calvert.

    Received from Heinrich Schliemanngold ring CMS XI No.28No. CMS XI No.28Tully 2018, p. 210

Connections

2 people

Sales, gifts & bequests

Mentioned in

3 mentions

Sources

  1. 1.Wikidata (2026). Frank Calvert (Q1385967). Online
  2. 2.Wikipedia (2026). “Frank Calvert”. Online
  3. 3.Heinrich Schliemann (1880). Ilios: The City and Country of the Trojans.
  4. 4.Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies (1880). “The Journal of Hellenic Studies, vol. 1”.
  5. 5.The Athenaeum (1879-10-04). “The Athenaeum, no. 2710”.
  6. 6.Mark Lidzbarski (1889). Handbuch der Nordsemitischen Epigraphik.
  7. 7.Heinrich Schliemann (1886). Tiryns: the prehistoric palace of the kings of Tiryns.
  8. 8.C. J. Tully (2018). The Cultic Life of Trees in the Prehistoric Aegean, Levant, Egypt and Cyprus. 210.
  9. 9.C. J. Tully (2018). The Cultic Life of Trees in the Prehistoric Aegean, Levant, Egypt and Cyprus. Leuven-Liège, Peeters.
  10. 10.British Museum collection online, 'lagena'.
  11. 11.British Museum collection online.
  12. 12.Wikipedia, 2026, Frank Calvert; Heinrich Schliemann, 1886, Tiryns: the prehistoric palace of the kings of Tiryns.
  13. 13.Mark Lidzbarski, 1889, Handbuch der Nordsemitischen Epigraphik.
  14. 14.Schliemann, Henry; Virchow, Rudolf Prof.; Muller, Max, Ilios: The City and Country of the Trojans: the Results of Researches and Discoveries on the Site of Troy and throught the Troad in the Years 1871-72-73-78-79 (1880).
  15. 15.American Journal of Archaeology January-March 1944: Vol 48 Iss 1 (1944).
  16. 16.DR. HENREY SCHLIEMAN, TIRYNS THE PREHISTORIC PALACE OF THE KING OF TIRYNS (1886).
  17. 17.Schliemann, Heinrich, 1822-1890; Adler, Felix, 1851-1933; Dörpfeld, Wilhelm, 1853-1940, Tiryns. The prehistoric palace of the kings of Tiryns, the results of the latest excavations; (1885).
  18. 18.Association pour l'encouragement des études grecques en France, Paris, Annuaire (1867).
  19. 19.Schliemann, Henry, Tiryns; the Prehistoric Palace of the Kings of Tiryns, the results of the Latest Excavations (1886).
  20. 20.Mark Lidzbarski, Handbuch der Nordsemitischen Epigraphik (1889).
  21. 21.C. J. Tully, 2018, The Cultic Life of Trees in the Prehistoric Aegean, Levant, Egypt and Cyprus.

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