Unfortunately, Payne had no idea what had become of it.
Had it been lost or destroyed? Or was it still standing in Greece?
As far as he knew, the Great Pyramid of Giza was the only ancient wonder that still existed, but Payne wasn’t one hundred percent sure about that. To find out, he skipped ahead in the article. He spotted a section labeled “The Fate of Zeus” and began reading the report. A minute later, there was no doubt in his mind that he needed to tell Jones and Allison, who were still sorting through Byrd’s notes about the throne.
Payne carried the laptop toward them. “Are you familiar with the Statue of Zeus?”
“The one at Olympia?” Allison asked. “What about it?”
“Zeus is sitting on a large throne covered with gold, ivory, and precious jewels. From top to bottom, the whole statue was forty feet tall.”
“Unfortunately,” she said, “it was destroyed fifteen hundred years ago when the Temple of Zeus collapsed.”
Payne shook his head. “Not according to this. Some scholars believe it was carried off to Constantinople, where it was housed in a new temple. Supposedly it was part of the Roman emperor’s plan to beautify his new city with the finest relics of Greece and Rome.”
Jones crinkled his forehead. “Really?”
“But it doesn’t end there. Some experts believe the statue was moved once again, prior to the great fires that engulfed the city in the sixth century A.D. In fact, many of the most valuable relics were thought to have been removed before the fires were set by rioters.”
Jones pointed at the computer. “Let me see that.”
He quickly scanned the article, which was featured on a reputable website, then leaned back in thought. Allison took the opportunity to grab the computer and read the story as well. When she was done, she had the same reaction as Jones. She sat back and said nothing.
Silence filled the suite. For an entire minute, nobody spoke.
Payne stared at them and grinned. He knew what they were thinking.
Heinrich Schliemann had found the Statue of Zeus, and he died before he could recover it.
Jones was the first one to speak. He glanced at Allison and said, “Let the record show that I told Jon to search the Internet. I expect to be given full credit in your thesis.”
She laughed. “Screw my thesis. If we find this statue, I can buy a college and give myself a doctorate.”
Payne smiled at both comments. “So what do you think? Could this have been the throne that Schliemann was talking about?”
“Yes,” she said, turning serious. “I mean, if anyone had inside information about a treasure in Turkey, it would have been Heinrich Schliemann. After all, he discovered the city of Troy on Turkish soil, so he would have heard rumors about any artifacts near Constantinople. In fact, he and his wife spent a lot of time in that city.”
“But if he knew about the statue, why didn’t he get it?”
“Why? Because there’s a big difference between knowing about a treasure and actually acquiring it. According to his journals, Schliemann took nearly a decade to locate Troy even though he used Homer’s epic poems like a road map. Now imagine trying to find something that was moved from place to place over fifteen hundred years ago. That search would take a very long time. Especially with the interference he was bound to face.”
Jones asked, “What type of interference?”
“Even though the citizens of Turkey loved him, the Turkish government did not. As I mentioned last night, he smuggled Priam’s Treasure out of their country, which upset all the officials who had given him permission to dig. Over time, he eventually smoothed things over, and they let him back into Turkey to do further excavations at Troy. Only this time, they assigned a guard to follow him. In fact, every time he went to Turkey from that point forward, he was followed around the clock.”
Jones nodded in understanding. “Which would have prevented him from searching for the throne. He might have known where it was located, but he wasn’t able to recover it.”
“Exactly. And Schliemann wasn’t the trusting type, so there’s no way he would have asked someone to do it for him. He had screwed over too many people in his life to trust anyone.”
“Speaking of trust,” Payne said, “can we believe anything that Schliemann said? So far, you’ve painted a pretty negative picture of the guy. Despite his genius, he was a known charlatan, a con man of the highest degree. Isn’t it possible that he was making all of this up? Perhaps this was a big joke to him. A final cry for attention before he passed away.”
Allison considered his comment. The thought had crossed her mind, too.