"The Iliad" describes the ten-year-long siege of Troy by the Greeks which is thought to have taken place between 1250-1200 B.C. "The Odyssey" concerns the ten-year-long struggle of Greek hero Odysseus to return home from Troy to the loving arms of his wife Penelope. The Greeks of Homer's day believed this earlier period was a more glorious age, when gods still walked the earth and heroes possessed superhuman qualities. For centuries, scholars believed the Trojan War and its participants were fiction, however in 1870, a remarkable man emerged with a remarkable vision.

"Then Hector said, as the life ebbed out of him, "I pray you by your life and knees, and by your
parents, let not dogs devour me at the ships of the Achaeans, but accept the rich treasure
of gold and bronze which my father and mother will offer you, and send my body home,
that the Trojans and their wives may give me my dues of fire when I am dead."
Achilles glared at him and answered, "Dog, talk not to me neither of knees nor parents;
would that I could be as sure of being able to cut your flesh into pieces and eat it
raw, for the ill you have done me ..."
The Iliad
Homer

His name was Heinrich Schliemann and he had a colorful past. Born in 1822 in a village in Germany, Schliemann was forced to begin work at 14 due to his parent's extreme poverty. Schliemann vowed someday to be rich and pursued that goal relentlessly, including a stint in Sacramento, California as a buyer of gold dust. In 1868 with his marriage to a Russian woman crumbling, Schliemann turned to "The Odyssey" for comfort and soon traveled to Ithaca in Greece in search of the Palace of Odysseus. Bouyed by early archaeological successes, he traveled to Turkey in search of Troy which experts believed lay under the modern city of Burnabashi. Schliemann however was convinced that Troy lay under a neighboring hill, Hissarlik, and began excavations there. After acquiring a "Greek treasure" in the form of a beautiful, young wife named Sophia, in 1873 Schliemann uncovered two huge gates, which he took to be the Scaean Gates to Priam's Palace, then, behind the gates he found a hoard including gold jewelry and war artifacts.

Controverting his agreement with the Turkish government, Schliemann spirited "Priam's Treasure" out of the Turkey and into Germany where it was displayed in the National Museum in Berlin until the end of World War II when it mysteriously disappeared. After being lost for 50 years, Priam's Treasure reappeared in 1994 in the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. Schliemann went on to excavate at Mycenae and Mount Olympus in Greece and died in 1890.

To read an ebook on your Pocket PC, you must have the Microsoft Reader installed. This reader is included with most Pocket PCs, however, if you don''t already have it installed, check your Pocket PC''s website or the Microsoft website to downloaded the reader. "The Iliad and Odyssey Collection" is downloaded in a zipped format and you must unzip it using either Winzip on your PC or Stuffit Expander on your Mac. Then, use your Microsoft desktop software to install the ebook to your Pocket PC and start Microsoft Reader. It's that easy!

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