Carl Blegen, 1930s

One of the giants in classical archaeology in the 20th century, Carl Blegen was a professor at UC from 1927-57. During his tenure, he organized the re-excavation of the legendary city of Troy, as well as the Palace of Nestor in Pylos, Greece.

Blegen frequently led students and scholars on his digs abroad and was a master at developing exacting fieldwork techniques, resulting in the discovery of artifacts and settlements that greatly increased knowledge of the ancient world. Under his tutelage, hundreds of clay tablets were excavated that helped establish the decipherment of Linear B (a written language that pre-dates the Greek alphabet) by classical scholar Michael Ventris.

Today, the university's Blegen Library is named in his honor, and to clear up any question of pronunciation, Blegen once cued a journalist, "Seeking the pagan is Dr. Blegen."

Links

• A contemporary dig that is attracting international attention 
• On Campus Yesterday Archive
• See a comprehensive digital project on Troy, including a movie, legends, a map and 3-D reconstructions of what Troy looked like. (from UC's Center for the Electronic Reconstruction of Historical and Archaeological Sites)