Carl William Blegen was an American archaeologist who worked on the site of Pylos in Greece and Troy in modern-day Turkey. He directed the University of Cincinnati excavations of the mound of Hisarlik, the site of Troy, from 1932 to 1938.
In Greece, he was a fellow at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, during which time he worked on excavations at Locris, Corinth and Korakou. During World War I Blegen was involved in relief work in Bulgaria and Macedonia, receiving the Saviors Order from Greece in 1919. Following the war he completed his Ph.D. at Yale. He was then assistant director of the American School ; during his tenure he excavated at Zygouries, Phlius, Prosymna, and Hymettos. In 1927, Blegen joined the faculty of the University of Cincinnati. Blegen was professor of classical archaeology at the University of Cincinnati from 1927–1957. His excavations at Troy were carried out between 1932 and 1938, followed by those at the Palace of Nestor in Pylos, Greece in 1939. Many of the finds from this excavation are housed in the Archaeological Museum of Chora. Blegen retired in 1957. He received honorary degrees from the University of Oslo and the University of Thessaloniki in 1951; an honorary D.Litt. from the University of Oxford in 1957 and an honorary LL.D. from the University of Cincinnati in 1958. Further honorary degrees came in 1963: Litt.D. from Cambridge, and others from the University of Athens, Hebrew Union College, Jewish Institute of Religion in Jerusalem. In 1965 Blegen became the first recipient of the Archaeological Institute of America's Gold Medal for archaeological achievement. The Carl Blegen Library is located on the campus of the University of Cincinnati. The library has curated an exhibit called Discovering Carl Blegen which includes images from Blegen's major campaigns in Troy and Pylos as well as his work and life at UC and abroad. Blegen Library at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens is named also after Carl Blegen. Blegen Hall on the University of Minnesota Twin City Campus is named after his brother Theodore C. Blegen.
Personal life
Asked how to pronounce his name, Blegen told The Literary Digest: "Seeking the pagan is Doctor Blegen. In 1923, Blegen proposed marriage to Elizabeth Denny Pierce, whom he had met in the American School of Classical Studies in Athens; Pierce initially accepted but then broke off the engagement as she did not wish to end her long-term relationship with Ida Thallon. A plan was formed by Blegen, Pierce, and Bert Hodge Hill that Hodge Hill and Thallon would marry at the same time as Pierce and Blegen, and the four would live together; Thallon agreed on condition that she and Pierce would continue to travel and spend time together away from their husbands, and the two couples married and moved in together in Athens in 1924, in a relationship which they referred to as "the Family", "the quartet", and "the Pro Par". Carl Blegen died in Athens, Greece on 24 August 1971 at the age of 84. He is buried in the Protestant corner of the First Cemetery of Athens, together with Elizabeth Pierce Blegen. The graves of Ida Thallon and Bert Hodge Hill are also located in the corner. Carl W. Blegen bequeathed a large collection of his documents to the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
