Laurion

Added byIN Others  Save
 We try our best to keep the ads from getting in your way. If you'd like to show your support, you can use Patreon or Buy Me a Coffee.
added by

A hilly region of Attica, Greece, which was important for silver mines from the Bronze Age in the 1st millennium BC. The region developed into a principal mining area, especially from about 483 BC until the end of the 5th century BC. The mines may have been worked as early as 1000 BC, but in 483 BC Athenians exploited the veins to finance construction of a large fleet, which then defeated the Persians at Salamis in 480. Production remained low until after 350 and the mines were closed in the 2nd century AD. The mines were state property, rented out to individual contractors, and worked by slaves. The area has ancient mineshafts, processing areas, surface mining structures, water cisterns, and ore-washeries. The Laureot Owls, Athenian silver coinage attributed to the mines, were circulated throughout the classical world, but by Roman times the mines lay neglected because of competition from the gold and silver mines in Macedonia and pirate raids on the Laurium mines. About the beginning of the Christian Era, the silver was exhausted.

0

added by

[Roman Laurium]. A hilly area in Attica, Greece, south of Athens and near Cape Sounion (Sunium), which became important when silver-bearing lead ore was discovered there, probably in the 1st millennium bc. The region developed into a principal mining area, especially in the period from about 483 bc until the end of the 5th century. The mines were closed in the 2nd century ad. The mines, which were state property, were rented out to individual contractors, and worked by slaves who were often maltreated. The general area is still abundant in evidence for ancient mineshafts, surface mining structures, water cisterns, and ore-washeries of the common rectangular and rarer circular types.

The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied

0