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LAURIUM (Aabptov, mod. ERGASTIRI)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 287 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LAURIUM (Aabptov, mod. ERGASTIRI) , a See also:mining See also:town in See also:Attica, See also:Greece, famous for the See also:silver mines which were one of the See also:chief See also:sources of See also:revenue of the Athenian See also:state, and were employed for coinage. After the See also:battle of See also:Marathon, See also:Themistocles persuaded the Athenians to, devote the revenue derived from the mines to See also:shipbuilding, and thus laid the See also:foundation of the Athenian See also:naval See also:power, and made possible the victory of See also:Salamis. The mines, which were the See also:property of the state, were usually farmed out for a certain fixed sum and a percentage on the working; slave labour was exclusively employed. To-wards the end of the 5th See also:century the output was diminished, partly owing to the Spartan occupation of See also:Decelea. But the mines continued to be worked, though See also:Strabo records that in his See also:time the tailings were being worked over, and See also:Pausanias speaks of the mines as a thing of the past. The See also:ancient workings, consisting of shafts and galleries for excavating the ore, and pans and other arrangements for extracting the See also:metal, may still be seen. The mines are still worked at the See also:present See also:day by See also:French and See also:Greek companies, but mainly for See also:lead, See also:manganese and See also:cadmium. The See also:population of the See also:modern town was 10,007 in 1907. See E. Ardaillon, " See also:Les Mines du Laurion dans 1'antiquite," No. lxxvii. of the Bibliotheque See also:des ecales francaises d'Athenes et de See also:Rome.

End of Article: LAURIUM (Aabptov, mod. ERGASTIRI)

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