Note 6 — BOOK II.

The silver mines of Mt. Laurion formed the economic mainstay of Athens for the three centuries during which the State had the ascendency in Greece, and there can be no doubt that the dominance of Athens and its position as a sea-power were directly due to the revenues from the mines. The first working of the mines is shrouded in mystery. The scarcity of silver in the time of Solon (638-598 B.C.) would not indicate any very considerable output at that time. According to Xenophon (Essay on Revenue of Athens, IV., 2), written about 355 B.C., "they were wrought in very ancient times." The first definite discussion of the mines in Greek record begins about 500 B.C., for about that time the royalties began to figure in the Athenian Budget (Aristotle, Constitution of Athens, 47). There can be no doubt that the mines reached great prosperity prior to the Persian invasion. In the year 484 B.C. the mines returned 100 Talents (about 83,700 oz. Troy) to the Treasury, and this, on the advice of Themistocles, was devoted to the construction of the fleet which conquered the Persians at Salamis (480 B.C.). The mines were much interfered with by the Spartan invasions from 431 to 425 B.C., and again by their occupation in 413 B.C.; and by 355 B.C., when Xenophon wrote the "Revenues," exploitation had fallen to a low ebb, for which he proposes the remedies noted by Agricola on p. 28. By the end of the 4th Century, B.C., the mines had again reached considerable prosperity, as is evidenced by Demosthenes' orations against Pantaenetus and against Phaenippus, and by Lycurgus' prosecution of Diphilos for robbing the supporting pillars. The domination of the Macedonians under Philip and Alexander at the end of the 4th and beginning of the 3rd Centuries B.C., however, so flooded Greece with money from the mines of Thrace, that this probably interfered with Laurion, at this time, in any event, began the decadence of these mines. Synchronous also was the decadence of Athens, and, but for fitful displays, the State was not able to maintain even its own independence, not to mention its position as a dominant State. Finally, Strabo, writing about 30 B.C. gives the epitaph of every mining district—reworking the dumps. He says (IX., 1, 23): "The silver mines in Attica were at first of importance, but [Pg 28]are now exhausted. The workmen, when the mines yielded a bad return to their labour, committed to the furnace the old refuse and scoria, and hence obtained very pure silver, for the former workmen had carried on the process in the furnace unskilfully."

Since 1860, the mines have been worked with some success by a French Company, thus carrying the mining history of this district over a period of twenty-seven centuries. The most excellent of many memoirs upon the mines at Laurion, not only for its critical, historical, and archæological value, but also because of its author's great insight into mining and metallurgy, is that of Edouard Ardaillon (Les Mines du Laurion dans l'Antiquité, Paris, 1897). We have relied considerably upon this careful study for the following notes, and would refer others to it for a short bibliography on the subject. We would mention in passing that Augustus Boeckh's "Silver Mines of Laurion," which is incorporated with his "Public Economy of Athens" (English Translation by Lewis, London, 1842) has been too much relied upon by English students. It is no doubt the product of one acquainted with written history, but without any special knowledge of the industry and it is based on no antiquarian research. The Mt. Laurion mining district is located near the southern end of the Attic Peninsula. The deposits are silver-lead, and they occur along the contact between approximately horizontal limestones and slates. There are two principal beds of each, thus forming three principal contacts. The most metalliferous of these contacts are those at the base of the slates, the lowest contact of the series being the richest. The ore-bodies were most irregular, varying greatly in size, from a thin seam between schist planes, to very large bodies containing as much as 200,000 cubic metres. The ores are argentiferous galena, accompanied by considerable amounts of blende and pyrites, all oxidized near the surface. The ores worked by the Ancients appear to have been fairly rich in lead, for the discards worked in recent years by the French Company, and the pillars left behind, ran 8% to 10% lead. The ratio of silver was from 40 to 90 ounces per ton of lead. The upper contacts were exposed by erosion and could be entered by tunnels, but the lowest and most prolific contact line was only to be reached by shafts. The shafts were ordinarily from four to six feet square, and were undoubtedly cut by hammer and chisel; they were as much as 380 feet deep. In some cases long inclines for travelling roads join the vertical shafts in depth. The drives, whether tunnels or from shafts, were not level, but followed every caprice of the sinuous contact. They were from two to two and a half feet wide, often driven in parallels with cross-cuts between, in order to exploit every corner of the contact. The stoping of ore-bodies discovered was undertaken quite systematically, the methods depending in the main on the shape of the ore-body. If the body was large, its dimensions were first determined by drives, crosscuts, rises, and [Pg 29]winzes, as the case might require. If the ore was mainly overhead it was overhand-stoped, and the stopes filled as work progressed, inclined winzes being occasionally driven from the stopes to the original entry drives. If the ore was mainly below, it was underhand-stoped, pillars being left if necessary—such pillars in some cases being thirty feet high. They also employed timber and artificial pillars. The mines were practically dry. There is little evidence of breaking by fire. The ore was hand-sorted underground and carried out by the slaves, and in some cases apparently the windlass was used. It was treated by grinding in mills and concentrating upon a sort of buddle. These concentrates—mostly galena—were smelted in low furnaces and the lead was subsequently cupelled. Further details of metallurgical methods will be found in Notes on p. 391 and p. 465, on metallurgical subjects.

The mines were worked by slaves. Even the overseers were at times apparently slaves, for we find (Xenophon, Memorabilia, II., 5) that Nicias paid a whole talent for a good overseer. A talent would be about 837 Troy ounces of silver. As wages of skilled labour were about two and one half pennyweights of silver per diem, and a family income of 100 ounces of silver per annum was affluence, the ratio of purchasing power of Attic coinage to modern would be about 100 to 1. Therefore this mine manager was worth in modern value roughly £8,000. The mines were the property of the State. The areas were defined by vertical boundaries, and were let on lease for definite periods for a fixed annual rent. More ample discussion of the law will be found on p. 83.