Well-established mines were named, often after a deity. The mines were worked by
slaves, and fortunes could be made from them. Nikias, the Peloponnesian War general, was
one such individual. We are told that he consulted diviners and that
most of his inquiries were made about his own private matters and especially
about his silver mines; for he had large interests in the mining district of Lau-
reion, and they were exceedingly profitable, although worked at great risk. He
maintained a multitude of slaves in these mines, and most of his substance was
in silver. (Plutarch, Nikias 4)
Laureion was a district in southern Attica, and several demes fell within its area: Sounion,
Besa, Anaphlystos, and Thorikos (see fig. 270). The valleys there are littered with the re-
mains of the mining installations: mine adits and passages, ventilation shafts, workshops
(ergasteria) where the ore was processed, furnaces to smelt it, and slag heaps.
Several of the ore washeries and furnaces have been excavated. The washeries consist
of a large square platform surfaced with lime mortar, with a channel running around all
four sides. Crushed ore was placed on the platform and washed into the channels. As the
water f lowed along the channels, it was slowed by means of settling basins, where the heav-
ier, metal-bearing ore sank, while the lighter soil, gravel, and other impurities were carried
on. The ore would be removed from the settling basins and spread on the platform to dry,
after which it was ready for smelting.
The procedure required large amounts of water, never a ready commodity in Attica,
and every effort was made to recycle and conserve it. Near each washery was a huge cistern,
designed to trap and save as much rainwater as possible. The furnaces are usually found
down by the coast, removed from the mines and washeries. This may be for reasons of
health or, more likely, because the immense amount of wood or charcoal needed for fuel
presumably had to be imported by ship, as Attica is also poor in timber.
The silver would then be refined to a high degree of purity; Athenian coins were
trusted and circulated widely throughout the Mediterranean. From the beginnings of
Athenian coinage, sometime in the sixth century
B
.
C
., come small silver coins carrying a
wide variety of devices: wheels, amphoras, horses. In the late sixth century a single stan-
dard design was adopted, showing the head of Athena in profile on the obverse and an owl
with olive sprig and the legend AQE on the reverse. Once established, this type survived es-
sentially unchanged for several hundred years.
In the Hellenistic period, when the sizes of the silver coins were changed, inscrip-
tions and other elements became more prominent, but the head of Athena and the owl still
appeared on each side, ensuring that the coin would be recognized as an Athenian product.
140 CLASSICAL ATHENS
135