The Financial Aspects of the Silver Mining Operations

This chapter describes how the economic exploitation of the Athenian silver mines was taking place at Laurion. In particular, it describes an auction procedure at Laurion, next, the authorized institution which was responsible for the mines leases, the poletai, and finally, in detail the whole procedure of extracting silver by the mines. Silver mining was vital for the success of the Athenian economic model of organization, and for Athens’s hegemony in the East Mediterranean.