Gold and Silver Forged the Glory of Ancient Greece

The gold and silver mines of North Greece and Lavrio produced the metals the ancient Greeks needed to forge empires and lay the foundations of Western civilization.

The mineral wealth of ancient Greece played a crucial role not only in making weapons and armor for its victorious armies but also in funding the building of ships and war machines. Furthermore, the precious metals were necessary for the Greeks to mint coins, make jewelry, and decorate elaborate monuments and temples to honor their heroes and worship their gods.

Considering its relatively small size, ancient Greece contained an extraordinary variety of mineral wealth of great value. For instance, Homer mentioned gold very often, both in the Iliad and the Odyssey. At the beginning of the 8th century BC, several mining centers emerged in Rodopi, Paggaion, and Thassos in northern Greece, in Lavrio in Attica, and the islands of Kythnos, Serifos, Sifnos, and others.

The mines in northern Greece are famous for their gold deposits. On the other hand, gold objects found in the Peloponnese indicate that they were not far from a small placer deposit. In Attica, the mines in Lavrio produced tons of silver beginning in the Classical period.

The golden artifacts found in the graves at Mycenae indicate that there was plentiful gold, silver, and bronze in the Mycenaean period. In Homeric poetry, we have the mention of “Mycenae rich in gold.”

Gold and silver mining in ancient Greece

According to John N. Economopoulos, Professor of Mining at the National Technical University of Athens, exploitation of the mineral wealth of Greece started during the archaic period from 2500 BC to 1125 BC. However, findings and data for that period are limited.

Since ancient times, Greece had plentiful industrial minerals. Notably, these included magnesite, copper, perlite, pumice, asbestos, and marbles as well as globally important metallic ores, especially bauxite. Furthermore, quartz, feldspars, kaolin, emery, and other minerals have also been mined on a secondary scale.

There was metal mining activity during the archaic period, but there is vague information about the sources of the metals. However, of all metallurgical centers of Greek antiquity, Lavrio is at the top because of the importance and duration of its activities but also because of the value and significance of the impressive archaeological findings.

Lavrio is often referred to by several ancient authors, poets, historians, and geographers.  Economopoulos argues that the main metals known to the Greeks, with the exception of gold, were mostly found in compounds (ores) rather than in a free state. Early on, miners exploited placers and veins found on the surface. When these sources became exhausted, the Greeks turned to underground mining.

Among those who wrote about metallurgy and mining were: Plato, Aristotle, Theophratus, Diodorus, Siculus, Strabo, Herodotus, Plutarch, Xenophon, and Pliny. All of them described the process of mining, meaning prospecting for and collection of the minerals, followed by a specific processing technique designed to enrich the precious material. The subsequent refining was achieved in the metallurgical process.

Importance of Lavrio mine

Lavrio is located at the southern edge of the Attica Peninsula about 75 kilometers (47 miles) southeast of Athens. It is not clear when metallurgical activities actually started in the area. By the middle of the 4th century BC, the great Athenian historian Xenophon wrote: “Everyone knows that the Lavrio mines are very old, but no one even dares to say about the time they have started.”

The question remains unanswered: How old are they? There are some indicators. The lead found in Minoan artifacts discovered on the island of Thera, when examined by isotopic analytical methods, proved to be identical to the Lavrio lead ore.

Near Thorikos town, very close to Lavrio, a runnel was discovered containing ceramic which could be dated to the early Bronze Age. Consequently, works in the mine probably started circa 3000 BC and developed further much later. Scientists accept the suggestion that it was operating during Mycenaean times—that is, between 2000 and 1200 BC. It seems then that organized mining probably began during the middle of the 8th century BC, and there are indications that the production of silver took place during the 7th century BC.

By the 6th century BC, the production of silver gradually increased and reached its peak during the 5th century BC, when Athens was under the leadership of one of its greatest statesmen, Pericles. He was the one who initiated the term Golden Age of the Classical period of ancient Greece. This was when the Parthenon and the other magnificent structures and statues were erected.

During 483 BC, a rich new deposit was discovered—the Maronia deposit. Its exploitation tremendously advanced the mining activities in Greece which had continued since and formed an industry. The production of silver was considerable during the 3rd century BC and only declined in the next century. A brief revival took place during the middle of the 2nd century BC and eventually ended. In the first part of the 1st century BC (probably 87 BC), the mine that had produced an estimated 3,500 tons of silver since it began operating probably came to an end.

Contribution of gold and silver mines to ancient Greek civilization

A big part of the silver coming out of the Lavrio mines was taken to Athens to be minted into coins by the state, while a good portion was exported. The lead produced (about 1.4 million tons) was also used for domestic and commercial purposes. Copper was another valuable product of the district, whereas iron was used for tool making.

During the archaic and Classical periods of Greek history, operations related to mining and metallurgy undoubtedly played an important role in creating its influential civilization, while at the same time, these helped Greece to confront its various enemies successfully. It is widely known that a sudden peak in the production of silver in Lavrio and the revenue generated helped Themistocles build a massive fleet that won the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, and the invading Persians were kicked out of Greece. This great sea victory eventually contributed to the creation of the Athenian Empire.

Ancient Greek historian Plutarch wrote about the cunning speech of Themistocles to Athenians. He had tried to convince them to use the revenue generated from the Lavrio silver mining to build triremes to fight the Persians instead of distributing it to the citizens:

“Whereas the Athenians were wont to divide up among themselves the revenue coming from the silver mines at Laureium [Lavrio], he [Themistocles], and he alone, dared to come before the people with a motion that this division be given up, and that with these moneys triremes be constructed for the war against Aegina. This was the fiercest war then troubling Hellas, and the islanders controlled the sea, owing to the number of their ships. Wherefore all the more easily did Themistocles carry his point, not by trying to terrify the citizens with dreadful pictures of Darius or the Persians—these were too far away and inspired no very serious fear of their coming, but by making opportune use of the bitter jealousy which they cherished toward Aegina in order to secure the armament he desired. The result was that with those moneys they built a hundred triremes, with which they actually fought at Salamis against Xerxes.”

The North Greece gold mines

It must also be noted that by the middle of the 4th century BC, Philip II, King of Macedon, initiated the intensive mining of the gold and silver deposits of Paggaion Mountain. This great wealth helped build the magnificent palace in Pella. More importantly, it created the invincible Macedonian army that helped him forge his own empire. He handed that down to his more famous son, Alexander the Great, who conquered kingdoms in the Near East and Asia from 334 to 323 BC and expanded the empire to lengths like no other prior to him.

The contribution of mining to the development of Classical Greece was tremendous. The wealth generated allowed for the creation of the Golden Age of Pericles’ Athens, the construction of the temples and mosaics of Pella in Macedonia, and the erection of glorious monuments such as the Parthenon and the Acropolis statues. These all had a lasting imprint on Greek society and culture as well as the rest of the Hellenized world. Apart from its other claims to fame, Classical Greece can attribute much of its glory to individual achievement, assuring the nation a place among the greatest of eras of humankind.