Laurium (on which see Ardaillon, Les Mines du Laurion) is the name given by the ancients to the whole hilly and metalliferous region ending in Cape Sunium, and bounded on the north by a line from Thoricus to Anaphlystus (cf. iv. 99 n.).

The mines produced silver and lead in abundance. They had been worked from time immemorial (Xen. de Vect. iv, § 2), and from them Pisistratus (i. 64 n.) drew great wealth, as did Nicias and Hipponicus later (Xen. de Vect. iv, § 14). They were still important in the Peloponnesian war (Thuc. vi. 91 ad fin.), but were less productive, though by no means exhausted, in the time of Xenophon (Vect. iv. 35. 25 f.; Mem. iii. 6. 12). They had been long abandoned in the days of Pausanias (i. 1. 1). Since 1860 much ore has been extracted from the stones and slag formerly thrown aside, an operation [p. 186] already attempted in the days of Strabo (399).

The workings, in which only slaves were employed, consisted of shafts and galleries, whose roof was supported by columns (Ardaillon, op. cit. 25 f.). The mines were the property of the State, but were leased to individuals (usually for three years, Ath. Pol. 47), a net sum being paid down (often a talent), and also one twenty-fourth of the produce annually. (How and Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus, 1928).