The Leases of the Laureion Mines
THE LEASESOF THE LAUREION MINES (PLATES 83-97) D URING the excavation of the Athenian Agora seventy-five fragments of the poletai inscriptions which record the leases of the silver mines at Laureion and the sale of confiscated property have been found. Two have already been published in Hesperia (V, 1936, no. 10, pp. 393-413, and X, 1941, no. 1, pp. 14-27). Eight frag- ments of this same series, all also found in Athens, are published in I.G., IJ2, 1582.-89. These previously published pieces have been included in the numerical series of texts here, which is arranged chronologically in so far as possible, and the data from them included in the index and chart. Amazingly few facts are known about the Laureion mines, so generally, and undoubtedly correctly, believed to have played a very important part in the rise and supremacy of Athens. What revenue did Athens get from them and how and when was this revenue collected? How were they administered? What was the term of the lease? What is the meaning of the different classifications? Who were the men who leased the mines? Any information that can be gained from these new texts is most welcome. It will be limited, by the inscriptions themselves, to the problems of the leases in the fourth century. All generalizations and conclusions are most tentative, based on the limited evidence now available from these very fragmentary texts. One or two rela- tively complete stelai from the third quarter of the fourth century, with dated heading preserved, would provide positive solutions to many questions and quite possibly solutions different from those suggested here.
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