ABSTRACT
The silver mines in the Laureion district of south-east Attika formed an important part of the Athenian economy, but the surviving evidence about them is not easy to interpret. Modern study began with Boeckh and, after other nineteenth-century contributions, reached its apogee in Ardaillon's book, published in 1897. The most significant contribution of the twentieth century was the mining leases inscribed on stone by the officials called poletai, the sellers of state property; these were published by Crosby and discussed at length by Hopper. The inscriptions have thrown much light on the system used for leasing the mines, but not much on the relevant legal proceedings. The best account of Athenian mining law and legal procedure is still Ardaillon. The literary evidence for legal proceedings, including references in the later lexica, is probably all related to the second half of the fourth century bc, and the inscriptions of the leases all date from the period between 367 and 300.
