Laurium, East Attica Regional Unit, Attica, Greece

History | Facilities | Sport

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Laurium or Lavrio (ฮ›ฮฑฯฯฮนฮฟ); is a town in south-eastern part of Attica, Greece. It is part of Athens metropolitan area and the seat of the municipality of Lavreotiki. Laurium was famous in Classical antiquity for its silver mines, which was one of the chief sources of revenue of the Athenian state. The metallic silver was mainly used for coinage. The Archaeological Museum of Lavrion shows much of the story of these mines.

It is located about 60ย km SE of Athens city centre, SE of Keratea and N of Cape Sounio. Laurium is situated on a bay overlooking the island of Makronisos in the east. The port is in the middle and gridded streets cover the residential area of Lavrio. GR-89 runs through Lavrio and ends south in Sounio.

History The modern town of Lavrio is at the site of the ancient village of Thoricus; its name is taken from that of the entire region of the Mines of Laurium.

The earliest evidence for mining dates to the beginning of the Bronze Age, ca. 3200 BC.

Systematic exploitation of mineral resources seem to have begun in the 6th century BC under Peisistratus. After the battle of Marathon, Themistocles persuaded the Athenians to devote the anticipated revenue derived from a major silver vein strike in the mines of Laurion circa 483 BC to expanding the Athenian fleet to 200 triremes, and thus laid the foundation of the Athenian naval power. The mines, which were the property of the state, were usually farmed out for a certain fixed sum and a percentage on the working; slave labour was exclusively employed. An unrecorded number were children. It was a miserable, dangerous, and brief life. As many as 20,000 slaves were employed at the height of the mining. A silver mint (Argyrocopeum) was at Laurion.

Towards the end of the 5th century, the output fell, partly owing to the Spartan occupation of Decelea. But the mines continued to be worked, though Strabo records that in his time the tailings were being worked over, and Pausanias speaks of the mines as a thing of the past. The ancient workings, consisting of shafts and galleries for excavating the ore, and washing tables for concentrating the ore, may still be seen at many locations. There were well engineered tanks and reservoirs to collect rainwater for washing the ore since abundant supplies from streams or rivers was impossible at the site.

The mines were reworked in the late 19th century by French and Greek companies, but mainly for lead, manganese and cadmium. In 1896 a strike from the miners was violently confronted by the mining company's guards resulting in the death of two workers. The miners responded by destroying the company's offices and killing the guards. The government then sent police forces to support the company's interests against the strikers. Further clashes between workers and the police occurred to which the government replied by sending the military against the striking workers resulting in more workers' deaths. The strike ended violently with most of the strikers' demands not being fulfilled and with a military force being permanently established to patrol the miners.

The Mineralogical Museum of Lavrion comprises samples of minerals from the region of Lavrion.

Facilities The Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport is 35ย km away from Lavrio or about 30 minutes drive. Lavrio is connected to Athens by car using the Lavrio/Sounio Leoforos (Highway) and then Attiki Odos. This trip takes about an hour. A quite convenient solution to go to Athens is to "park and drive". Drive from Lavrio to Koropi Train Station and there take the train proastiakos or metro that goes straight to Athens center. (30 minutes drive + 30 minutes train).

Lavrio was the terminal station of the Athens-Lavrion Railway, which was abandoned in 1957.

The mining town of Laurium, Michigan was named after the famous Greek Laurium.

Sport Laurium hosts the football club Olympiacos Laurium, which played in the Gamma Ethniki in the past, and the basketball club Lavrio B.C., which plays in the Basket League.

Europe/Athens/Attica 
<b>Europe/Athens/Attica</b>
Image: Adobe Stock jekatarinka #187807694

Laurium has a population of over 7,078 people. Laurium also forms part of the wider East Attica Municipality which has a population of over 516,549 people. It is also a part of the larger Athens Urban Area. Laurium is situated near Acharnes.

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Laurium has links with:

๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ธ Aleksinac, Serbia ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ด Mangalia, Romania ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท Quimper, France
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Laurium is: -155.95,-37.7

Locations Near: Laurium 24.05,37.7

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Saronikos 23.917,37.833 d: 18.9  

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Glyfada 23.75,37.867 d: 32.2  

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Moschato-Tavros 23.75,37.9 d: 34.5  

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Elliniko-Argyroupoli 23.75,37.9 d: 34.5  

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Ilioupoli 23.75,37.933 d: 37  

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Zografou 23.767,37.967 d: 38.7  

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Agios Dimitrios 23.733,37.933 d: 38  

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Alimos 23.717,37.917 d: 37.9  

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Chalandri 23.798,38.021 d: 42  

๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ท Nea Smyrni 23.717,37.95 d: 40.4  

Antipodal to: Laurium -155.95,-37.7

๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ซ Papeete -149.566,-17.537 d: 17688.2  

๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ด Nuku'alofa -175.216,-21.136 d: 17403.8  

๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ธ Pago Pago -170.701,-14.279 d: 17031.6  

๐Ÿ‡ผ๐Ÿ‡ธ Apia -171.76,-13.833 d: 16935.4  

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Hilo -155.089,19.725 d: 13629  

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Maui -156.446,20.72 d: 13518.9  

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Maui County -156.617,20.868 d: 13502.3  

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Kahului -156.466,20.891 d: 13499.8  

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Wailuku -156.505,20.894 d: 13499.5  

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ Honolulu -157.85,21.3 d: 13451.6  

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