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Athens Struck SILVER, Then Spent It on Warships #Shorts

Nov 4, 2026

Pack: 54 - Athens Struck SILVER, Then Spent It on Warships

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When the state silver mines at Laurion struck a rich new vein, Athens planned to share out the money. Themistocles talked them into building warships instead, and those ships went on to fight at Salamis. ▶ Full documentary on our channel: https://youtu.be/k3mrc7OCCNk

• The Athenians intended to divide the Laurion mine money among themselves, ten drachmas each; Themistocles persuaded them to build two hundred ships instead (Herodotus 7.144, tr. Macaulay). Aristotle's Athenian Constitution (22.7) gives a different figure: a hundred triremes.
• The twist: the ships were meant for Athens' war with the island of Aegina, not for Persia (Herodotus 7.144).
• In 480 BCE Xerxes invaded, and in the strait of Salamis the Greek fleet defeated his navy (Herodotus, Book 8).
• Herodotus wrote that the war with Aegina "proved in fact the salvation of Hellas" by forcing Athens to become a naval power. The mines themselves were worked largely by enslaved people.

Cash in hand, or warships: how would you have voted? Tell us in the comments. Full story in our documentary, The Full History of Greece.

Sources

• Herodotus, Histories 7.144 and Book 8 (tr. G. C. Macaulay), Project Gutenberg
• Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution 22.7 (tr. F. G. Kenyon), Project Gutenberg

Images

• Ancient mine gallery at Lavrio (Laurion) — Rab Lawrence — CC BY 2.0 —
• Athenian silver tetradrachm, 449–440 BCE (1941.296) — Cleveland Museum of Art — CC0 —
• The Pnyx, meeting place of the Athenian Assembly — George E. Koronaios — CC0 —
• Lenormant relief (plaster cast), trireme rowers, c. 410–400 BCE (cropped) — Gary Todd — CC0 —
• Olympias, full-size trireme reconstruction (1987) — Filos96 — Public domain —
• The strait of Salamis — Jona Lendering — CC0 —

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