Lávrion

Lávrion

(läv`rēŏn) or

Laurium

(lôr`ēəm), town (1991 pop. 8,846), E central Greece, in Attica; a port on the Aegean Sea. It is a mining, smelting, and shipping center for lead, manganese, and cadmium ores. Silver was mined there from the 6th to the 2d cent. B.C. and was one of the chief sources of Athenian revenue in the 5th cent. B.C. The present town of Lávrion, formerly called Ergasteria, was founded in the 19th cent., when mining was resumed in the area.