In The District Of
Pieria, It Is Said, There Were Found Large Quantities Of This Metal In The
Sand, Sometimes In Lumps Of Considerable Size:
But by far the most
productive and valuable mines of gold were in the mountain Pangaeus, in a
district which Philip, the father of Alexander, added to Macedonia.
The
people who inhabited the country near the river Strymon derived great
wealth from these mines, and it was the knowledge of this, as much as the
facility of obtaining timber, which induced the Athenians to found their
colony near this river. The Thracians drove the Athenians from this part of
Macedonia, and Philip expelled them: he paid great attention to the working
of the mines; and by employing persons well skilled in this and in refining
the ore, he rendered them so extremely valuable, that, according to ancient
authors, he obtained the empire of Greece principally by means of the
immense sums he drew from them, amounting annually, according to Diodorus,
to 1000 talents of gold. When the Romans reduced Macedonia, they expressly
forbade the inhabitants from working the mines of gold or silver, or
refining either of those metals; permitting them, however, to manufacture
any other metal.
The princes of Macedonia previous to Philip, the father of Alexander,
notwithstanding the great advantage for maritime affairs and commerce
afforded by the sea-coasts, bays, harbours, &c., neither practised nor
understood them: this arose in a great measure from their being continually
engaged in wars, or having their ports occupied or blocked up by the
maritime states of Greece.
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