Mines of Laurion in the context of "Lavrio"

Attica (Greek: Αττική, romanised: Attikí, Greek pronunciation: [atiˈci]; Ancient Greek: Ἀττική, romanised: Attikḗ, Ancient Greek pronunciation: [atːikɛ̌ː]), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and the core city of the metropolitan area, as well as its surrounding suburban cities and towns. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Sea, bordering on Boeotia to the north and Megaris to the west. The mines of Laurion were an important mining region located at Lavrio, on the southern tip of the peninsula.

The history of Attica is closely linked with that of Athens. In ancient times, Attica corresponded with the classical Athens city‑state. It was the most prominent region in Ancient Greece, specifically during the Golden Age of Athens in the classical period. Ancient Attica was divided into demoi, or municipalities, from the reform of Cleisthenes in 508/7 BC, grouped into three zones: urban (astu) in the region of Athens main town, and Piraeus (the port), coastal (paralia) along the coastline, and inland (mesogeia) in the interior.

Thorikos or Thoricus (Ancient Greek: Θορικός) was a city, and later a deme in the southern portion of ancient Attica, one of the twelve original settlements that were united in the synoikismos attributed to Theseus to form Archaic Athens. It was later a deme of the phyle of Acamantis. Near it are the mines of Laurion, where lead and silver was mined from Neolithic times, and worked in the industrial quarter of the settlement. There is a theatre dating from c. 525–480 BC. The modern site is Lavrio.

Lavreotiki (Greek: Λαυρεωτική) is a municipality at the southeasternnmost tip of the Attica peninsula in the Greek regional unit of East Attica. Its municipal seat is the town of Laurium.

It is historically important as a significant ancient mining district, most notably in the villages of Laurium and Thorikos on the southeastern seaboard during the 6th, 5th, and 4th centuries BCE. As such it financed the wealth of Athens and the emergence of the Athenian Empire through the slave-powered mining efforts for silver and lead, beginning with the discovery of 2 deep-vein mining efforts during the 480's. Prior to that development, which at Themistocles urging in 483 BC led to the expansion of the Athenian fleet to 200 ships, only surface-mining was deployed as a technique for harvesting silver. More than 250 ore washeries have been identified by archaeologists and geologists in the district.