The History of Slavery in Attica

Inscriptions reveal that the vast majority of industrial slaves, on whom there were many thousands, were non-Greek. It has been estimated that the number of slaves working in Laryon mines, or in the mills processing the silver ore, was around 30,000. Most of the Athenian households had two or three slaves, while some had a half a dozen or more and the more wealthy possessed between ten and twenty. The super wealthy, though, owned a great many more.