an expert on the treatment of ores at the silver mines at Laurion, went to the cinnabar mines near Ephesos to devise a process of treating the ore. It is obvious that lead-silver ores were concentrated at Laurion by a skillful process of washing; the remains of ancient washing tables and other apparatus can still be seen there. Furthermore, the archaeological evidence shows that the refining operations at Laurion were conducted on a larger and more elaborate scale than those at any other Greek mining site. It is therefore to be expected that mine operators at other places, faced witJi the necessity of treating unusual ores by washing, might have called upon an experienced man from Laurion to devise a suitable process.
Kirchner408 and Jaeger459 both suggest that the Kallias mentioned here was the son of Hipponicos, one of the wealthy Athenian operators of the silver mines at Laurion. The date is suitable, and there is also the evidence of Xenophon.480 But Kallias was a common Greek name, and the evidence as a whole is so scanty that there can be no certainty about this identification.
59. for thinking that the sand contained gold because it shone brightly, he collected it and worked on it. But when he saw that it did not contain any gold, he admired the beauty of the sand because of its color and so discovered this method of preparation.
This sounds very much like the usual ancient story invented after some important event in order to explain it. Though crystalline cinnabar glistens in the light, the more common earthy varieties of this mineral do not, and there is nothing about the luster of crystalline cinnabar or the color of any variety of this mineral that would lead anyone to suspect that it might contain gold. However, cinnabar is sometimes associated with pyrite, the socalled fool's gold; and if the "sand" or cinnabar ore investigated by Kallias did contain some pyrite, he might easily have been misled by its luster and color. If he found pyrite in the ore, he might have paid little attention to the striking color of the cinnabar
458 J. Kirchner, Prosopographia Attica (Berlin, 1901), Vol. I, p. 521.
459 W. W. Jaeger, Diokfes von Karystos (Berlin, 1938), p. 120, footnote.
460 Symposium, I, 2; De Vectigalibus, IV, 15.
