silver
silver (Lat. argentum, Gk. ἄργυρος)
Argentiferous lodes were worked south of the Danube in the 3rd century, possibly in Thrace (at Mount Pangaion) in the 6th century, and at Thoriskos, where oil lamps attest mining works in the 5th/6th century. At Laurium slag from the older silver mines was re-smelted. Further silver mining operations are documented in the Bolkardağ district in Anatolia. After the collapse of Roman rule in the West, the Visigoths may have exploited silver mines in Spain (Sotiel Coronado). As early as the 7th century and during the Carolingian period silver ore was extracted at Melle, Kremnitz, and Schemnitz in German Saxony. Silver was possibly mined by the Sasanians in Yemen and in Najd on the Arabian Peninsula, according to al-Hamdānī, a geographer of the 10th century ad.
In the Later Roman Empire, part of the silver mined or collected under the collatio lustralis (until 372; Zosimus, II, 38, 2; CTh XII, 1, 50; XIII, 1) was handed out to soldiers, high officials, and friends of the emperor as donatives on special occasions (e.g. imperial accession, anniversaries, emperor’s natalis). Silver was issued as coinage, medallions, ingots, or luxurious wares, possibly under the supervision of the Comes Sacrarum Largitionum. While some silver ingots were produced in private contexts, the weight (1 Roman pound) and shape of some ingots, along with silver stamps and inscriptions, indicate a varying degree of state involvement in their production at sites such as Niš or Trier (often, but not necessarily, imperial mints). A few ingots have been discovered outside Roman territory (e.g. Balline and Ballinrees in Ireland, Dierstorf in Lower Saxony).
From such ingots, plates and other items were produced by silversmiths, by hammering. Late Roman silverware (plates, bowls, cups, spoons, lamps, caskets, etc.) has been discovered in numerous deposits throughout Europe and the eastern Mediterranean (e.g. Kaiseraugst in Switzerland, Mildenhall in England, Kaper Koraon in Syria). Some treasures come from private contexts, assembled perhaps over generations as with the Esquiline Treasure, or consisted of cult items given to churches (chalices, censers, crosses, etc.). Silverware from the Persian Empire is attested for the 4th to 6th centuries, mostly displaying the image of the King of Kings.
Silversmiths (see argentarius) were exempted from state burdens in 337 (CTh XIII, 4, 2) but were barred from honorary office (CJust XII, 57, 12 of 436). From papyri we learn that silversmiths in Late Roman Egypt were obliged to report their prices (P.Oxy. 3642 of 359).
Bowersock, Brown, and Grabar, HGLA s.v. mining, 579 (J. C. Edmondson).
RGA2 s.v. Silber, vol. 28 (2005), 428–32 (A. Hauptmann).Find this resource:
K.-P. Matschke ‘Mining’, in EHB I, 115–20.Find this resource:
M. K. Papathanassiou, ‘Metallurgy and Metalworking Techniques’, in EHB I, 121–7.Find this resource:
Delmaire, Largesses.Find this resource:
J. C. Edmondson, ‘Mining in the Later Roman Empire and beyond: Continuity or Disruption?’, JRS 79 (1989), 84–102.Find this resource:
P. O. Harper, Silver Vessels of the Sasanian Period (1981).Find this resource:
Leader-Newby, Silver.Find this resource:
R. Wiegels, Silberbarren der ro ̈mischen Kaiserzeit. Katalog und Versuch einer Deutung (2003).Find this resource:
