Despite the impressive skills of modern science, the way to discover profitable mineral deposits around the Mediterranean often seems to be to curl up with a good book. Perusing the Greek classics and pinpointing their references. Italian Entrepreneur Jean-Baptiste Serpieri in 1864 rediscovered the ancient mines of Laurium near Athens, from which the classical Athenians extracted their wealth and the lead needed to build their fleet. Geologist Charles Godfrey Gunther located copper on Cyprus by reading Latin manuscripts. The latest to cash in on the classics is a short, stocky Greek named...
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