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Decelea
Furthermore, the Spartan presence in the rural Attic region, in a deviation from previous policy where Spartans returned home for the winter months, was maintained year round. In conjunction with the addition of Spartan patrols through the Attic countryside, this curtailed the Athenian ability to continue exploiting the Laurium silver mines in southeastern Attica that were the primary source of wealth for the Athenian Empire. With the Spartan control of Decelea, it is estimated by Thucydides, that 20,000 slaves escaped from the mines of Laurium and Thorika along the southeastern coast, to Decelea, from 413 until the close of the Peloponnesian War in 404 BCE.
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