These mines were in the country of the Bessi in the ridge of mountains, the Rhodope, that runs between Philippi and Philippopolis, two Macedonian cities, which derived their name and origin from the father of Alexander. From the mines of Thrace he annually received the value, not the weight, of a thousand talents (200,000l) — a revenue which paid the phalanx and corrupted the orators of Greece. See Diodor. Siculus, tom. ii. 1. xvi. [c. 8] p. 88, edit. Wesseling. Godefroy's Commentary on the Theodosian Code, tom. iii. p. 496. Cellarius, Geograph. Antiq. tom. i. p. 676, 857. D'Anville, Geographie Ancienne, tom. i. p. 336.