Professional Documents
Culture Documents
(in grams). The listing of a denomination in the table does not necessarily indicated that such a denomination was actually minted. Red arrows indicate equivalencies.
Dekadrachm 60 obols 10 drachms 8 drachms 3 drachms 15.6 Octadrachm 48 obols Tetradrachm 24 obols Tridrachm 18 obols Didrachm 12 obols Drachm 6 obols Tetrobol 4 obols Triobol 3 obols Diobol 2 obols Trihemiobol 1 1/2 obols Obol 1 obol Tritartemorion 3/4 obol Hemiobol 1/2 obol Tetartemorion 1/4 obol Trihemi tetartemorion 3/8 obol Hemitetartemorion 1/8 obol
Silver Standards
Notes
Stater
43.0
4 drachms 20.8 24.4 8.4 13.3 17.2 16.8 15.0 15.6 12.6 23.2 20.0 11.5 34.4 9.8 17.2 20.0 8.6
Achaean Aeginetan Afghan Asiatic Attic (down to 2nd century) Attic (new style) Campanian (Italic-Achaean) Chian Cistophoric Corcyrean (archaic period) Corcyrean (hellenistic period) Corinthian Euboeic (Chalcidean) Indo-Greek "Lycian" - low "Lycian" - high Persian silver - early Persian silver - later Phoenician Ptolemaic (early Ptolemy I) Ptolemaic Rhodian Rhodian - plinthophoric Samian - heavy Samian - light Sinopian Thraco-Macedonian: Paeonian ?? 14.0 15.6 14.4 15.2 13.2 13.4 13.0 13.2 19.6 14.8 9.8 7.4 4.9 3.7 3.3 2.5 2.5 1.9 1.6 1.2 1.2 0.9 0.82 0.62 9.8 7.4 39.2 29.6 0.61 0.46 0.41 0.31 0.31 0.23 0.20 0.15
tridrachm didrachm tetradrachm tetradrachm 2, 5, 22 tetradrachm 19 tetradrachm 1, 23 didrachm (nomos) tetradrachm tetradrachm didrachm didrachm 5, 21 tridrachm 5 didrachm tetradrachm 8 didrachm 8 didrachm 9 stater (= 2 sigloi) 13, 14 stater (= 2 sigloi) 10 shekel (didrachm) tetradrachm tetradrachm 11 tetradrachm 11 tetradrachm 12 tetradrachm 12 tetradrachm didrachm
15.6 12.2 8.4 13.3 17.2 16.8 7.5 15.6 12.6 11.6 10.0 8.6 17.2 9.8 8.6 10.0 10.7 11.1 7.0 15.6 14.4 15.2 13.2 13.4 13.0 6.6
2 drachms 10.4 12.2 4.2 6.7 8.6 8.4 7.5 7.8 6.3 11.6 10.0 5.7 17.2 4.9 8.6 10.0 10.7 11.1 7.0 7.8 7.2 7.6 6.6 6.7 6.5 6.6
Drachm 5.2 6.1 2.1 3.3 4.3 4.2 3.75 3.9 3.2 5.8 5.0 2.9 8.6 2.45 4.3 5.0 5.35 5.55 3.5 3.9 3.6 3.8 3.3 3.35 3.25 3.3
2/3 dr 3.5 4.1 1.4 2.2 2.9 2.8 2.5 2.6 2.1 3.9 3.3 1.9 5.7 1.6 2.9 3.3 3.6 3.7 2.3 2.6 2.4 2.5 2.2 2.23 2.17 2.20
1/2 dr 2.6 3.1 1.1 1.7 2.2 2.1 1.9 2.0 1.6 2.9 2.5 1.4 4.3 1.2 2.2 2.5 2.7 2.8 1.8 2.0 1.8 1.9 1.7 1.7 1.6 1.7
1/3 dr 1.7 2.0 0.7 1.1 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.3 1.1 1.9 1.7 1.0 2.9 0.8 1.4 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.2 1.3 1.2 1.3 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1
1/4 dr 1.3 1.5 0.5 0.8 1.1 1.1 0.9 1.0 0.8 1.5 1.3 0.7 2.2 0.6 1.1 1.3 1.3 1.4 0.9 1.0 0.9 1.0 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.8
1/6 dr 0.87 1.02 0.35 0.55 0.72 0.70 0.63 0.65 0.53 0.97 0.83 0.48 1.43 0.41 0.72 0.83 0.89 0.93 0.58 0.65 0.60 0.63 0.55 0.56 0.54 0.55
1/8 dr 0.65 0.76 0.26 0.42 0.54 0.53 0.47 0.49 0.39 0.73 0.63 0.36 1.08 0.31 0.54 0.63 0.67 0.69 0.44 0.49 0.45 0.48 0.41 0.42 0.41 0.41
1/12 dr 0.43 0.51 0.18 0.28 0.36 0.35 0.31 0.33 0.26 0.48 0.42 0.24 0.72 0.20 0.36 0.42 0.45 0.46 0.29 0.33 0.30 0.32 0.28 0.28 0.27 0.28
1/16 dr 0.33 0.38 0.13 0.21 0.27 0.26 0.23 0.24 0.20 0.36 0.31 0.18 0.54 0.15 0.27 0.31 0.33 0.35 0.22 0.24 0.23 0.24 0.21 0.21 0.20 0.21
1/24 dr 0.22 0.25 0.09 0.14 0.18 0.18 0.16 0.16 0.13 0.24 0.21 0.12 0.36 0.10 0.18 0.21 0.22 0.23 0.15 0.16 0.15 0.16 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14
1/48 dr 0.11 0.13 0.04 0.07 0.09 0.09 0.08 0.08 0.07 0.12 0.10 0.06 0.18 0.05 0.09 0.10 0.11 0.12 0.07 0.08 0.08 0.08 0.07 0.07 0.07 0.07 0.10 0.08
16 16
didrachm didrachm
Stater
4 Stater
Distater
1 1/4 Stater
Stater
1/2 Stater
1/4 Stater
1/6 Stater
Gold Standards
Notes 4
15
Tetradrachm 5 hemidrachm 21.6 n/a 16.2 n/a 16.8 n/a 17.2 n/a 14.4 9.0
Hemidrachm 1/3 Drachm 2.7 1.80 2.0 1.35 2.1 1.40 2.2 1.4 1.8 1.2
Electrum Standards
15.3 14.1 16.1
Notes
Stater
Stater Weight (gm) Hemi-stater 1/2 st 7.65 7.05 8.05 Trite 1/3 st 5.10 4.70 5.37 Tetarte 1/4 st 3.83 3.53 4.03 Hekte 1/6 st 2.55 2.35 2.68 Hemitetarte 1/8 st 1.91 1.76 2.01 Hemiekton 1/12 st 1.28 1.18 1.34
17 18
10 litrai
5 litrai
Trilitron
Dilitron
Litra
Dekonion
Pentonkion 5 onkia
Tetras 4 onkia
Trias 3 onkia
Hexas 2 onkia
Onkia 1 onkia
Bronze Standards
1 drachm 6 obols 4 obols Hemidrachm 3 obols
Notes
Standard Coin
Weight
Italy, Sicily
6, 7, 20 litra (= 12 onkia)
various
1/2 obol
3/8 obol
1/4 obol
1/8 obol
Ptolemaic
drachm
various
1/3 drachm 1/6 drachm 2 obols 1 1/2 obols 1 obol {weights varied over time}
Gold Aureus 25 denarii 400 asses Quinarius 12 1/2 den Denarius 16 asses 4 sestertius
Silver Quinarius 8 asses Sestertius 4 asses Tressis 3 asses Dupondius 2 asses {weights varied over time} As 1 as
Bronze Semis 1/2 as 12 onkia 6 onkia Triens 1/3 as 4 onkia Quadrans (aka "Tetras") 1/4 as 3 onkia Sextans 1/6 as 2 onkia
Stater Weight
Roman System
Notes
Standard Coin
(gm)
Roman
sestertius
various
Page 1
1/23/2009
Notes:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Also used for the earliest Roman silver coins. Nomos was 8.0 gm. Attic talent weighs 26,196 gm; a mina weighs 437 gm (1/60th of a talent); a drachm weighs 4.366 gm; thus a talent equals 6000 drachma. 2nd century BC Achaean League coinage. Possibly derived from a Babylonian standard based on a Royal light mina. Attic, Euboic, and Corinthian are the same standard. Syracusan dekadrachm is a 50-litra coin (pentekontalitron). Bronze litra = 0.86 gm of silver (approximately equal to an Attic drachm). There is no true Lycian standard; weights varied; may have been equal to Rhodian plinthophoric standard. Half the weight of the original gold stater. Primarily used in northern Greece (Thraco-Macedonian), the islands, and in Egypt & Judea. After the time of Alexander the Great, the Rhodian std fell to equal the Phoenician std. 3.35 gm drachm was used briefly in 6th century BC at Samos and Ephesos; 3.25 gm drachm used for much of 5th century. Known as the Persian, Persic, or siglos standard for silver. "Siglos" is a Greek form of the Semitic word sekel or shekel (originally 1/60 of a mina, or 1/50 on the heavy standard). 5 hemidrachm denomination used at Carthage as a stater. A variety of standards were used in northern Greece/Macedonia/Thrace. Each was subject to change, resulting in many standards. Also used by Mytilene. Used for Lydian electrum. Sometimes called Lydo-Milesian. Also used for some archaic and classical silver coins. Used for many of the hellenistic large spread-flan tetradrachms. Opinions differ regarding the definitions of trias and tetras. Some catalogers call the 3 onkia a tetras (1/4 litra); some call the 4 onkia coin a tetras. Philip II of Macedon use the Corinthian standard, but adopted a pentadrachm as his stater, making a stater of 14.3 gm. Alexander the Great's Attic tetradrachm (17.2 gm) is equivalent to a hexadrachm (6 dr) of Philip's Corinthian system (6 x 2.86 gm = 17.2 gm). Rutter (HN: Italy) says Achaean stater was a tridrachm. Implications for the chart above??
In Greek cities using a bronze chalkous, the chalkous was 1/8 of a silver obol (dichalkon = 1/4 obol). In Judea, 672 prutah = 1 shekel of Tyre; the bronze prutah weighed 2 - 2.5 gm. The Roman denarius weighed 3.9 gm (slightly less than an Attic drachm). Standards of Popular Cities/Kingdoms
Dates BC Notes
City Aegina Athens Carthage Chalcis Corinth Eretria Karystos Kyrene Macedonian Kingdom Macedonian Kingdom Macedonian Kingdom Ptolemaic Kingdom Seleukid Kingdom Syracuse Thebes 498-336 413-359 359-168 Philip II's tetradrachms were struck on the Phoenician standard Philip II's gold coinage was struck on the Attic standard Aeginetic
Standard Aeginetic Attic Phoenician Euboic-Attic Attic-Euboic Euboic-Attic Euboic Attic Phoenician Persic Attic Phoenician
Page 2
1/23/2009