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Greek Coin Weight Standards Prepared by Bill Daehn, Copyright 2006 (updated 2009) These are theoretical weights

(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

Stater Weight (gm)

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

28.0 36.0 28.8

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

Babylonian/Croesean (heavy) Euboic/Croesean (light) Persic Attic-Euboic Phoenician

Notes 4

15

Stater didrachm didrachm daric didrachm didrachm

Wt (gm) 10.8 8.1 8.4 8.6 7.2

Octadrachm n/a n/a n/a n/a 28.8

Tetradrachm 5 hemidrachm 21.6 n/a 16.2 n/a 16.8 n/a 17.2 n/a 14.4 9.0

Didrachm 10.80 8.10 8.4 8.6 7.2

Drachm 5.40 4.05 4.2 4.3 3.6

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

Lampsacene Milesian (Persic?) Phokaic (Kyzikene)

17 18

electrum stater electrum stater electrum stater

Mysemitetarte 1/16 st 0.96 0.88 1.01

Mysemiekton 1/24 st 0.64 0.59 0.67

Stater 120 onkia 60 onkia 36 onkia 24 onkia 12 onkia

10 litrai

5 litrai

Trilitron

Dilitron

Litra

Dekonion

Hemilitron 10 onkia 6 onkia {weights varied}

Pentonkion 5 onkia

Tetras 4 onkia

Trias 3 onkia

Hexas 2 onkia

Onkia 1 onkia

Hemionkia 1/2 onkia Onkia = Chalkous

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

Compiled by Bill Daehn

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

A form of the Attic standard, but utilizing a tridrachm

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

Compiled by Bill Daehn

Page 2

1/23/2009

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