A litra (plural: litrae; grc, λίτρα) was a small silver coin (or unit of measurement for other precious metals) used in the Archaic-era and early Classical

colonies of Ancient Greece Greek colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC. This colonization differed from the migrations of the Greek Dark Ages in that it ...

in general and in ancient Sicily in particular. As a coin, the litra was similar in value to the obol In silver content, the coin weighed and was equal to one-fifth of a drachma. As a unit of weight, the litra was one-third of a Roman libra, i.e. . Making small change from the silver coin, one litra could be divided into 12 bronze ''onkia'' coins (also spelled ''ounkia'' and related to the later Roman ''uncia''). Some ancient Greek bronze coins were marked with value "pellets," which are tiny solid domed counting-dots somewhat like the pips on

dice Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...

. Because of the division into 12 parts, a bronze coin marked with six pellets was worth half a ''litra'' (a ''hemilitron''). A coin marked with three pellets was a quarter-litra (called a ''tetras'' for a fourth-part). For those accustomed to a 10-based rather than a 12-based coin system, it can be confusing that a coin marked with three units is a "quarter," but this is because three ''onkia'' is one fourth of a 12-''onkia'' ''litra''. A bronze coin worth one-sixth of a ''litra'', called a ''hexans'', often bore two value-pellets. Worth two ''onkia'', the ''hexans'' was also called a ''dionkion'' (a two ''onkia'' unit). A five-onkia coin also appeared at times, called by numismatists a ''quincunx''. (Not all ancient bronze coins with pellets/pips were such divisions of a ''litra''; the Roman '' aes grave'' coins also used pellets.) In the 3rd-century

apocryphal New Testament The New Testament apocrypha (singular apocryphon) are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. Some of these writings were cit ...

text known as the '' Acts of Thomas'', Jesus sells Thomas to an Indian merchant "for three litrae of silver unstamped". In the Talmud, the litra is a unit of measurement, the equivalent of 60 shekels, weighing .

References

External links

Coins of ancient Greece Coins of ancient Rome Latin words and phrases Numismatics {{Coin-stub