The Attic talent (a
talent of the
Attic standard
Attic weight, or the Attic standard, also known as Euboic standard, was one of the main monetary standards in ancient Greece. As a result of its use in the coinage of the Athenian empire and the empire of Alexander the Great, it was the dominant ...
), also known as the Athenian talent or Greek talent ( el, τάλαντον, ''talanton''), is an ancient unit of weight equal to about , as well as a unit of value equal to this amount of pure silver.
[The exact mass of a talent was 25.992kg. Herodotus, Robin Waterfield and Carolyn Dewald, ''The Histories'' (1998), p. 593.] A talent was originally intended to be the mass of water required to fill an
amphora, about .
[Talent (Biblical Hebrew), Unit of Measure](_blank)
''unitconversion.org''.
History
The earliest known Athenian coins range between the years of 545 BC to 515 BC. However, Athenians had already adopted the
drachma
The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history:
# An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fr ...
and the
obol as a form of currency. The corresponding weights vary before and after the Athenians began to produce coins. After the reign of
Solon
Solon ( grc-gre, Σόλων; BC) was an Athenian statesman, constitutional lawmaker and poet. He is remembered particularly for his efforts to legislate against political, economic and moral decline in Archaic Athens.Aristotle ''Politics'' ...
, the change of standard was lowered to half of its former weight. As the
Athenian league
The Athenian League was an English amateur football league for clubs in and around London. The league was originally to be called the Corinthian League,Athenian Football League minutes 1912-1921 (National Football Museum, Preston). but this nam ...
's influence expanded over the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
, the Attic standard became one of the major weight standards adopted during the
Archaic and
Hellenistic
In Classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Mediterranean history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the emergence of the Roman Empire, as signified by the Battle of Actium in ...
Period.
During the
Peloponnesian War, a
trireme
A trireme( ; derived from Latin: ''trirēmis'' "with three banks of oars"; cf. Greek ''triērēs'', literally "three-rower") was an ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean S ...
crew of 200 rowers was paid a talent for a month's worth of work, one drachma, or 4.3 grams of silver per rower per day.
[Torr, Cecil. "Triremes", ''The Classical Review,'' Vol. 20, No. 2 (March 1906), p. 137.] According to wage rates from 377 BC, a talent was the value of nine man-years of skilled work. This corresponds to 2340 work days or of silver per worker per workday.
The Attic talent, corresponding with the standard, would change throughout the time of
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
and the Hellenistic Period, subsequently diminishing its value little by little.
Currency or weight
The subsequent units would then become as follows,
obol,
drachma
The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history:
# An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fr ...
,
mina, and heaviest being the talent.
An Attic talent is equivalent to 60
minae The Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE, es, Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía) is a ministry or department of the government of Costa Rica.
Agencies
*SINAC National System of Conservation Areas (SINAC, es, Sistema Nacional de Áreas de Co ...
, 6,000
drachma
The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history:
# An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fr ...
e or 36,000
oboloi.
See also
*
Attic weight
Attic weight, or the Attic standard, also known as Euboic standard, was one of the main monetary standards in ancient Greece. As a result of its use in the coinage of the Athenian empire and the empire of Alexander the Great, it was the dominant ...
*
Talent (measurement)
The talent was a unit of weight that was introduced in Mesopotamia at the end of the 4th millennium BC, and was normalized at the end of the 3rd millennium during the Akkadian-Sumer phase, divided into 60 minas or 3,600 shekels. In classical anti ...
*
Drachmae
The drachma ( el, δραχμή , ; pl. ''drachmae'' or ''drachmas'') was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history:
# An ancient Greek currency unit issued by many Greek city states during a period of ten centuries, fro ...
References
{{Hellenistic coinage
Coins of ancient Greece
Ancient Athens
Economy of ancient Greece
Ancient Greek units of measurement