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The Attic talent (a talent of the Attic standard), 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
''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 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 ''Politic ...
, the change of standard was lowered to half of its former weight. As the Athenian league'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 and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...
, 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 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, 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 drachmae or 36,000 oboloi.


See also

* Attic weight * Talent (measurement) * Drachmae


References

{{Hellenistic coinage Coins of ancient Greece Ancient Athens Economy of ancient Greece Ancient Greek units of measurement