The agora (; plural agorot ; he, אגורה, . , ') is a denomination of the

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. The Israeli currency – the new Israeli shekel (NIS)– is divided into 100 agorot.

History

The name ''agora'' refers to the subunits of three distinct Israeli currencies. This name was used for the first time in 1960, when the Israeli government decided to change the subdivision of the

Israeli pound The pound or lira ( he, לירה ישראלית ''Lira Yisra'elit'', ar, جنيه إسرائيلي ''Junayh ʾIsrāʾīlī''; abbreviation: IL in Latin, ל"י in Hebrew; code ) was the currency of the State of Israel from 9 June 1952 until 23 Fe ...

( he, לירה, ''lira'') from 1,000

prutah Prutah (Hebrew: פרוטה) is a Hebrew term, possibly derived from Aramaic. It refers to a small denomination coin. History Antiquity The prutah was an ancient copper Jewish coin with low value. A loaf of bread in ancient times was worth about ...

to 100 agorot due to the currency's depreciation. The name was suggested by the

Academy of the Hebrew Language The Academy of the Hebrew Language ( he, הָאָקָדֶמְיָה לַלָּשׁוֹן הָעִבְרִית, ''ha-akademyah la-lashon ha-ivrit'') was established by the Israeli government in 1953 as the "supreme institution for scholarship on t ...

, and was borrowed from the Hebrew

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus ...

: The term "piece of silver" appears in Hebrew as "''agorat kessef''". In 1980 the Israeli pound was replaced by the

shekel Shekel or sheqel ( akk, 𒅆𒅗𒇻 ''šiqlu'' or ''siqlu,'' he, שקל, plural he, שקלים or shekels, Phoenician: ) is an ancient Mesopotamian coin, usually of silver. A shekel was first a unit of weight—very roughly —and became c ...

at a rate of IL10 per IS 1. The new subdivision of the shekel was named ''agora ẖadaša'' ("new agora"). There were 100 new agorot in 1 shekel. The high rate of inflation in Israel in the early 1980s forced the Israeli government to change the Israeli currency once again in 1985. The new shekel was introduced at a rate of 1000 S per 1 NS. The name agora was used once again for its subdivision. This time the term "new" was avoided, in order to prevent confusion with the older subdivision (the pre-1980 agora was long since out of circulation). Currently, the term agora refers to the 100th part of the new shekel. There are coins of 10 and 50 agorot, though the 50 agorot coin bears the inscription: " New Shekel". A coin of 1 agora was in use until April 1, 1991The Numismatist, American Numismatic Association, 1993, p.886 and a coin of 5 agorot was in use until January 1, 2008 when the

Bank of Israel The Bank of Israel ( he, בנק ישראל, ar, بنك إسرائيل) is the central bank of Israel. The bank's headquarters is located in Kiryat HaMemshala in Jerusalem with a branch office in Tel Aviv. The current governor is Amir Yaron. ...

decided to cease production. This was due to the costs spent on its production which considerably exceeded the coin's value. Today, when paying in cash, the price must be rounded to the nearest multiple of 10 agorot. When buying several items, the rounding is done for the total sum. There is no rounding when paying with cheques, credit cards or bank orders.

Issues

Israeli pound

Old Israeli shekel

* Note that all dates on Israeli coins are given in the

Hebrew calendar The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel ...

and are written in

Hebrew numerals The system of Hebrew numerals is a quasi-decimal alphabetic numeral system using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The system was adapted from that of the Greek numerals in the late 2nd century BCE. The current numeral system is also known as ...

Israeli new shekel

* Note that all dates on Israeli coins are given in the

and are written in

References

{{reflist

External links

Bank of Israel catalogue of Israeli currency since 1948

Israeli Agora coins with pictures

Agora The agora (; grc, ἀγορά, romanized: ', meaning "market" in Modern Greek) was a central public space in ancient Greek city-states. It is the best representation of a city-state's response to accommodate the social and political order o ...