Drachma

The value of a common drachma was sevenpence, English. A didrachma, or double drachma, made very near half a shekel; and four drachmas made nearly a shekel.

Drach´ma, a coin of silver, the most common among the Greeks, and which after the Exile became also current among the Jews (2Ma 4:19; 2Ma 10:20; 2Ma 12:43; Luk 15:8-9). The earlier Attic drachmae were of the average weight of 66.5 grains, and in a comparison with the shilling would be equal to 9¾d. But the specimens of later times are of the average weight of only 61 grains, and some of less. In this state the drachma was counted equal to the denarius, which was at first worth 8½d. and afterwards only 7½d.The value of the drachma of the New Testament may therefore have been about 8d. The woman’s ’ten pieces of silver’ (drachma) in Luk 15:8, would hence be equal to 6s. 8d. of our money —that is, in nominal value, for the real value of money was far greater in the time of Christ than at present.

The DRACHMA is different, it was a Greek coin which the Roman DENARIUS (translated unfortunately "penny" Rev 6:6, a laborer’s daily wages Mat 20:2-9) superseded: Luk 15:8-9, "PIECE OF SILVER," Greek drachmee. (See PENNY.) The "penny," denarius, in metal was equivalent to 7 1/2 pence, but could purchase more than our shilling.

(δραχμή, "drachm," 2Ma 4:19; 2Ma 10:20; 2Ma 12:43; "piece of silver," Luk 15:8-9), a Greek silver coin, consisting of 6 oboli (Bockh, Staatshaus. 1:16 sq.), but varying in weight on account of the use of different talents. The Jews must have been acquainted with three talents — the Ptolemaic, used in Egypt, and at Tyre, Sidon, and Berytus, and adopted for their own shekels; the Phoenician, used at Aradus and by the Persians; and the Attic, which was almost universal in Europe, and in a great part of Asia. The drachmae of these talents weigh respectively, during the period of the Maccabees, about 55 grs. Troy, 58.5, and 66 (see De Rome de l’Isle, Metrologie, Paris, 1789, page 81 sq.). The drachms mentioned in 2 Macc. are probably of the Seleucidae, and therefore of the Attic standard; but in Luke denarii seems to be intended, for the Attic drachma had been at that time reduced to about the same weight as the Roman denarius (q.v.) as well as the Ptolemaic drachma, and was wholly or almost superseded by it. This explains the remark of Josephus that “the shekel was worth four Attic drachmae" (Ant. 3:8, 2), for the four Ptolemaic drachmse of the shekel, as equal to four denarii of his time, were also equal to four Attic drachmase; and the didrachm (q.v.) was equivalent to the sacred half shekel (War, 7:6, 6; Mat 17:24) of the Temple-tax. (See Bockh, Metrolog. Unters. Berl. 1838.) — Smith, s.v. SEE DRAM; SEE DARIC; SEE SILVER, PIECE OF.

See Numismatics and Weights.

A Greek silver coin, the six-thousandth part of a talent. There were two drachmas: the Attic, its value a little less than 20 cents; and the Æginetan, equal to one and two-thirds of the Attic drachma. Mentioned in the Old Testament when Judas sends 12,000 drachmas to Jerusalem that sacrifices may be offered for the dead (2 Macabees).

(Gr. drachmé), a Greek silver coin. The Greeks derived the word from drássomai, "to grip", "to take a handful"; cf. drágma, manipulus, "a handful". Thus the term originally signified a handful of grain (Liddell and Scott; Riehm, "Handwörterbuch", Smith, "Dict. of Antiq."). But in Vigouroux, "Dict. de la Bible", the term is derived from daraq-mana, the name of a Persian coin equivalent to the Hebrew drkmwn, dárkemôn. The Persian word darag, Assyrian darku, means "degree", "division". Thus the words daraq-mana and drachma would signify a part of a mina. The darag-mana was also called a Daric because it was first struck by the emperor Darius Hystaspis. The drachma contained six oboli. It was the fourth part of a stater, the hundredth part of a mina, and the six-thousandth part of a talent. The precise value of the drachma differed at various times. The two principal standards of currency in the Grecian states were the Attic and the Æginetan. The Attic drachma had the greater circulation after the time of Alexander the Great. Its weight was about 66 grains, its value was a little less than twenty cents (nine pence, three farthings), and its size was about that of a quarter. On the one side it had the head of Minerva, and on the reverse her emblem, the owl, surrounded by a crown of laurels. The Æginetan drachma weighed about 93 grains and was equivalent to one and two-thirds Attic drachmas. It was current in the Peloponnessus (Corinth excepted, Riehm, "Handwörterb.") and in Macedonia until Alexander the Great. The drachma is mentioned in the Old Testament (2 Maccabees 12:43), when Judas sends 12,000 drachmas to Jerusalem that sacrifices may be offered for the dead. In the New Testament (Luke 15:8, 9), Christ used the word in the parable of the woman that has ten drachmas (D. V. "groats") and loses one.-----------------------------------     RIEHM, Handwörterbuch; BEURLIER in VIG. Dict. de la Bible, s. v. Drachme; BABINGTON in Dict. of the Bible s. v. Mondy; WEX, Métrologie grecque et romaine (Paris, 1886).C. VAN DEN BIESEN Transcribed by WGKofron With thanks to St. Mary’s Church, Akron, Ohio The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume VCopyright © 1909 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, May 1, 1909. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York