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The ancient drachma originated in Greece around the 6th century BC. [1] The coin, usually made of silver or sometimes gold [2] had its origins in a bartering system that referred to a drachma as a handful of wooden spits or arrows. [3] The drachma was unique to each city state that minted them, and were sometimes circulated all over the ...
In ancient Greece, it was generally reckoned as 1 ⁄ 6 drachma (c. 0.72 grams or 11 grains). [14] [15] Under Roman rule, it was defined as 1 ⁄ 48 Roman ounce or about 0.57 g (9 gr). [16] The apothecaries' system also reckoned the obol or obolus as 1 ⁄ 48 ounce or 1 ⁄ 2 scruple. While 0.72 grams was the weight of a standard Greek obol ...
The Attic Greek drachma (δραχμή) was a weight of 6 obols, 1 ⁄ 100 Greek mina, or about 4.37 grams. [11] The Roman drachma was a weight of 1 ⁄ 96 Roman pounds, or about 3.41 grams. [12] [13] A coin weighing one drachma is known as a stater, drachm, or drachma.
On 1 May 1954, the drachma was revalued at a rate of 1,000 old drachmae to 1 new drachma, and small change notes were abolished for the last time. [6] The third drachma assumed a fixed exchange rate of 30 drachmae per dollar until 20 October 1973: over the next 25 years, the official exchange rate gradually declined, reaching 400 drachmae per ...
The values of the units varied according to location and epoch (e.g., in Aegina a pous was approximately 333 mm (13.1 in), whereas in Athens (Attica) it was about 296 mm (11.7 in)), [1] but the relative proportions were generally the same.
Charon's obol is an allusive term for the coin placed in or on the mouth [1] of a dead person before burial. Greek and Latin literary sources specify the coin as an obol , and explain it as a payment or bribe for Charon , the ferryman who conveyed souls across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead.
Taking this one stage further, the clue word can hint at the word or words to be abbreviated rather than giving the word itself. For example: "About" for C or CA (for "circa"), or RE. "Say" for EG, used to mean "for example". More obscure clue words of this variety include: "Model" for T, referring to the Model T.
Drachma may refer to: Ancient drachma, an ancient Greek currency; Modern drachma, a modern Greek currency; Cretan drachma, currency of the Cretan State;