Drachma
（
δραχμή). The name of a weight and of a denomination of
coin among the Greeks. As weight and as coin it was the hundredth part of the
mina, and was divided into six lesser units called
ὀβολοί. The ancients (
Etym. Mag. s. v.
ὀβελίσκος) connected the word with
δράσσομαι,
“I grasp,” and
δράγμα, “a
handful,” and supposed that a drachm was originally the value in silver of a handful
of six
ὀβολοί, or wedge-shaped pieces of metal, which
circulated as money. It is, however, very doubtful if this derivation is not a mere fancy; it
is far more probable that
δραχμή, like
δαρεικός, is connected with the Persian word
darag,
“a part,” since the weight of the drachma seems to be derived by division
of the
mina, rather than the weight of the mina to be produced by
multiplication of the drachma.
The ordinary denominations of Greek coins were: for gold, the didrachma (double drachma),
drachma, hemi-drachma, and smaller divisions; for silver, the same, with the addition of the
tetra-drachma, and occasionally of the decadrachma. The weight of the drachma varied according
to the standard to which it belonged; the heaviest drachma was the Aeginetan of 96 grains,
worth in silver rather more
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Aeginetan Drachma, actual size. (British Museum.)
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than twenty-five cents of our money; it was called at Athens
παχεῖα δραχμή (Pollux, ix. 76). The Athenian drachma weighed but 67.5 grains,
and the Co
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Attic Drachma: late, actual size. (British Museum.)
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rinthian only 45 grains, value about twelve cents. The sign for drachma in Attic
inscriptions is . As the Romans reckoned in sesterces, so the Greeks generally
reckoned by drachmae; and when a sum is mentioned in the Attic writers, without any
specification of the unit, drachmae are usually meant. See
Numismatics;
Pondera.
