Drachm

A drachm, also spelled drachma and plural drachmas or drachmata, is an ancient Greek unit of weight that later became a silver coin widely used in the Greek world. The term derives from the Greek drachmē and functioned as a standard unit of value as well as a coin. Because city-states minted their own money, the exact weight and appearance of a drachm varied by locale and period, but it generally served as the basic unit of exchange.

In the common weight system, the drachm was subdivided into smaller units and tied to larger multiples. In many traditions, six obols made one drachm, and 100 drachma equaled one mina, while a talent consisted of 60 minas. A widely circulated Attic drachm, for example, weighed about 4.3 grams of silver, with coins such as the Attic tetradrachm (four drachmas) weighing roughly 17.2 grams. This Attic standard helped shape commercial practices across Greece and the eastern Mediterranean.

Coinage associated with the drachm includes various city-states’ issues, but the best-known are from Athens, where the Attic tetradrachm famously bore the Owl of Athena. Such coins facilitated long-distance trade and influenced monetary systems for centuries.

Legacy and modern context: the drachm remains a key term in numismatics and classical studies, reflecting both a weight standard and a coin type. The concept persisted into later eras and, in modern Greece, the drachma served as the national currency until the adoption of the euro in 2001.