Drachma

The drachma (Greek 'handful') was the standard silver coin of the Greek world from the sixth century BC into the Roman period, weighing roughly 4.3 grams of silver — close enough to a Roman denarius that the two coins were used interchangeably in the Eastern Mediterranean. Athens' classical drachma bore the head of Athena on the obverse and her owl on the reverse, with the abbreviation AΘE; this 'owl' coinage became one of antiquity's longest-running silver standards. Larger denominations were the didrachma (two drachmas, the rough value of the half-shekel Temple tax in Matthew 17:24) and the tetradrachma or stater (four drachmas, the coin Peter found in the fish's mouth in Matthew 17:27). The only New Testament drachma reference is the parable of the lost coin (Luke 15:8–10): a woman who has lost one of her ten drachmas — perhaps a strand of her dowry headpiece — lights a lamp, sweeps the dirt floor, and searches diligently until she finds it.