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Drachm

An ancient Greek silver coin denomination with a value of 6 obols or 1/4 tetradrachm.

Roman Drachm

Moneta Historical Research by Tom Schroer

A drachm (plural: drachmae or drachms) was a silver coin of the Roman Republic and early Imperial times which was first struck as the half of the didrachm. The first Roman silver coin was a didrachm of the Phocaic standard, which means it had a theoretical weight of about 7.58 grams, although in practice it was struck between 6.9 and 7.6 grams. It appeared in the first half of the third century BC, apparently when the Romans realized a need to have a coin accepted in trade with their Italian (and Greek) neighbors. The Phocaic standard was simply the standard which was most prevalent in central Italy at that time.

The didrachm fell in weight almost continually, and about the time of the First Punic War (264-241 BC) it was re-established at a lower weight standard equal to six scruples (6.82 grams).  Near the end of that war the first drachmae were produced using the same designs as the didrachms, only at half of their weight (thus about 3.41 grams). However the weight of both denominations continued to slide, particularly after the outbreak of the Second Punic War (218-201 BC), until the last issues of the didrachm (which at that time had assumed the form of the famous "quadrigatus") were under five grams.  The pressures of the Second Punic War eventually led to the discontinuation of the didrachm and its replacement by a still lower weight standard for silver with the introduction of the denarius about 211 BC.  The demise of the drachm occurred at about the same time due to the introduction of the half-denarius, the silver quinarius.

The denarius as the successor of the didrachm initially weighed four scruples (4.55 grams or 72 to the Roman pound), and received the mark of value "X" because it was tariffed at 10 asses (see "As").

The drachm therefore disappeared from the scheme of Roman coinage about 211 BC, but made its re-appearance in Roman coinage in the reign of Tiberius in 32 AD when it was issued by the mint of Caesarea in Cappodocia at a weight of about 3.5 grams, the weight of the eastern drachm of that time. Caesarea continued to issue drachmae for Caligula and Nero at the same weight standard, although all of the issues are very rare today. Claudius issued only didrachms from Caesarea. Caesarea continued to issue drachmae for over another 150 years, but the issues for Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero were the only ones to have Latin legends (the remainder being Greek legends).

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