Attic weight

As a result of its use in the coinage of the Athenian empire and the empire of Alexander the Great, it was the dominant weight standard for coinage issued in the Eastern Mediterranean from the fifth century BC until the introduction of the Roman denarius to the region in the late first century BC.The Attic weight was based on a drachma of 4.31 grams, but in practice the main denomination was the tetradrachm or four-drachma coin, which weighed approximately 17.26 g[1] in silver.[4][1] The island of Rhodes maintained its own Rhodian standard, supported by their role as a commercial hub for the trade in wine and Egyptian grain.At the time of Alexander the Great, the Attic tetradrachm weighed 17.28 g of silver.The earliest physical weight on the trade standard seems to have been hurriedly converted from a mina of 100 drachmae in the early fifth century, probably indicating that it was introduced as an emergency measure to reducing the cost of food and other commodities in a moment of crisis – most likely the evacuation of Athens in 480 BC during the Persian Invasion of Greece.
Athenian tetradrachm, minted after 449 BC.
Posthumous tetradrachm of Alexander the Great , minted on the Attic weight at Amphipolis , 315–294 BC.
Alexander the GreatAmphipolismonetary standardsancient GreeceAthenian empiredenariustetradrachmtalentEuboeaGreek colonisationGreek WestPonticAegeanClassical periodLaurionAthenian coinage decreePhilip II of MacedonMacedonian EmpireHellenistic periodPtolemaic EgyptRhodesRhodian standardSeleucidAntiochPersian Invasion of GreeceAttic talentList of ancient Greek monetary standardsRichard M. BertholdAncient Greek coinageDrachmaeStaterLeptonTetartemorionStandardsRhodian weightBythiniaMagna GraeciaKushansMassaliaPontusSeleucidsGandharaCistophoric weightPhoenician weightPhilippeioiRoyal formula of Parthian coinageList of Hellenistic monetary standards