Drachma

drak'ma, a Greek unit of value and of weight. The present Grecian coin is worth nineteen and one-half cents in gold. It equals the French franc. The Greeks buy and sell by the drachma's worth, just as we keep accounts in dollars. A member of the Grecian legislature, for instance, is allowed a salary of 1,800 drachmas for the session. The ancient silver drachma varied in value, but corresponded to the Roman denarius. In the day of Demosthenes a fat ox was valued at eighty drachmas and a sheep at ten. The ancient weight known as the drachma was the sixth-thousandth part of a talent--less than one-fourth of an ounce. See Coin; Money