Note 246 — Chapter IV · PROSPERITY OF THE BASIN OF THE MEDITERRANEAN BEFORE THE PUNIC WARS.
Reading edition
5,820,000 francs [£232,800]. (Appian, Punic Wars, CXXVII. 486.) Following the labours of MM. Letronne, Böckh, Mommsen, &c., we have admitted for the sums indicated in the course of the present work the following reckonings:—
The as of copper = 1/10 deniers = 5 centimes. The sestertius = 0.975 grammes = 19 centimes. The denarius = 3.898 grammes = 75 centimes. The great sestertius = 100,000 sestertii = 19,000 francs [£760]. The Attic or Euboic talent, of 26 kilogrammes, 196 grammes = 5,821 francs [£232 16s.]. The mina, of 436 grammes = 97 francs. The drachma, of 4.37 grammes = 97 centimes. The obolus, of 0.73 grammes = 16 centimes.
The Æginetic talent was equivalent to 8,500 Attic drachmas (37 kilogrammes, 2 gr.) = 8,270 francs [£330 16s.]. The Babylonic silver talent is of 33 kilogrammes, 42 = 7,426 francs [£297]. (See, for details, Mommsen, Römisches Münzwesen, pp. 24-26, 55. Hultsch, Griechische und Römische Metrologie, pp. 135-137.)