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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;EWC3, post: 3295112, member: 93416&quot;]Forgive me if I quibble about some details.&nbsp; Etymology is almost always guesswork, and I never was convinced by this grasping spits idea.&nbsp; At the most fundamental level of measurement, back maybe at 10,000 BC or earlier, a mina might well have indicated a man-days food, in grain. And that is roughly 500g. If you cup your hands and use them as a spoon – you will probably pick up a heap half that size. My hunch that was the ultimate idea behind the etymology – although it has got nothing directly to do with the value of coins, millennia later. That’s just my guess…..</p><p><br /></p><p>The 500g mina however did stick around – and was important in the Mediterranean just prior to coinage. There appear to have been 80 Aegina drachms of silver in such a mina. For some sort of political or economic reason Euboea had a short weight mina of just 70 Aegina drachms. Then along came Solon, who took the Euboean mina and rounded the drachms up to 100. That seems to be the origin of the Attic drachm. (c. 500g x 70/80 x 1/100)</p><p><br /></p><p>The Parthians and the early Sasanids do seem to follow the Seleucid and strike to Attic down as far a Peroz. The all of a sudden they got fed up with foreign western ideas and seem to have gone back to Persian measures. After Peroz the “drachm” seems to weigh close to 4.13g. The best explanation is they were striking a kind of “siglos” - 500g/120. But actually, they allowed a 1-drachm tolerance – so in practice - 500g/121. That again is just a best guess.</p><p><br /></p><p>The Indo-Sasanid issues seem to follow the late Sasanid 4.13g standard. How long they lasted is a bit of a mystery. John Deyell pointed out documents still mentioning their use in the 15th century as I best recall (the Phaiyda or some such)</p><p><br /></p><p>The very rare earliest Bull and Horsemen issues do seem most likely to me to be following the Islamic gold mithcal standard, c. 4.25g. And yes – that seems to come from in turn from the Seleucid or Alexander himself. (I mentioned this a while back and I note Michael Bates has since come to the same conclusion). But most Bull and Horsemen issues weight to the very ancient Hindu standard of the Mauryan punchmarked and indeed Indus valley weights (two or three thousand years earlier!) – thus c. 3.43g.</p><p><br /></p><p>As to the last drachm – well I suppose if you are willing to consider the matter etymologically, then:</p><p><br /></p><p>Drachm = Dramma = Damma = Dam are probably (?) all versions of the same word, and the copper dam of the Moghuls lasted right down to the 19th century. Of course seems likely to remember a (changed version) of the measure value - rather than the actual coin or its weight.</p><p><br /></p><p>Criticism sought, as ever!</p><p><br /></p><p>Rob T[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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