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Drachma (δραχμή, pl. δραχμές) The name of this unit of Greek currency is derived from the verb "to grasp." It is the name of both:

1. Modern Greek currency, replaced by the euro.
2. Ancient currency unit found in many Greek city states and successor states.

The 5th century BC Athenian tetradrachm ("four drachmae") coin was the most widely used coin in the Greek world prior to Alexander the Great. It featured the helmeted profile bust of Athena on the obverse (front) and an owl on the reverse (back). The reverse is featured on the national side of the Greek 1 euro coin, see Greek euro coins. Prior to elimination of local currencies and at the time of conversion, the exchange rate was 340.750 drachma to one euro.

6 obols = 1 drachma

100 drachmae = 1 mina

6000 drachmae = 1 talent (Athenian standard)

The drachma was also used in Ancient Rome in the 3rd century BC. It is difficult to give even comparative values for money from before the 20th century, due to vastly differing economies. Classical historians regularly say that in the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire, the daily wage for a laborer was one Drachma.

The Arabic unit of currency known as dirhamThe dirham is a unit of currency and a unit of the dinar. The currencies of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates each use their own version of the dirham as the base unit. Historically, the dirham is based on the Drachm of Byzantium and was used in Arabia (in the Arabic languageArabic is a Semitic language, fairly closely related to, for instance, the Hebrew language and the Aramaic language, spoken throughout the Arab world and widely known outside it. It has been a literary language for over 1500 years, and is the liturgical l, درهم), known from pre- IslamCairo Egypt Islm (In Arabic: , "submission (to God)"; In Persian and Urdu: ) is a monotheistic faith and the world's second-largest religion. Followers of Islam, known as Muslims believe that God (or, in Arabic, Allh revealed His Will to Muhammad (c.ic times and afterwards, is derived from the ancient drachma, via ByzantiumByzantium was the original name of the modern city of Istanbul. Byzantium was originally settled by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzantas. The name "Byzantium" is a Latinization of the original Greek name Byzantion ..