comes up to 133. In the Bodleian Library are two of Philip, each weighing 132.25 grs.

Of the gold coinage of Alexander the Great, the British Museum possesses two tetradrachms, one weighing 265 grs., the other 265.5, and fifty-eight staters. If four, which are rather below weight, from wear, be deducted from these, the remaining fifty-four give an average 132.1 grs. for the stater: and four among them amount to 133 grs. In the Bodleian are two, of which one weighs 132.5 grs., the other 132.

In Payne Knight's collection are some of the next Philip, (the third,) of which four out of five give an average 132 grs.; and one of Lysimachus, weighing 132.2 grs.

The result from these weights is, something above 132 grs. for the stater, or more than 66 grs. for the drachma.

The Macedonian silver gives an average a little below this. In the British Museum thirty tetradrachms of Alexander the Great, in Payne Knight's collection, average 264.23 grs.: but one of these comes up to 276.5 grs., which gives above 69 grs. for the drachma. The remainder of those of Alexander, ninety-one in number, all fall below 264 grs.; and a few almost down to 250 grs. Out of seventy-three drachmæ, the heaviest eighteen average 65.75 grs.; the remainder are a little below 65 grs.: but of these, one comes up to 67.2 grs., and another to 67 grs.

The Macedonian silver coins are not so accurately sized as the gold, but as much so as the Attic silver; and on account of the great number of them, and the good preservation in which most of them are, they deserve to be taken account of among the first. But those of Alexander only need be reckoned, because there is a visible, though slight, falling off in the

weight of those of his successors. After this comes the silver coinage of Attica itself.

Twelve out of fourteen of the oldest Attic tetradrachms in the collection of Payne Knight, now in the British Museum, give the average weight of the tetradrachm 263.98 grs., and one piece among these weighs 266.2 grs. Seven of those in what was called the King's collection, in the same museum, give the average 263.928 grs., and several of these exceed 265 grs. Two also in the Bodleian library weigh more than 265 grs.: and many more of as great weight may be found in other collections. One in the library of Christ Church weighs 266 grs.

The inquiry may be carried farther into the coinages of other states, in the same manner as the Macedonian, and for the same reason: that is to say, where the weight of the coins is throughout so nearly equal to the Attic, as to prove that they belong to the same standard, that weight may be made use of, to help fix the exact weight of the Attic drachma, or to correct the result obtained from other money. This method might be made to embrace a great many classes of coins: but it shall be confined here to a few of the most remarkable.

And there are no coins more remarkable, with relation to the question of the standard of weight, than some of Sicily. In the British Museum there are three of the great ten-drachmæ pieces of Syracuse, which weigh more than 665 grs. In the Hunter collection are four more, as large; of which one is 669.5 grs. in weight. Four very old tetradrachms of Syracuse, in the British Museum, give an average of 266.9 grs.; which makes the drachma 66.7 grs. Five in the Hunter collection give an average of 267.35 grs. for the tetradrachm, or 66.8 grs. for the drachma. And in the latter

C

collection is one gold coin of exactly 66.5 grs. weight. To these may be added two tetradrachms of an early age, of Acanthus, in the British Museum, which once were in R. P. Knight's collection. These give, one 66.95 grs. the other 67.25 grs. for the weight of the drachma. And many more may be found, among the Sicilian coins especially, and also those of other states, which give as high a standard for the drachma, as these which have been described.

Lastly, the three gold staters among the Athenian coins in the British Museum, and the one at Glasgow, in the Hunterian Museum, give an average of 132.58 grs. for the stater, or above 66 grs. for the drachma.

The result of this is, that from the gold we get an average exceeding 132 grs. for the stater, or more than 66 grs. for the drachma; from the silver, 264 grs. and under, for the tetradrachm, or something less than 66 grs. for the drachma. But considering that there are so many instances of single coins exceeding this average; as, the stater amounting to 133 grs., the tetradrachm to 276, and the drachma to 67; and, especially, the high average of the Sicilian coins; and, that in taking the average of the wear and tear, the variation is all on the side of defect, for there cannot be any excess to compensate for an undue deficiency, it will be correct to set the true value something above the apparent average, approximating to the weight of the heaviest specimens, and, allowing for the loss by injury to the coin, to fix the standard weight at 133 grs. for the stater, or 66.5 for the drachma.

This is the same value as that assigned by Raper, the clearest and most satisfactory of all who have written upon this subject. The method which has been followed here, is the same as that which he used;

but, as the conclusion has been drawn from the examination of different coins, it may be set down as independent testimony: and the two results mutually confirm each other by their agreement.

Other writers have calculated the weight of the Attic drachma to be something different. It will be convenient, to give at one view the names of the chief authorities on the subject, in their order, and the results which they have brought out, as follows:

Budé, in 1516, computed the weight of the
Attic drachma to be, in Troy weight,

Portius e, about the same time, reckoned it

Grains.

59.04

54.71

Agricola f, in 1533, 4ths of 72 momenta, or 47.25

Scaliger 8, in 1616, 63 grains, which, if it be

Bernard1, in 1688, reckoned the best standard 67

..the common coin 66

d De Asse fol. 37, &c. But, fol. 58, he gives the weight some

thing higher, computed from the gold.

e De Re Pecuniar. in Gronov. Antiq. Gr. ix.

De Restituend. Pond. Budelius, De Monet. et Re Numm., gives

the value of the momentum.

g De Re Numm. in Gronov. Ant. Gr. ix.

h Discours sur les Médalles Antiques, iii. 23. p. 230.

i De Pecun. Vet. iii. 6. p. 164.

k On the Romane Foot and Denarius.

1 De Mens. et Pond. Antiq.

Grains.

Eisenschmidtm, in 1708, the drachma of Solon 68.2

That of later times ...... 64.78

De Romé de l'Isle, in 1789, reckoned four standards, namely, the Samian or smallest

The earliest of these calculations are not worth much. Greaves was the first who paid proper attention to the coins, and weighed them carefully; and it will be seen that the values found after him, do not

m De Pond. et Mens.

n On the Roman and Greek Weights and Measures, MS. British Museum.

o Philosoph. Trans. lxi. p. 462.

p Anachars. vol. iv. p. lxii. tab. xi.

¶ Metrologie.

r Sur l'Evaluation des Monnaies. It may be as well to mention here, that the French grain equals .8202 of the English. In all these calculations it is reckoned by two figures of this decimal, as .82 of the English grain. See Philosoph. Trans. xlii. p. 187. s Prolegom. ad Homer.