Attic Talents to Metric Tons (talent to t)

1 Attic talent equals 0.026196 metric tons exactly.

1 Attic talent = 0.026196 metric tons

How to convert Attic talents to metric tons

To convert Attic talents to metric tons, multiply the number of Attic talents by 0.026196. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply metric tons by 38.17376699 (rounded).

metric tons = Attic talents × 0.026196

Example: 10 Attic talents = 0.26196 metric tons.

Approximate value. Standards for the Attic talent varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.

About these units

Attic Talent (talent)

Ancient GreekHistorical unit (no longer in standard use)Approximate value

About 26 kg, equal to 60 minas or 6,000 drachmas. A large unit used for silver and gold. Other talents (Roman, Hebrew, Babylonian) ranged from about 26 to 34 kg.

Talent comes from the Greek talanton, which originally meant a balance or something weighed. The Greeks took over the Babylonian scheme of sixty minas to the talent, reportedly through Phoenician traders, and the Attic talent became the largest everyday weight of Athens. One Attic talent equalled 60 minas or 6,000 drachmas. Modern estimates cluster around 26 kilograms, and the value used here, 26.196 kg, sits within a published range of about 25.8 to 26.2 kg.

Because it was so heavy, the talent worked as a unit of account for state finances and large payments, not a coin. A source on Athenian costs notes that in 415 BC a talent was roughly a month's pay for a trireme crew. Other talents differed considerably: about 30.2 kg for Babylon, about 32.3 kg for Rome and about 37 kg for Aegina, so the 26 kg used here applies to Athens alone. A talent is close to the mass of a typical eight-year-old child, or about 58 pounds.

1 Attic talent = 26.196 kilograms (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Talent (measurement); Wikipedia: Ancient Greek units of measurement; Wikipedia: Mina (unit)

Metric Ton (t)

Metric (SI)Current unit

1,000 kilograms (about 2,204.6 lb), also spelled tonne. Used for cargo, grain and vehicle weights outside the US.

Barrels gave the tonne its name. The word goes back to a Germanic root for a large cask, the tun, and a full tun could easily weigh around a tonne. In English this became ton; the spelling tonne has been used in France since 1842, where it replaced the older tonneau, and pre-metric French tonnes were 2,000 livres, about 979 kg. Once the metric system took hold, the tonne was fixed at 1,000 kilograms, which is the mass of roughly a cubic metre of water.

The unit is accepted for use with the SI, and its symbol is a lowercase t with no period. Because it sits close to the old English ton, the two get confused: the short ton used in the US is about 10 percent lighter than a tonne, while the long ton differs by less than 2 percent. NIST calls the unit the metric ton, and the spelling tonne is rare in the US. Very large quantities are stated in prefixed forms such as the megatonne, which equals a teragram. In explosives, a tonne of TNT is taken as about 4.2 gigajoules.

1 metric ton = 1,000 kilograms (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Tonne; Wikipedia: Ton; NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8 (mass conversions)

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