Attic Talents to Pounds (talent to lb)
1 Attic talent equals 57.7522942 pounds (rounded).
How to convert Attic talents to pounds
To convert Attic talents to pounds, multiply the number of Attic talents by 57.7522942. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply pounds by 0.01731532944 (rounded).
pounds = Attic talents × 57.7522942
Example: 10 Attic talents = 577.522942 pounds.
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)
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)
Pound (lb)
Exactly 0.45359237 kg, divided into 16 ounces. The standard unit of weight in the US and common in the UK.
Why is pound abbreviated lb? The answer is Roman. The English word comes from the Latin libra pondo, roughly the weight measured in libra, and the symbol keeps the first word. The Roman libra was divided into 12 unciae. The avoirdupois pound of 16 ounces came into general use around 1300 and was initially equal to 6,992 troy grains; under Elizabeth I it was redefined as 7,000 grains. The UK's Weights and Measures Act 1878 set the imperial standard pound as a platinum cylinder, and the troy pound was abolished for trade the following year.
Today the pound is defined from the kilogram. The International Yard and Pound Agreement of 1959 fixed it at exactly 0.45359237 kg, and the UK's Weights and Measures Act 1963 wrote the same figure into law. Pounds remain the everyday unit for body weight, groceries and shipping in the United States and are widely used in the UK. The word also survives in odd places: a six-pounder cannon was named for the weight of its shot, not its own.
1 pound = 0.45359237 kilograms (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Pound (mass); NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8 (mass conversions)
Related conversions
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