Kilograms to Attic Talents (kg to talent)

1 kilogram equals 0.03817376699 Attic talents (rounded).

1 kilogram = 0.03817376699 Attic talents

How to convert kilograms to Attic talents

To convert kilograms to Attic talents, multiply the number of kilograms by 0.03817376699. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply Attic talents by 26.196.

Attic talents = kilograms × 0.03817376699

Example: 10 kilograms = 0.3817376699 Attic talents.

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

Kilogram (kg)

Metric (SI)Current unit

The SI base unit of mass. Since 2019 it is defined by fixing the value of the Planck constant, replacing the old platinum-iridium cylinder in Paris.

Oddly for a base unit, the kilogram began life as a derived one. In 1793 revolutionary France defined the grave as the mass of one litre of water, and a decree of 1795 then replaced it with the kilogramme, a name built from the Greek khilioi (a thousand) and gramma, a Late Latin word for a small weight. In 1799 a platinum cylinder, the Kilogramme des Archives, became the physical standard, matching a cubic decimetre of water at its densest, around 4 degrees Celsius. In 1889 the metric community adopted a platinum-iridium cylinder made in 1879, the International Prototype of the Kilogram, nicknamed Le Grand K.

The kilogram is still the only SI base unit with a prefix in its name. Because SI forbids stacked prefixes, a millionth of a kilogram is a milligram rather than a microkilogram, so every mass prefix is attached to the gram. Calibrating every national standard against one object in a vault near Paris meant that all of them drifted relative to it, so in November 2018 member states voted to tie the kilogram to a fixed value of the Planck constant. The change took effect on 20 May 2019. Day to day nothing shifted, but the definition no longer depends on a single piece of metal.

The kilogram is the reference unit for weight & mass on this site.

Sources: NIST: Kilogram introduction (SI redefinition); Wikipedia: Kilogram

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)

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