Pounds to Attic Drachmas (lb to drachma)
1 pound equals 103.8919766 Attic drachmas (rounded).
How to convert pounds to Attic drachmas
To convert pounds to Attic drachmas, multiply the number of pounds by 103.8919766. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply Attic drachmas by 0.009625382367 (rounded).
Attic drachmas = pounds × 103.8919766
Example: 10 pounds = 1,038.919766 Attic drachmas.
Approximate value. Standards for the Attic drachma varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.
About these units
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)
Attic Drachma (drachma)
About 4.366 g of silver. The weight of the basic ancient Greek coin of the same name.
Greek drassomai means to grasp, and the drachma is usually explained as a handful. Early bullion money took the form of metal rods, and six of them made a fistful. When coins replaced the rods, the name stayed with the coin that stood for that handful. Cities minted drachmas to different weight standards, and the Athenian or Attic one became the most widespread. It is commonly put at a little over 4.3 grams of silver, and the figure used here, 4.366 grams, is one estimate within that range.
Surviving coins and weights depart noticeably from any theoretical value, so the true standard remains somewhat uncertain. Six obols made one drachma, and 100 drachmas made a mina. In the fifth and fourth centuries BC a skilled worker or soldier earned roughly one drachma a day. Athenian silver from the Laurion mines had a reputation for purity. A drachma weighs about as much as a modern teaspoon of sugar, roughly a seventh of an ounce, and its name was revived for Greece's national currency from 1833 until the euro arrived in 2002.
1 Attic drachma = 0.004366 kilograms (approximately).
Sources: Wikipedia: Ancient drachma; Wikipedia: Ancient Greek units of measurement; Wikipedia: Mina (unit)
Related conversions
- Attic drachmas to pounds (reverse)
- Pounds to kilograms
- Pounds to grams
- Pounds to metric tons
- Pounds to ounces
- Pounds to milligrams
- Pounds to micrograms
- Pounds to carats
- Pounds to stone
- Pounds to short tons
- Pounds to long tons
- Pounds to troy ounces
- Pounds to daltons
- Kilograms to Attic drachmas
- Grams to Attic drachmas
- Metric tons to Attic drachmas
- Ounces to Attic drachmas
See all weight & mass units.