{{Short description|Coin used in ancient Greek colonies}} {{For|the Byzantine unit|Pound (mass)#Byzantine litra{{!}}Byzantine litra}}
thumb|right|250px|A silver '''litra''' from Sicily, {{circa|430}} BC thumb|right|250px|A {{circa|215}} BC bronze ''onkia'' coin (a 1/12 subdivision of a ''litra'') with one value-pellet above the boar. A coin worth 2/12 or 3/12 ''litra'' would have had 2 or 3 value pellets respectively. A '''litra''' ({{plural form}}: '''''litrae'''''; {{langx|grc|λίτρα}}) was a small silver coin (or unit of measurement for other precious metals) used in the Archaic-era and early Classical colonies of ancient Greece in general and in ancient Sicily in particular. As a coin, the litra was similar in value to the obol.<ref>{{cite book |title=A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities |editor=William Smith |edition=3rd American |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Brothers |year=1845 |page=594 |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DL%3Aentry+group%3D2%3Aentry%3Dlitra-cn |accessdate=25 July 2011}}</ref> In silver content, the coin weighed {{convert|0.87|g|abbr=on}} and was equal to one-fifth of a drachma.<ref name="BNP" /> As a unit of weight, the '''litra''' was one-third of a Roman ''libra'', i.e. {{convert|109.15|g|abbr=on}}.<ref name="BNP">{{cite web |url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/litra-e707740 |first=Gerd |last=Stumpf |title=Litra |work=Brill's New Pauly |accessdate=25 July 2011}}{{subscription required}}</ref>
Making small change from the silver coin, one '''litra''' could be divided into 12 bronze ''onkia'' coins (also spelled ''ounkia'' and related to the later Roman ''uncia''). Some ancient Greek bronze coins were marked with value "pellets", which are tiny solid domed counting-dots somewhat like the pips on dice. Because of the division into 12 parts, a bronze coin marked with six pellets was worth half a ''litra'' (a ''hemilitron''). A coin marked with three pellets was a quarter-litra (called a ''tetras'' for a fourth-part). For those accustomed to a 10-based rather than a 12-based coin system, it can be confusing that a coin marked with three units is a "quarter", but this is because three ''onkia'' is one fourth of a 12-''onkia'' ''litra''. A bronze coin worth one-sixth of a ''litra'', called a ''hexans'', often bore two value-pellets. Worth two ''onkia'', the ''hexans'' was also called a ''dionkion'' (a two ''onkia'' unit).<ref name="BNP.b">{{cite web |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/brill-s-new-pauly/hexas-e512670 |first=Gerd |last=Stumpf |title=Hexas |work=Brill's New Pauly |accessdate=5 June 2022}}{{subscription required}}</ref> A five-onkia coin also appeared at times, called by numismatists a ''quincunx'' (not all ancient bronze coins with pellets/pips were such divisions of a litra; the Roman ''aes grave'' coins also used pellets).
In the 3rd-century apocryphal New Testament text known as the ''Acts of Thomas'', Jesus sells Thomas to an Indian merchant "for three litrae of silver unstamped".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gnosis.org/library/actthom.htm |title=The Acts of Thomas |work=Gnostic Scriptures and Fragments |publisher=Gnostic Society Library |accessdate=25 July 2011}}</ref>
In the Talmud, the litra is a unit of measurement, the equivalent of 60 shekels, weighing {{convert|354|g|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/torah-archaeology-sheds-light-on-ancient-talmudic-dispute-1.383343 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110911104442/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/torah-archaeology-sheds-light-on-ancient-talmudic-dispute-1.383343 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 11, 2011 |title='Torah archaeology' sheds light on ancient Talmudic dispute |first=Yair |last=Ettinger |publisher=Haaretz |date=9 September 2011 |accessdate=9 September 2011}}</ref> {{clear}}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category inline}}
Category:Coins of ancient Greece Category:Coins of ancient Rome Category:Latin words and phrases Category:Numismatics
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