also ob·o·lus (ŏb'ə-ləs)n., pl., -ols, also -o·li (-ə-lī').
A silver coin or unit of weight equal to one sixth of a drachma, formerly used in ancient Greece.
[Latin obolus, from Greek obolos, variant of obelos, spit, obol.]
obol
| Dictionary: ob·ol |
(ŏb'əl) also ob·o·lus (ŏb'ə-ləs)
n., pl., -ols, also -o·li (-ə-lī').
A silver coin or unit of weight equal to one sixth of a drachma, formerly used in ancient Greece.
also ob·o·lus (ŏb'ə-ləs)n., pl., -ols, also -o·li (-ə-lī').
A silver coin or unit of weight equal to one sixth of a drachma, formerly used in ancient Greece.
| WordNet: obolus |
Note: click on a word meaning below to see its connections and related words.
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
a Greek unit of weight equal to one tenth of a gram
| Wikipedia: Obolus |
 |
This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (February 2009) |
For the brachiopod genus, see Obolus (brachiopod).
The obolus (ancient Greek: ὀβολός "obolós", plural: ὀβολοί "oboloí") is a Greek silver coin worth a sixth of a drachma. In Classical Athens it was subdivided into eight chalkoi (χαλκοί "copper pieces"). Two obols made a diobol. Triobols were also in use.
According to Plutarch, the Spartans had an iron obolus of four chalkoi. The obolus is also a measurement of weight. In ancient Greece it was defined as one sixth of a drachma, or about 0.5 gram. In ancient Rome it was defined as 1/48 of a Roman ounce, or about 0.57 gram, but was never issued as a coin as part of the early republican coinage system. Below the drachm was the dupondius (1/5) to the quartuncia (1/480).[1] In modern Greece it is equivalent to one decigram, or 0.1 gram.
The word "obolos" or "obelos" (ὀβελός) means a long thin metal rod, such as a spit. "Oboloi" came to be used as currency because they represented ingots of copper or bronze, and were traded as such. Sparta chose to retain the use of the cumbersome, impractical "oboloi" rather than coins proper, so as to discourage the pursuit of wealth.
According to a nurse in Eubulus' Pamphilus, for the price of an obol, one could obtain a kantharos with a chous of wine, equivalent to about six ounces (three liters).[2]
A coin for Charon
- Main article: Charon's obol.
The deceased were buried with an obolus, placed in the mouth of the corpse, in order that, once a dead person's shade reached the underworld of Hades, it would be able to pay Charon for passage across the river Acheron. Those without enough wealth, or whose friends refused to follow proper burial rites, were forced to wander the banks of the Acheron for one hundred years.
References
- ^ Sayles, Wayne G. (1997). Ancient coin collecting 3. Iola: Krause Publications. pp. 19. ISBN 0-87341-533-7.
- ^ Davidson, James (1998). Courtesans and Fishcakes: The Consuming Passions of Classical Athens. London: Fontana Press. pp. 59. ISBN 0-00686-343-4.
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Copyrights:
 |
 | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| WordNet. WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. Read more |
 |
| Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Obolus". Read more |
ADVERTISEMENT
Mentioned in
