Attic Talent

The Attic talent (from Latin talentum), also known as the Athenian talent or Greek talent, is an ancient unit of mass equal to 26 kg, as well as a unit of value equal to this amount of pure silver. A talent was originally intended to be the mass of water required to fill an amphora (39 liters). At the 2009 price of $414/kg, a silver talent is worth $10,760. It was equivalent to 60 minae, 6,000 drachmae or 36,000 oboloi.

During the Peloponnesian War, a trireme crew of 200 rowers was paid a talent for a month's worth of work, about 4.4 grams of silver per rower per day. According to wage rates from 377 BC, a talent was the value of nine man-years of skilled work. This corresponds to 2340 work days or 11.1 grams of silver per worker per workday. A modern carpenter gets about $25,060/year or $226,000 for nine years of work.

In 1800, a building craftsman in urban Europe got an average wage of 11.9 grams of silver a day, or about $0.49 a day. Adjusted for inflation, this corresponds to $6 a day in 2007 money. Assuming a European worker in 1800 to be as productive as a worker in ancient Greece, the purchasing power of a talent in ancient times was about $20,000 of early 21st century money. The plausibility of this calculation is confirmed by the fact that a talent of silver was worth $1081 in 1800, equivalent to $13,000 after adjusting for inflation.