The earliest known Athenian coins range between the years of 545 BC to 515 BC. However, Athenians had already adopted the
drachma and the
obol as a form of currency. The corresponding weights vary before and after the Athenians began to produce coins. After the reign of
Solon, the change of standard was lowered to half of its former weight. As the
Athenian league's influence expanded over the
Mediterranean, the Attic standard became one of the major weight standards adopted during the
Archaic and
Hellenistic Period. During the
Peloponnesian War, a
trireme crew of 200 rowers was paid a talent for a month's worth of work, one drachma, or 4.3 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 of silver per worker per workday. The Attic talent, corresponding with the standard, would change throughout the time of
Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Period, subsequently diminishing its value little by little. == Currency or weight ==