# What would a talent be worth? (money) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 10, 2000, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-talent-be-worth-money/8404 "2000-03-10T19:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2000, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-talent-be-worth-money/8404/1 "2000-03-10T19:19:00Z")
I have heard many estimates on the value of the talent, a currency used in Biblical times. (I’m not sure when it became obsolete) Some say it was worth $1,000 in today’s economy. Others say $10,000. And I just heard a preacher say that he did some studies, and estimates a talent to be worth $300,000!! Which is it? * * * “Life is hard…but God is good” ---
**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2000, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-talent-be-worth-money/8404/2 "2000-03-10T20:08:00Z")
“A talent of what” is the question that really has to be asked. A talent is really a measure of weight, not a unit of currency (as “pound sterling” once was). IIRC, the equivalence is 1 talent = 2 staters = 60 minae = 6,000 drachmae = 36,000 obols (the talent is a _Greek_ measure). A drachma (“handful”) is about 4.5 grams by Athenian measure (there were several measures in use in ancient times). A drachma of silver (coined or otherwise), was about a day’s wage for a skilled laborer in the 5th century BCE, although I believe that by the 1st century CE (New Testament times), this had risen to about 2½ drachmae. A talent of gold, based on Wednesday’s New Yotk close, would be worth about $252,000; I don’t track the price of silver as closely, but a talent of silver would be worth about $4,000. In terms of wages, a talent is 2,400 days’ wages; the standard of living has changed so much in the past 2,000 years that no comparison could have any real meaning. * * * “I don’t just want you to feel envy. I want you to suffer, I want you to bleed, I want you to die a little bit each day. And I want you to thank me for it.” – What “Let’s just be friends” _really_ means ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2000, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-talent-be-worth-money/8404/3 "2000-03-10T20:10:00Z")
. . . Well, my writing talent plus a dollar fifty will get me on the subway . . . ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2000, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-a-talent-be-worth-money/8404/4 "2000-03-10T21:40:00Z")
…and of course my talent would get me kicked **off** the subway…