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Attic drachma accounting — Athenian, Alexandrine and Bactrian traditions: research record

Evidence coverage: 426 BC–125 BC. This is the span of collected observations, not the currency’s lifetime.

This record includes associated currencies and earlier interpretations. The article selects the evidence relevant to its own history.

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Currency continuity

Attic drachma accounting — Athenian, Alexandrine and Bactrian traditions

CUR-V26-ATHENIAN-DRACHMA · Research draft

Athenian and Attic debt/treasury accounting in drachmas, with talents and obols as multiples/fractions. Does not represent all Greek drachmas. Extend the Athenian profile to the Attic accounting standard adopted and spread by Alexander. Regional Hellenistic witnesses are qualified associations, not a claim that every Greek-speaking territory shared one currency. Bactrian drachma financial records are a qualified regional association within the retained Athenian/Alexandrine account tradition. Common royal authority does not merge the different monetary practices north and south of the Hindu Kush. Bactrian rulers receive no separate currency nodes merely for changing coin issues.

One scoped currency identity. Changes to subdivisions, scale, standard, instruments or issuers do not by themselves create children. A distinct account unit can remain a successor.
Dated observations: 426 BC–125 BC; this does not establish the entire lifetime.

Parents / predecessors

No distinct predecessor currency is established in the loaded view.

Children / successors

Egyptian silver drachma accounting — Ptolemaic and Roman traditionsregional currency continuity · qualified · -332–-259
↗
Sasanian and early Islamic eastern drahm–dirham reckoningregional currency continuity · qualified · -330–579
↗
Unit and issue records 5 records

Evidence within this identity, not separate currencies.

Alexandrine marriage obligations · C2019
Seleucid land-sale accounts · C2020
Dura property obligations · C2021
Bactrian drachma financial record · C2085
Aï Khanoum treasury transfer · C2086

Latest research

Historical account research

The Athenian treasury account records principal and interest in talents,drachmas and obol fractions. Detailed disbursements cover 426/5–423/2 BCE, with a retrospective summary for 433/2–427/6.

Sources and qualifications →
Historical account research

An Attic property-security marker specifies a loan of 750 drachmas for Dionysos, corroborating drachma-denominated obligations beyond the fifth-century state treasury ledger.

Sources and qualifications →
Attic and Alexandrine scope

Extend the Athenian profile to the Attic accounting standard adopted and spread by Alexander. Regional Hellenistic witnesses are qualified associations, not a claim that every Greek-speaking territory shared one currency.

Sources and qualifications →
Alexandrine marriage obligations

P.Eleph.1 values a dowry at 1,000 drachmas and specifies an additional1,000 Alexander silver drachmas as a penalty. Berlin dates the contract310 BCE; association with the retained Attic profile is regional.

Sources and qualifications →
Seleucid land-sale accounts

Antiochus II’s land sale requires thirty silver talents in instalments, entered in royal records. This254/253 BCE witness is associated with the wider Attic tradition, without creating a dynasty-only currency.

Sources and qualifications →
Dura property obligations

P.Dura15 records a 120-silver-drachma property price and matching penalty. Its editorial195 BCE date and association with the wider Attic profile remain qualified.

Sources and qualifications →
Modern name revival is not ancient continuity

The1833 Greek drachma replaced the phoenix and revived an ancient name. This is not an ancient-drachma-to-euro inheritance link.

Sources and qualifications →
Qualified drachm ancestry

Egyptian silver accounting inherited the Attic drachma structure and developed a separate regional system with distinct internal and external valuations. Admit qualified ancestry, not a branch created solely by Ptolemaic rulers or reduced coin weights.

Sources and qualifications →
Qualified drachm ancestry

Morony explicitly derives the Sasanian fiscal drahm from the Attic drachma spread east by Alexander and transmitted through Seleucids and Parthians. Admit compressed, qualified ancestry; intermediate identity boundaries and dates remain unresolved.

Sources and qualifications →
Bactrian drachma financial record

The Amphipolis parchment’s document1 line4 records100 drachmas of coined silver. Editors place it approximately 220–170 BCE; a loan-repayment interpretation remains tentative. Associate this Bactrian Greek account witness with the broad Attic/Alexandrine tradition provisionally, without creating a currency for each dynasty.

Sources and qualifications →
Aï Khanoum treasury transfer

Treasury inscription4a records a transfer of 500 drachmas and the sealing of the container. The jar texts are archaeologically placed in the mid-second centuryBCE. These are surviving treasury labels, not a complete ledger; association with the broad Attic tradition remains qualified.

Sources and qualifications →
Asangorna stater account: identity unresolved

Infrared reading confirms20 staters in an early-second-centuryBCE tax receipt from Asangorna. The editors favor a unit of account rather than payment specifically in gold coins. Its ratio and identity relation to the Bactrian drachma remain unresolved; preserve this as contextual evidence without creating a separate stater currency or dated Attic observation.

Sources and qualifications →
Bactrian scope and identity limits

Bactrian drachma financial records are a qualified regional association within the retained Athenian/Alexandrine account tradition. Common royal authority does not merge the different monetary practices north and south of the Hindu Kush. Bactrian rulers receive no separate currency nodes merely for changing coin issues.

Sources and qualifications →
Indian money distinguished in the treasury

Aï Khanoum records drachmas, kasapana taxaena and kasapana nandena separately. Their equivalence is disputed, and identifying taxaena specifically with Taxila remains qualified. Later Deccan kārṣāpaṇa accounting could persist despite changing Indo-Greek coin supplies. No Greek-to-Indian account conversion is inferred.

Sources and qualifications →
Kushano-Sasanian association; earlier account ancestry open

Morris associates the gold dinars in these legal documents with Kushano-Sasanian issues. This provides regional monetary context, but does not itself establish the account transition from Bactrian drachmas, a Roman denarius parent, or continuity to a modern dinar. Hold those ancestry links.

Sources and qualifications →

Account-unit observations

Dated evidence, not exact birth or extinction dates.

-426–-425supported

The Athenian treasury account records principal and interest in talents,drachmas and obol fractions. Detailed disbursements cover 426/5–423/2 BCE, with a retrospective summary for 433/2–427/6.

C1377
-340–-320supported

An Attic property-security marker specifies a loan of 750 drachmas for Dionysos, corroborating drachma-denominated obligations beyond the fifth-century state treasury ledger.

C1378
-310qualified

P.Eleph.1 values a dowry at 1,000 drachmas and specifies an additional1,000 Alexander silver drachmas as a penalty. Berlin dates the contract310 BCE; association with the retained Attic profile is regional.

C2019
-254–-253qualified

Antiochus II’s land sale requires thirty silver talents in instalments, entered in royal records. This254/253 BCE witness is associated with the wider Attic tradition, without creating a dynasty-only currency.

C2020
-195qualified

P.Dura15 records a 120-silver-drachma property price and matching penalty. Its editorial195 BCE date and association with the wider Attic profile remain qualified.

C2021
-220–-170qualified

The Amphipolis parchment’s document1 line4 records100 drachmas of coined silver. Editors place it approximately 220–170 BCE; a loan-repayment interpretation remains tentative. Associate this Bactrian Greek account witness with the broad Attic/Alexandrine tradition provisionally, without creating a currency for each dynasty.

C2085
Mid-second century BCqualified

Treasury inscription4a records a transfer of 500 drachmas and the sealing of the container. The jar texts are archaeologically placed in the mid-second centuryBCE. These are surviving treasury labels, not a complete ledger; association with the broad Attic tradition remains qualified.

C2086
Evidence & research notes 15 claims

Dated observations, not a proven complete lifespan.

Supported C1377

The Athenian treasury account records principal and interest in talents,drachmas and obol fractions. Detailed disbursements cover 426/5–423/2 BC, with a retrospective summary for 433/2–427/6.

Stephen Lambert and P. J. Rhodes, Attic Inscriptions Online · Loans from the sacred treasuries, 433/2–423/2 BC Citation S689 · Open source ↗

IG I³369 lines1–22,97–120 and note1

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Full account translation and all explanatory notes inspected.

Supported C1378

An Attic property-security marker specifies a loan of 750 drachmas for Dionysos, corroborating drachma-denominated obligations beyond the fifth-century state treasury ledger.

Stephen Lambert, Attic Inscriptions Online · Marker of property used as security for a loan Citation S690 · Open source ↗

IG II²2767 entire inscription

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Entire translation, date and note inspected.

Qualified C2018

Extend the Athenian profile to the Attic accounting standard adopted and spread by Alexander. Regional Hellenistic witnesses are qualified associations, not a claim that every Greek-speaking territory shared one currency.

Andrew Meadows · Denominational systems, in Peter Thonemann, The Hellenistic World (2016) Citation S1051 · Open source ↗

pp.197–198, Greece and accounting paragraphs; Attic system adopted by Alexander

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Qualified C2019

P.Eleph.1 values a dowry at 1,000 drachmas and specifies an additional1,000 Alexander silver drachmas as a penalty. Berlin dates the contract310 BC; association with the retained Attic profile is regional.

Patrick Sänger, Berlin Papyrus Database · Marriage, mobility and migration at the beginning of Hellenism (2024) Citation S1052 · Open source ↗

P.Eleph.1 / P.13500; contract, monetary obligations and dating discussion

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Qualified C2020

Antiochus II’s land sale requires thirty silver talents in instalments, entered in royal records. This254/253 BC witness is associated with the wider Attic tradition, without creating a dynasty-only currency.

C. Bradford Welles, Royal Correspondence, translated on Attalus · Royal Correspondence 18 / OGIS225: Antiochus II land sale Citation S1053 · Open source ↗

254/253 BC; thirty talents, instalments and royal records; pp.197–198, Greece and accounting paragraphs; Attic system adopted by Alexander

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Andrew Meadows · Denominational systems, in Peter Thonemann, The Hellenistic World (2016) Citation S1051 · Open source ↗

254/253 BC; thirty talents, instalments and royal records; pp.197–198, Greece and accounting paragraphs; Attic system adopted by Alexander

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Qualified C2021

P.Dura15 records a 120-silver-drachma property price and matching penalty. Its editorial195 BC date and association with the wider Attic profile remain qualified.

P.Dura15, translated on Attalus · Sale of Property at Dura-Europos Citation S1054 · Open source ↗

Contract, consideration and penalty; editorial dating195BCE, Seleucid years117/123

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Qualified C2036

The1833 Greek drachma replaced the phoenix and revived an ancient name. This is not an ancient-drachma-to-euro inheritance link.

Alpha Bank Numismatic Collection · Silver drachma of King Otto Citation S428 · Open source ↗

1833 decree, phoenix replacement and ancient-name revival

Qualified C2037

Egyptian silver accounting inherited the Attic drachma structure and developed a separate regional system with distinct internal and external valuations. Admit qualified ancestry, not a branch created solely by Ptolemaic rulers or reduced coin weights.

Andrew Meadows · Denominational systems, in Peter Thonemann, The Hellenistic World (2016) Citation S1051 · Open source ↗

pp.197–198, Greece and accounting paragraphs; Attic system adopted by Alexander; pp.11–12 and23–24: closed regional system, silver and copper accounts

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Brian P. Muhs · Tax Receipts, Taxpayers, and Taxes in Early Ptolemaic Thebes (OIP126,2005) Citation S1055 · Open source ↗

pp.197–198, Greece and accounting paragraphs; Attic system adopted by Alexander; pp.11–12 and23–24: closed regional system, silver and copper accounts

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Qualified C2039

Morony explicitly derives the Sasanian fiscal drahm from the Attic drachma spread east by Alexander and transmitted through Seleucids and Parthians. Admit compressed, qualified ancestry; intermediate identity boundaries and dates remain unresolved.

Michael G. Morony · Iraq After the Muslim Conquest (Princeton,1984) Citation S1058

p.39 Attic/Alexander/Seleucid/Parthian derivation; pp.99–107 fiscal assessments; Umar’s diwan, Sasanian unit adoption,698–99 reorganization and regional accounts

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Ann K. S. Lambton · ECONOMY v. From the Arab Conquest to the End of the Il-Khanids, part1 (1997) Citation S1059 · Open source ↗

p.39 Attic/Alexander/Seleucid/Parthian derivation; pp.99–107 fiscal assessments; Umar’s diwan, Sasanian unit adoption,698–99 reorganization and regional accounts

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Qualified C2085

The Amphipolis parchment’s document1 line4 records100 drachmas of coined silver. Editors place it approximately 220–170 BC; a loan-repayment interpretation remains tentative. Associate this Bactrian Greek account witness with the broad Attic/Alexandrine tradition provisionally, without creating a currency for each dynasty.

Willy Clarysse and Dorothy J. Thompson · Two Greek Texts on Skin from Hellenistic Bactria, ZPE 159 (2007), 273–279 Citation S1093 · Open source ↗

pp.273–277: archaeological dating; c.220–170 BC; document 1 line 4, 100 drachmas

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Qualified C2086

Treasury inscription4a records a transfer of 500 drachmas and the sealing of the container. The jar texts are archaeologically placed in the mid-second centuryBCE. These are surviving treasury labels, not a complete ledger; association with the broad Attic tradition remains qualified.

Claude Rapin and Frantz Grenet · Inscriptions économiques de la trésorerie hellénistique d’Aï Khanoum, BCH 107.1 (1983), 315–381 Citation S1094 · Open source ↗

p.351, inscription 4a: transfer and sealing of 500 drachmas; pp.273–277: archaeological dating; c.220–170 BC; document 1 line 4, 100 drachmas

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Published transcription/discussion p.351 inspected; original container not independently collated.

Willy Clarysse and Dorothy J. Thompson · Two Greek Texts on Skin from Hellenistic Bactria, ZPE 159 (2007), 273–279 Citation S1093 · Open source ↗

p.351, inscription 4a: transfer and sealing of 500 drachmas; pp.273–277: archaeological dating; c.220–170 BC; document 1 line 4, 100 drachmas

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Qualified C2087

Infrared reading confirms20 staters in an early-second-centuryBCE tax receipt from Asangorna. The editors favor a unit of account rather than payment specifically in gold coins. Its ratio and identity relation to the Bactrian drachma remain unresolved; preserve this as contextual evidence without creating a separate stater currency or dated Attic observation.

Jens Jakobsson and Simon Glenn · New Research on the Bactrian Tax-receipt, Ancient History Bulletin 32 (2018), 61–71 Citation S1095 · Open source ↗

pp.63–64 n.15: 20 staters as account unit; pp.66–67: regional monetary distinctions

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Qualified C2088

Bactrian drachma financial records are a qualified regional association within the retained Athenian/Alexandrine account tradition. Common royal authority does not merge the different monetary practices north and south of the Hindu Kush. Bactrian rulers receive no separate currency nodes merely for changing coin issues.

Willy Clarysse and Dorothy J. Thompson · Two Greek Texts on Skin from Hellenistic Bactria, ZPE 159 (2007), 273–279 Citation S1093 · Open source ↗

pp.273–277: archaeological dating; c.220–170 BC; document 1 line 4, 100 drachmas; p.351, inscription 4a: transfer and sealing of 500 drachmas; pp.63–64 n.15: 20 staters as account unit; pp.66–67: regional monetary distinctions

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Claude Rapin and Frantz Grenet · Inscriptions économiques de la trésorerie hellénistique d’Aï Khanoum, BCH 107.1 (1983), 315–381 Citation S1094 · Open source ↗

pp.273–277: archaeological dating; c.220–170 BC; document 1 line 4, 100 drachmas; p.351, inscription 4a: transfer and sealing of 500 drachmas; pp.63–64 n.15: 20 staters as account unit; pp.66–67: regional monetary distinctions

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Published transcription/discussion p.351 inspected; original container not independently collated.

Jens Jakobsson and Simon Glenn · New Research on the Bactrian Tax-receipt, Ancient History Bulletin 32 (2018), 61–71 Citation S1095 · Open source ↗

pp.273–277: archaeological dating; c.220–170 BC; document 1 line 4, 100 drachmas; p.351, inscription 4a: transfer and sealing of 500 drachmas; pp.63–64 n.15: 20 staters as account unit; pp.66–67: regional monetary distinctions

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Qualified C2089

Aï Khanoum records drachmas, kasapana taxaena and kasapana nandena separately. Their equivalence is disputed, and identifying taxaena specifically with Taxila remains qualified. Later Deccan kārṣāpaṇa accounting could persist despite changing Indo-Greek coin supplies. No Greek-to-Indian account conversion is inferred.

Federico De Romanis · Notes on Barygaza’s Trade: Commodities and Coins at an Asian Crossroads (2025) Citation S1067 · Open source ↗

pp.135–137, especially p.136 n.78: treasury categories and continued kārṣāpaṇa accounts

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

Qualified C2093

Morris associates the gold dinars in these legal documents with Kushano-Sasanian issues. This provides regional monetary context, but does not itself establish the account transition from Bactrian drachmas, a Roman denarius parent, or continuity to a modern dinar. Hold those ancestry links.

Lauren Morris · Tools of Economic Activity from the Greek Kingdoms of Central Asia to the Kushan Empire Citation S1098 · Open source ↗

pp.464 n.93 and 467–469: c.332 marriage contract; gold-dinar fines and Kushano-Sasanian issues

Source access and limitations

Not a complete origin, lifespan or current-status audit.

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