DIDRAMM. – A silver coin worth two drachmas, also designated by the term stater (στατής). It corresponded to half a shekel in the Jewish monetary system and constituted the tax that every Israelite had to pay, as a contributor to the worship, to the Temple of Jerusalem. This tax was also paid by Jesus, who obtained the coin miraculously (Mt. 17:23–26).
In the Latin translation of II Mac. (4:19; 10:20), the term d. is found, whereas the Greek text speaks simply of drachmas; in the Septuagint, moreover, this word often improperly translates the Hebrew Segel (“shekel”, v.), which in fact was worth twice as much as the Attic d. (Gen. 23:15–16; Ex. 21:32, etc.). Angelo Penna