DIPONDIO (DUPONDIO). — Roman coin worth two asses, or half a sesterce. During the imperial period it was minted in brass, with a weight of between 11 and 15 grams.
In weight it was almost equivalent to the as, from which it differed, in addition to the alloy of the metal, in the depiction of the emperor: from Nero onward, he was portrayed wearing a laurel wreath (whereas on the as he was shown with a radiate head). In the time of Antoninus (138–61), the minting of this small coin was discontinued. In the Vulgate, dipondius (classical Latin dupondius) occurs as the equivalent of the Greek ἀσάριε δόο, “two asses” (Lk. 12:6).