DRAMMA (ἄρχιμή). – Hellenic coin. According to the Greek translation of the Septuagint and the Vulgate, it already appears in the 5th century B.C. as a monetary unit (Estd. 2:69); but the Vatican codex (B) omits drachmās. It is generally held to be the Lydian d., in use since the time of Croesus. Many modern scholars, however, rightly see in the Hebrew word darhēmōn (Neh. 7:70) not a transcription of ἄρχιμή, but of ἄρχιμός (= daric), the monetary unit of the Persians.
During the Hellenistic period the d. was also used in Palestine; it probably corresponded to the Attic d., later assimilated to the Roman denarius (v.) (cf. II Mach. 4:19; 10:20; 12:43). In the New Testament, the parable of the woman who anxiously searches for a lost d. is well known (Lc. 15:8–9). V. DIDRAMMA. Angelo Penna