QUADRANT (Lat. quadrans). — The smallest Roman bronze coin, equivalent to a quarter of an as. It weighed three unciae; on the obverse it bore the effigy of Hercules and on the reverse the prow of a ship.
The term was often used to denote a minimal sum, as now the “centesimo” (cf. Cicero, Pro M. Caelio, 26, 62; Quintilian, Institutiones orat., VIII, 6, 53).
In this sense it appears in the Gospel (Mt 5:26) in the Greek form κωδόναντος; whereas Luke (12:59) in the parallel passage uses the Greek word λεπτόν. Mark (12:42), writing for Latin readers, explains that the two “minuzzoli” (λεπτά) of the widow’s offering amounted to a quadrans.