The New Student's Reference Work/Talent

Tal′ent, anciently a weight and a denomination of money, varying at different periods and among different nations, as the Greeks, Babylonians and Phœnicians. The Greek talent of weight contained 60 minæ or about 80 pounds avoirdupois; the monetary talent among the Greeks was a talent's weight of silver or gold — the monetary unit. The Attic talent of silver, which weighed about 58 pounds avoirdupois, was of the value of about $1,200. Among the Hebrews a talent of silver was equivalent to 3,000 shekels (about $1,700 or $1,800); the gold talent was equal to 10,000 gold shekels — the value being determined by the current price or purchasing power of the metal of which it was weighed, whether of silver or of gold.