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# Talent (weight)

When used as a measure of money, it refers to a talent-weight of gold or of silver. The gold talent is reported as weighing roughly the same as a person, and so perhaps 50 kg (>110 lb avoirdupois). Some authorities say that the talent typically weighed about 33 kg (>72 lb) varying from 20 to 40 kg. In June, 2018, the international price of gold was about US $41,155.69 per kilogram. One gram costs about$38. At this price, a talent (33 kg) would be worth about $1,400,116.57. Similarly, in February 2016, the price of silver was about$15 per troy ounce or about 50 cents per gram, so a 33 kg silver talent would be worth about $16,500. Thus when we read that King Auletes of Egypt paid Gaius Julius Caesar the sum of 6,000 talents of gold to grant him the status of a "Friend and Ally of the Roman People," this amount would be worth about$8,400,699,422.80 USD today! These estimates are only rough values, because they are based on modern estimates.The value of silver in comparison to gold drastically changed. This is because of the output of the Spanish silver mines in the New World. In ancient times the same amount of silver was often worth more than gold. The estimates do not account for the less technical mining ability of the time, nor that there were still native deposits available. Later in Roman history, during the medieval Byzantine period, the emperor Basil II was said to have stockpiled the legendary amount of 200,000 talents of gold which, in modern terms, would be worth approximately \$280,023,314,760 USD. At any rate, he did save enough money that the Byzantine government was able to remit all taxes paid during the final two years of his reign.