Greek lepton

This article is about the Greek currency. For the family of fundamental particles in physics, see Lepton.

The lepton, plural lepta (Greek: λεπτόν, λεπτά), is the name of various fractional units of currency used in the Greek-speaking world from antiquity until today. The word means "small" or "thin", and during Classical and Hellenistic times a lepton was always a small value coin, usually the smallest available denomination of another currency.

Reverse of a Greek 5 lepta coin (termed "obolos") of 1869.

The coin in the lesson of the widow's mite (Mark 12:41–44, Luke 21:1–4) is referred to as a lepton and Luke's Gospel also refers to the lepton or mite when stating that a person who does not make peace with his adversary in good time will be required to pay 'to the very last mite' before being released from prison. In the Hasmonean Kingdom the lepton was first minted under Alexander Jannaeus prior to 76 BCE.

In modern Greece, lepton (modern form: lepto, λεπτό) is the name of the 1⁄100 denomination of all the official currencies of the Greek state: the phoenix (1827–1832), the drachma (1832–2001) and the euro (2002–current) – the name is the Greek form of "cent". Its unofficial currency sign is Λ (lambda). Since the late 1870s, and until the introduction of the euro in 2001, no Greek coin had been minted with a denomination lower than 5 lepta.

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  20-lepton coin, Phoenician subdivision, 1831.
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  5-lepton coin, drachma subdivision, 1833.
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  10-lepton coin, drachma subdivision, 1849.
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  One-lepton coin of 1879, the last one-lepton coin of the drachma issued.
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  2-lepton coin 1869. The last two-lepton coins were minted in 1878.
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  An ancient mite of a type still circulating in Jesus' time, typical of what might have appeared in the Bible's lesson of the widow's mite.

External links

• Greek Lepta Coins Information