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Quadrans

Greek κοδράντης. Literally "a quarter". Also called Kodrantes.

A quarter of an assarion — the coin Mark reaches for when he has to explain how little two lepta were.

Wage
about 11 minutes' work (about 11 minutes' work). Reckoned from a quarter of an assarion.
Diameter
1.6–1.9 cm (0.63–0.748 in). Reckoned from surviving quadrantes of Augustus and Tiberius.

The quadrans is a quarter of an assarion, and it exists in the New Testament mostly as a unit of explanation. Mark, writing for a Roman readership, tells them the widow's two small coins came to one quadrans — because "two lepta" would have meant nothing to them and "a quadrans" meant the smallest Roman coin there was. Older English versions render it "farthing", which they also use for the assarion.

The coins of the gospels, at true size The coins the New Testament names, drawn at their true size, each with the size of surviving examples and what it bought: the lepton, the widow's mite; the quadrans; the assarion; the denarius, a day's wage; the drachma; the didrachma, the half-shekel of the temple tax; and the stater, the shekel of Tyre. A US dime, penny and quarter are drawn beside them to the same scale. a lepton1.3–1.5 cmabout 6 minutes' worka quadrans1.6–1.9 cmabout 11 minutes' workan assarion1.6–2.2 cmabout 45 minutes' worka denarius1.7–1.9 cm1 day's wagea drachma1.5–1.8 cm1 day's wagea didrachma1.9–2.1 cm2 days' wagesa stater2.6–2.8 cm4 days' wagesa dimea pennya quarterUS coins, for size:the same scale
Sizes are the range of surviving examples, and coins of one name varied from mint to mint. Bronze paid for small things and silver for wages and taxes: the widow gave two lepta (Mark 12:42), the temple tax was a didrachma (Matthew 17:24), and a stater paid it for two (17:27).

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