<P> The talent (Latin: talentum, from Ancient Greek: τάλαντον, talanton' scale, balance, sum') was one of several ancient units of mass, a commercial weight, as well as corresponding units of value equivalent to these masses of a precious metal . The talent of gold was known to Homer, who described how Achilles gave a half - talent of gold to Antilochus as a prize . A Greek, or Attic talent, was 26 kilograms (57 lb) (approximately the mass of water required to fill an amphora), a Roman talent was 32.3 kilograms (71 lb), an Egyptian talent was 27 kilograms (60 lb), and a Babylonian talent was 30.3 kilograms (67 lb). Ancient Israel, and other Levantine countries, adopted the Babylonian talent, but later revised the mass . The heavy common talent, used in New Testament times, was 58.9 kilograms (130 lb). </P> <P> The original Homeric talent was probably the gold equivalent of the value of an ox or a cow . Based on a statement from a later Greek source that' the talent of Homer was equal in amount to the later Daric (... i.e.) two Attic drachmas' and analysis of finds from a Mycenaean grave - shaft, a weight of about 8.5 grams (0.30 oz) can be established for this original talent . The later Attic talent was of a different weight than the Homeric, but represented the same value in copper as the Homeric did in gold, with the price ratio of gold to copper in Bronze Age Greece being 1: 3000 . </P>

What is a talent in the new testament