Originally this was not a coin, but simply the smallest practical weight applied to gold and silver. After the in- troduction of copper money in Greece and Asia Minor the Lepton became an actual coin.

At Athens seven Lepta went to the Chalcus (q.v.). In the eastern portion of the Roman Empire it was used to distin- guish the local copper coins from the im- perial issues. But, generally speaking, the word Lepton was the term used for a small copper coin and consequently varied greatly, according to time and locality.

It was later equal to one half of the Chalcus (q.v.), as is confirmed from a comparison of a passage in Polybius (ii. 15) with the well known quotation from the Gospel of St. Mark (xii. 42). From Polybius we learn that the Assarius was equal to half an Obolus, or four Chalki. The Roman Quadrans was therefore equal to the Chalcus, and as St. Mark says that the Quadrans contained two Lepta, the Lepton must have been exactly one half of the Chalcus.

The word Mite was employed by the translators of the New Testament simply because the coin was so very small in size, and it retained this meaning for a long period. Hyll, in his Arithmetick, 1600 (iii. 1), says, " Four Mites is the aliquot part of a pony, viz. 1/6, for 6 times 4 is 24, and so many mites marchants assigne to 1. peny." Jeake, in his Arithmetick, 1674 (77), states that sixteen Mites are equal to a Farthing.

Coverdale, in his translation of the New Testament, 1535, renders the Gospel of St. Mark (xii. 42) as follows: " And there came a poore wyddowe, and put in two mytes, which make a farthinge."