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[[Image:RIC 0465.jpg|thumb|Augustus Quadrans]]
[[Image:0808quad.jpg|thumb|Quadrans of [[Domitian]]]]
The '''quadrans''' (literally meaning "a quarter") or '''teruncius''' ("three unciae") was a low-value Roman [[bronze]] [[coin]] worth one quarter of an [[As (Roman coin)|as]]. The quadrans was issued from the beginning of [[Casting (metalworking)|cast]] bronze coins during the [[Roman Republic]] with three pellets representing three [[Uncia (coin)|unciae]] as a mark of value. The obverse type, after some early variations, featured the bust of [[Hercules]], while the reverse featured the prow of a [[galley]]. Coins with the same value were issued from other cities in Central Italy, using a cast process.
After ca. 90 BC, when bronze coinage was reduced to the semuncial standard, the quadrans became the lowest-valued coin in production. It was produced sporadically until the time of [[Antoninus Pius]] (AD 138-161). Unlike other coins during the Roman Empire, the quadrans rarely bore the image of the emperor
The Greek word for the quadrans was κοδράντης ''(kodrantes),'' which was translated in the [[King James Version]] of the [[Bible]] as "[[Farthing (British coin)|farthing]]". In the [[New Testament]] a coin equal to one half the Attic chalcus was worth about 3/8 of a cent. In [[Mark, Gospel of|Mark's]] Gospel, when a [[Lesson of the widow's mite|poor widow]] gave two [[Greek lepton|mites]] or λεπτα ''(lepta)'' to the [[Second Temple|Temple Treasury]], the gospel writer noted that this amounted to one quadrans.<ref>Mark 12:42</ref>
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