obol (obol)

[F. obole = Sp. Pg. It. obolo, Obverse. Reverse. Obol of Athens. (Size of the original.) obol obol struck according to the Attic weight-standard weighed about 114 grains; according to the Æginetic standard, 16.1; Greco-Asiatic, 9; Rhodian, 10; Babylonic, 14; and Persic, 14 grains. At a later period the coin was struck in bronze. vious to burial. For this service [the ferriage of Charon] each soul was required to pay an obolus or danace, one of which coins was accordingly placed in the mouth of every corpse pre Encyc . Brit ., V. 430. Obolaria (ob-ō-lāʻri-ä), n. [NL. (Linnæus, 1753), so called from the roundish upper stem leaves; obol .] A genus of dicotyledonous no petalous plants of the order Gentian ace a and the tribe Swertieæ , distinguished from all the other genera of the order by having only two sepals. There is but one species, O. Virginica , a low North American herb, very smooth, and purplish-green, with whitish flowers clustered at the top. Sometimes called penny wort , in imitation of the genus name. It is believed to be partially root-parasitic. obolary (ob'ō-lā-ri), a. [ He is the true taxer who "calleth all the world up to be taxed "; Flowering Plant of Obola ria Virginica. a, a flower, showing the leaf-like calyx and the corolla. and the distance is as vast between him and one of us as subsisted between the August an Majesty and the poorest obolary Jew that paid it tribute-pittance at Jerusalem! Lamb, Two Races of Men.