Talent is a famous old unit of weight and value. The Hebrews, Babylonians, Greeks, and Romans used it. No coin of this denomination was ever struck (made), because such a coin would be too large. Instead, a certain number of other coins equaled a talent. The Hebrew silver talent equaled 3,000 shekels in silver. The gold talent had different weights and values in different places. The present use of the word talent, meaning special ability, may come symbolically from a Bible story (Matthew 25:14-30).
