2017-01-31 Tue

The drachma has been Greece's national currency since 1833. Greek banknotes have a history of 180 years, starting from 1822 and finishing in 2002 when drachma was replaced by the common European currency, Euro. During these years about 300 different banknotes were issued and circulated in Greece.

We gave you glimpses of Ancient Greek Coins last time. Greek iconography plays a very significant role in art and architecture. In every aspect of Greek life, you see these impressions. Their coins are just a masterpiece of perfection!

Today we have brought a bank note of Greece which depicts an ancient coin on it. A 500 drachma note where we see a Lucania’s (Greek city-state) silver coin from 330 BCE bearing a barley grain on it. The banknote depicts grape vines, corn and a farmer driving a tractor in the field. This particular theme of the note is of agricultural significance. Though the farming was little difficult in ancient Greece because of the low quality of soil, they somehow managed to grow crops like barley (staple food), corn and grapes. Grapes were used to make wine. Their wine was of very fine quality and became a major export to Rome in the later period.

The legacy of iconography still continues today in Greece!
Explore more…Happy collecting!