• In Greece their language
is Greek.
• There was a coin called flying
pig that was used in the 5th century.
• In 1831 Greece became
independent.
•The drachma has been the money
of Greece since 1833.
• One of their old banknotes had
a sign of the phoenix.
• In Greece you can trade in
drachmas for a euro any time at any bank.
• Greece is surrounded by
countries that aren't participating in the
euro.
This is what each of the
Greek euros has on the national side. The links will
take you to websites that show you pictures or give
you information about some the images on the euro
coins.
• The national side of the one,
two, and five cent euros have a ship on them.
• The one cent euro has an
ancient ship called an Athenian
trireme.
• The two cent euro has a ship
called the Corvette. It is a type of ship used during the
Greek War of Independence (1821).
• The five cent euro in Greece
has a modern-looking tanker ship on it.
• The ten, twenty and fifty cent
euros have famous leaders on them--Rigas
Velestinlis-Fereos
(1757-1798), Ioannis
Capodistrias (1776-1831), and
Eleftherios
Venizelos (1864-1936),
• The one euro has Athena's owl
on it. Athena is from Greek mythology.
• The two euro has a story from
mythology that shows Europa being kidnapped by the god
Zeus. Zeus took the shape of a bull. Europa
was a phoenecian princess. Zeus took her to Crete.
Athena's
face was on an ancient Greek coin.
Athena was the goddess of wisdom. The coin with
her picture was made in the fifth century,
B.C.
Image of Athena is from arttoday.com. Used
with permission.
|
This is Athena's
owl on the national side of the Greek
coin. This is worth 4 drachmas. It's called a
tetradrachma.
(Athena's Owl coin loaned by Mr. L.
Neumann.)
|
This is a drawing of the new euro coin
from Greece. It is worth 1 euro. They used
Athena's owl from the old Greek coin. This is a
one euro coin.
|
To see the national sides of all the Greek coins,
click
here.
To learn more about Drachmas and Greece's banks,
click
here.
