₯100 — One Hundred Drachmas
The artwork
Front: The helmeted head of Athena in profile, taken from the bronze Athena found at Piraeus and captioned as such in tiny letters below. Behind her, an oval rosette panel in blue, ochre and rust carries the value written out as ΔΡΑΧΜΑΙ ΕΚΑΤΟΝ, with the Athens date line and two signatures beneath. At lower right, a long neoclassical building with a colonnade and pedimented centre.
Back: Adamantios Korais, the scholar of the Greek Enlightenment whose work shaped the modern written language, in high collar and dark coat, engraved in deep red. Behind him, dense guilloche fields and olive and laurel foliage carry faint words in Greek. At the right stands the Venetian-baroque church front of Moni Arkadiou in Crete, named below the vignette.
In circulation
Dated 8 December 1978 in Athens and in everyday use through the 1980s. The arrival of a 100-drachma coin in 1990 pushed the note out of ordinary circulation, and higher denominations carried the load thereafter. The drachma itself was retired for the euro at the beginning of 2002.
Details
- IssuerΤΡΑΠΕΖΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ — Bank of Greece
- CurrencyDrachma (₯)
- DenominationOne Hundred Drachmas
- Collectedon the Greece journeys, 1998–2012
- SeriesDated ΕΝ ΑΘΗΝΑΙΣ, 8 Δεκεμβρίου 1978; serial 42Ψ 430383, two digits and a Greek letter, printed twice on the face
- PrinterBank of Greece printing works, credited at the foot of the back as ΙΔΡΥΜΑ ΤΡΑΠΕΖΗΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΛΛΑΔΟΣ
- SignatureTwo: ο Διευθυντής (the Director) and ο Διοικητής (the Governor)