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The drachma ( ) was the official currency of modern Greece from 1832 until the launch of the euro in 2001.
In 1868, Greece joined the Latin Monetary Union and the drachma became equal in weight and value to the French franc. The new coinage issued consisted of copper coins of 1, 2, 5 and 10 lepta, with the 5- and 10-lepton coins bearing the names obolos (ὀβολός) and diobolon (διώβολον), respectively; silver coins of 20 lepta, 50 lepta, 1 drachma, 2 drachmae and 5 drachmae and gold coins of 5, 10 and 20 drachmae. (Very small numbers of 50- and 100-drachma coins in gold were also issued.)
In 1894, cupro-nickel 5-, 10- and 20-lepton coins were introduced. No 1- or 2-lepton coin had been issued since the late 1870s. Silver coins of 1 and 2 drachmae were last issued in 1911, and no coins were issued between 1912 and 1922, during which time the Latin Monetary Union collapsed due to World War I.
Between 1926 and 1930, a new coinage was introduced for the new Hellenic Republic, consisting of cupro-nickel coins in denominations of 20 lepta, 50 lepta, 1 drachma, and 2 drachmae; nickel coins of 5 drachmae; and silver coins of 10 and 20 drachmae. These were the last coins issued for the first modern drachma, none were issued for the second.
When Greece finally achieved its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1828, the Greek Phoenix was introduced as the monetary unit; its use was short-lived, however, and in 1832 the phoenix was replaced by the drachma, adorned with the image of King Otto of Greece, who reigned as modern Greece's first king from 1832 to 1862. The drachma was divided into 100 lepta. In 2002 the drachma ceased to be legal tender after the euro, the monetary unit of the European Union, became Greece's sole currency.
From 1917 to 1920, the Greek government took control of issuing small change notes under Law 991/1917. During that time, the government issued denominations of 10 and 50 lepta, and 1, 2 and 5 drachmae. The National Bank of Greece introduced 1,000-drachma notes in 1901, and the Bank of Greece introduced 5,000-drachma notes in 1928. The economic depression of the 1920s affected many nations around the globe, including Greece. In 1922, the Greek government issued a forced loan in order to finance their growing budget deficit. On 1 April 1922, the government decreed that half of all bank notes had to be surrendered and exchanged for 6.5% bonds. The notes were then cut in half, with the portion bearing the Greek crown standing in for the bonds while the other half was exchanged for a new issue of central bank notes at half the original value. The Greek government again issued notes between 1940 and 1944, in denominations ranging from 50 lepta to 20.
During the Nazi Germany–Italian occupation of Greece from 1941 to 1944, catastrophic hyperinflation caused much higher denominations to be issued, culminating in 100,000,000,000-drachma notes in 1944. The Italian occupation authorities in the Ionian Islands printed their own currency, the Ionian drachma.
| + Greek banknotes of the 1942–1944 inflation |
| 1942 |
| 5,000 |
| 10,000 |
| 1943 |
| 5,000 |
| 25,000 |
| 1944 |
| 100,000 |
| 500,000 |
| 1,000,000 |
| 5,000,000 |
| 10,000,000 |
| 25,000,000 |
| 200,000,000 |
| 500,000,000 |
| 2,000,000,000 |
| 10,000,000,000 |
| 100,000,000,000 |
A 20-drachma coin in cupro-nickel with an image of Europa on the obverse was issued in the first series of 1973, alongside unholed aluminium lepta coins (10 and 20 lepta). Following the abolition of the monarcy by the junta in June 1973, several new coin types were introduced: nickel-brass (50 lepta, 1 and 2 drachmae) and cupro-nickel (5, 10 and 20 drachmae). These coins carried the design of the phoenix rising from the flame on the obverse-but now without the soldier, a nod to the "liberalization plan" pursued by Papadopoulos, and used the country's new designation as the "Hellenic Republic", replacing the coins also issued in 1973 as the Kingdom of Greece with King Constantine II's portrait.
Following the downfall of the dictatorship, a new series of all 8 denominations was introduced in 1976 carrying images of Pericles, Democritus and Aristotle on the 20-, 10- and 5-drachma coins respectively and Georgios Karaiskakis, Konstantinos Kanaris and Markos Botsaris on the 1-drachma, 2-drachma and 50-lepton coins respectively. The 20- and 10-lepton coins would be the only circulating, non-commemorative coins to bear the post-1975 Coat of arms of Greece on the obverse.
Cupro-nickel 50-drachma coins were introduced in 1980, featuring Solon. Starting in 1982, all coins now bore the inscription drachmes rather than the katharevousa drachmai type, reflecting the resolution of the Greek language question. In 1986, aluminium-bronze 50-drachma coins were introduced, followed by new, smaller copper 1-drachma (Laskarina Bouboulina) and 2-drachma (Manto Mavrogenous) pieces in 1988 and aluminium-bronze coins of 20 drachmes (Dionysios Solomos) and 100 drachmes (Alexander the Great) in 1990. In 2000, a set of 6 themed 500-drachma coins were issued to commemorate the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
in circulation at the time of the adoption of the euro were
===Gallery===
in circulation at the time of the adoption of the euro were
| [1] | 50δρ. | €0.1467 | Blue | Head of Poseidon | Laskarina Bouboulina directing cannon fire at two Ottoman ships at Palamidi during the Greek War of Independence | Head of the Charioteer of Delphi |
| [2] | 100δρ. | €0.2935 | Brown and violet (obverse); Maroon, green and orange (reverse) | Head of Piraeus Athena; Christian Hansen's National and Kapodistrian University of Athens building | Adamantios Korais; Arkadi Monastery, Crete | |
| [3] | 200δρ. | €0.5869 | Deep orange | Rigas Feraios; Feraios singing his patriotic song at lower right | Nikolaos Gyzis's Krifo scholio ("secret school") | Bust of Philip of Macedonia |
| [4] | 500δρ. | €1.47 | Deep green | Ioannis Kapodistrias; Capodistrias's home on Corfu | Old Fortress, Corfu City | Head of the Charioteer of Delphi |
| [5] | 1,000δρ. | €2.93 | Brown | Bust of Apollon of Olympia | Myron's Discobolus; Temple of Hera, Olympia | |
| [6] | 5,000δρ. | €14.67 | Deep Blue or Purple and yellow-green | Theodoros Kolokotronis; Church of the Holy Apostles, Kalamata | Karytaina, Arcadia | Bust of Philip of Macedonia |
| [7] | 10,000δρ. | €29.35 | Deep purple | Georgios Papanikolaou; microscope | Asclepius |
===Gallery (banknotes)===
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