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Greek 50 drachma coins
The name drachma is derived from the verb dratto ("to grasp"), as initially a drachma was a fistful (a "grasp") of six oboloi (metal sticks), which were used as a form of currency as early as 1100 BC. The 5th century BC Athenian tetradrachmon ("four drachmae") coin was the most widely used coin in the Greek world prior to the time of Alexander the Great.
After Alexander the Great's conquests, the name drachma was used in many of the Hellenistic kingdoms in the Middle East, including the Ptolemaic kingdom in Alexandria. The Arabic unit of currency known as dirham known from pre-Islamic times and afterwards, inherited its name from the drachma; the dirham is still the name of the official currencies of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. The Armenian dram also derives its name from the drachma.
The following 50 drachma coins have circulated in Greece until the introduction of the Common European Currency on January 1, 2002:
  | 50 drachmas - Dionisios Solomos 200 years Dionisios Solomos 1798-1998 Dionisios Solomos encouraged the nation emerging from Turkish bondage and his fine Hymn to Liberty (1823), written at the age of 25, became the national anthem of Greece. He was born in Zakinthos in 1978, which, by a quirk of history, was at that time a British Protectorate. His father, Count Salomon, was English and Solomos himself held a British Passport. Late in the 19th century, Greek scholars and writers concerned themselves with a systematization of the popular tongue for purposes of education and communication. Solomos is considered one of the leaders of this widespread movement, known as Demotikists, because the vernacular language is called Demotike ...
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  | 50 drachmas - Rigas-Fereos (Velestinlis) 200 years Rigas Fereos Velestinlis 1798-1998 Rigas-Fereos (Velestinlis) (1757-1798) was a forerunner and leading figure of the Greek enlightenment and confederation. He was the first to visualize the liberation of the Balkans from the Ottoman Empire and was executed by the Ottomans in 1798 after vainly attempting to launch a Balkan-wide revolt against Ottoman rule. Although Rigas was killed he put his ideas into practice. In 1814 three young Greeks, much influenced by his martyrdom, founded the Philiki Etairia, the secret "Friendly Society" which laid the organizational groundwork for the revolt ...
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  | 50 drachmas - Ioannis Makrygiannis On November 18, 1994 two commemorative coins were introduced to mark the 150th anniversary of Parliament's constitutional life (1844 - 1994). In June 1825, during the Greek War of Independence, Ibrahim Pasha attacked the mills of Argos with a force of 4,000 foot-soldiers and 600 cavalrymen from his regular army. General Makriyannis together with Ypsilantis, Mavromichalis and 300 men defended the position. After being reinforced by a detachment of the first regular Greek regiment, the Turko-Egyptian forces retreated in great disarray with heavy casualties. At the battle of Faliron on the 5th February, 1827, Makriyannis commanded the corps of Athenians, under the orders of General Gordon. ...
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  | 50 drachmas - Dimitrios Kallergis On November 18, 1994 two commemorative coins were introduced to mark the 150th anniversary of Parliament's constitutional life (1844 - 1994). Dionisios Solomos encouraged the nation emerging from Turkish bondage and his fine Hymn to Liberty (1823), written at the age of 25, became the national anthem of Greece. He was born in Zakinthos in 1978, which, by a quirk of history, was at that time a British Protectorate. Solomos is considered one of the leaders of this widespread movement, known as Demotikists, because the vernacular language is called Demotike ...
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  | 50 drachmas - Homer Homer is a name traditionally assigned to the author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two major epics of Greek antiquity. Nothing is known of Homer as an individual, and in fact it is a matter of controversy whether a single person can be said to have written both the Iliad and the Odyssey. Linguistic and historical evidence, however, suggests that the poems were composed in the Greek settlements on the west coast of Asia Minor sometime in the 8th century bC ...
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  | 50 drachmas - Solon Solon (639-559 B.C.) was a celebrated Athenian lawgiver and thinker, one of the fabled Seven Sages of Ancient Greece. In 594, in response to social crises stemming from class conflict, Solon was elected first archon (supreme government leader). With his new powers, Solon acted to end the crisis by repealing the repressive laws of Draco, freeing those enslaved by debt, and restructuring the class system by dividing citizens into four income classes and allowing members of all four groups to share power in the assembly and courts. His sweeping reforms are considered by many to be the foundations of Athenian democracy ...
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  | 50 drachmas - Solon Solon (639-559 B.C.) was a celebrated Athenian lawgiver and thinker, one of the fabled Seven Sages of Ancient Greece. In 594, in response to social crises stemming from class conflict, Solon was elected first archon (supreme government leader). With his new powers, Solon acted to end the crisis by repealing the repressive laws of Draco, freeing those enslaved by debt, and restructuring the class system by dividing citizens into four income classes and allowing members of all four groups to share power in the assembly and courts. His sweeping reforms are considered by many to be the foundations of Athenian democracy ...
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  | 50 drachmas - Military coup of April 21, 1967 In April 1967 a military coup led by Col. George Papadopoulos seized power, suspended the constitution and dissolved the Parliament. This coin commemorates the event, using the mythical bird Phoenix which is reborn from its ashes to symbolize the rebirth of Greece behind an armed soldier. The coup lasted for 7 years and ended with the invasion of Cyprus in 1974 ...
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The size of the images above are related to the diameter of the coins they represent.
