Greek Banknotes 100 Drachmai banknote 1955 Themistocles
Bank of Greece
Bank of Greece
Obverse: Bust of Themistocles strategos with Corinthian helmet; Hadrianic Roman copy of a Greek sculpture of c. 400 BC; Ancient Greek Trireme at bottom right. Trireme was a warship, that many times people used it as cargo ship as well.
Reverse: The Naval Battle of Navarino, 20 October 1827.
Printer: IETA - Idryma Trapezas Ellados - Bank of Greece Printing Works.
TPAΠEZA THΣ EΛΛAΔOΣ - BANK OF GREECE
1954-1956 Issue
10 Drachma 20 Drachma 50 Drachma
100 Drachma 500 Drachma 1000 Drachma
Themistocles
Themistocles (Themistokles; "Glory of the Law"; c. 524–459 BC) was an Athenian politician and general. He was one of a new breed of non-aristocratic politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy. As a politician, Themistocles was a populist, having the support of lower class Athenians, and generally being at odds with the Athenian nobility. Elected archon in 493 BC, he convinced the polis to increase the naval power of Athens, a recurring theme in his political career. During the first Persian invasion of Greece, he fought at the Battle of Marathon, and was possibly one of the 10 Athenian strategoi (generals) in that battle.
Battle of Navarino
The naval Battle of Navarino was fought on 20 October 1827, during the Greek War of Independence (1821–32), in Navarino Bay (modern-day Pylos), on the west coast of the Peloponnese peninsula, in the Ionian Sea.
An Ottoman armada, which, in addition to imperial warships, included squadrons from the eyalets (provinces) of Egypt, Tunis and Algiers, which was destroyed by an Allied force of British, French and Russian vessels. It was the last major naval battle in history to be fought entirely with sailing ships, although most ships fought at anchor. The Allies' victory was achieved through superior firepower and gunnery.
The sinking of the Ottomans' Mediterranean fleet saved the fledgling Greek Republic from collapse. But it required two more military interventions, by Russia in the form of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–9 and by a French expeditionary force to the Peloponnese to force the withdrawal of Ottoman forces from central and southern Greece and to secure Greek independence.