📜 A 2,500-Year-Old Name

The Greek Drachma (GRD, δραχμή, Δρχ or ₯) is one of the oldest currency names in human history. The ancient drachma — a "fistful" of six metal rods (oboloi) — was minted from the 6th century BC across the Greek world; its name passed into Arabic as dirham and Armenian as dram. The modern drachma was reintroduced in May 1832, replacing the short-lived phoenix at par, after Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire. In 1868 Greece joined the Latin Monetary Union, fixing the drachma at the same silver content as the French franc.

The 20th century brought catastrophe. During the 1941–44 German occupation, hyperinflation destroyed the currency: by November 1944 a single loaf of bread cost trillions of drachmas. After liberation, old drachmas were exchanged at 50 trillion : 1, then again in 1954 at 1,000 : 1, with the new drachma pegged at 30 ₯/USD under Bretton Woods. From the early 1970s the drachma floated and depreciated steadily; Greek inflation averaged 7.1% per year between 1956 and 2026 — the highest in any Western European country — peaking at 26.6% in 1974. The drachma became a notional Euro subunit on 1 January 2001 at the irrevocable rate of 340.750 GRD = €1.00, and ceased to be legal tender on 28 February 2002. The Bank of Greece accepted banknotes for exchange until 1 March 2012; coins until 1 March 2004. After those deadlines, all unredeemed drachmas became collector items only.

💵 Final Series Banknotes (1983–1997)

The last drachma banknote series, issued by the Bank of Greece, depicted Greek heroes of the War of Independence on the obverse and historical figures or sites on the reverse. From smallest to largest, with their nominal Euro equivalents:

Earlier 1950s–70s notes featured King Paul, Aristotle, Pericles, and views of ancient sites; coins from 1973 onwards bore inscriptions reflecting first the military junta then (from 1974) the restored Republic. The drachma symbol "₯" (a cursive delta-rho ligature) was officially designated only in 1999 — too late to actually appear on banknotes or coins.

🪙 Final Series Coins

Final-era circulation coins ran from 1 drachma to 500 drachmas. The 1- and 2-drachma coins (1988) honoured female heroes Laskarina Bouboulina and Manto Mavrogenous; the 5-drachma showed Aristotle, the 10- Demokritos, the 20- the poet Dionysios Solomos, the 50- Solon, and the 100-drachma Alexander the Great. A set of six 500-drachma silver commemorative coins was issued in 2000 for the upcoming 2004 Athens Olympics — Greece's last commemorative drachma issue. By 1990 lepta (cents) had practically vanished from circulation; by the late drachma era the smallest practical coin was 5 drachmas.

📅 Key Events

🔢 Methodology

Fixed conversion: 340.750 ₯ = €1.00 (set 19 June 2000 by EU Council Regulation No. 1478/2000). Inverted: 1 ₯ ≈ €0.00294.

Inflation adjustment: uses OECD/World Bank Greek consumer-price-index coefficients (the same series the Bank of Greece references for legal indexations). The series runs 1956–2026; this tool uses 1955 as the starting year by back-extending one year from the 1956 base. Pre-1955 amounts are not directly comparable due to the May 1954 redenomination (1,000 : 1) — old drachmas should be divided by 1,000 to compare with this tool's scale, and pre-WWII drachmas were destroyed by hyperinflation in 1941–44.

Modern FX rates: mid-market reference rates near the page's last update, sourced from ECB / Yahoo Finance. They are illustrative — banks and money-changers will quote a markup.

Historical prices in "What Could You Buy?": typical Greek retail prices around the year 2000 (500ml water 50 ₯, kilo of oranges 100 ₯, souvlaki 250–300 ₯, frappe 500 ₯, bus/metro ticket 100 ₯, cinema ticket 1500 ₯, etc.) deflated to earlier years using the same OECD CPI coefficients. Sources: contemporary Greek-press references, the Bank of Greece archives, and Wikipedia's Modern drachma article (which documents specific 1990s–2002 retail prices).