Theatre masks representing two New Comedy characters, a young woman and a slave, from a mosaic of the second century AD (Capitoline Museums, Rome); around, the construction plan of a Roman theatre and ‘RI’, the monogram of the Italian Republic; on the left, ‘R’, and on the right, ‘LDS’, the initials of the engraver; below, ‘184 A. C.’, ‘2016’ and ‘PLAUTO’. The coin’s outer ring bears the 12 stars of the European Union.

New Comedy followed the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and lasted throughout the reign of the Macedonian rulers, ending about 260 BC. It is comparable to situation comedy and comedy of manners. The three best-known playwrights belonging to this genre are Menander, Philemon and Diphilus. Philemon’s comedies tended to be smarter, and broader in tone, than Menander’s; while Diphilus used mythology as well as everyday life in his works. Both had their comedies survive only in fragments, but both also had their plays translated and adapted by Plautus.

Engraver: Luciana De Simoni (LDS)

A geographical map of Western Europe spans the outer ring and inner core on the right side of the coin. The inscription 2 EURO is superimposed over the map of Europe, with the numeral “2” located in an open field representing the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

12 stars are located on the right side of the outer ring, with six stars atop the map of Europe and six stars below it; six vertical stripes cut across the inner core of the coin, visually connecting the upper and lower star segments.

Luc Luycx, a designer at the Royal Belgian Mint, designed the Euro’s common reverse; his initials, LL, are seen on the right side of the design, just under the “O” in “EURO.”

The sequence "2 ★" repeated six times alternately upright and inverted