Depicts a drachma coin with a griffin left, surrounded by the inscription in Greek (100th Anniversary of the Union of Thrace), a palmette (the mint mark of the Greek Mint) on the bottom left, the date on the bottom right, the state name below. The twelve stars of the European Union surround the design on the outer ring.

On top of griffin an inscription Abdera (ΑΒΔΗΡΑ). In classical antiquity, it was a major Greek polis on the Thracian coast. The successful foundation occurred in 544 BC, when the majority of the people of Teos (including the poet Anacreon) migrated to Abdera to escape the Persian yoke. The chief coin type, a griffon, is identical with that of Teos.

The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion; the head and wings of an eagle; and sometimes an eagle's talons as its front feet. Because the lion was traditionally considered the king of the beasts, and the eagle the king of the birds, by the Middle Ages the griffin was thought to be an especially powerful and majestic creature.

Engraver: Georgios Stamatopoulos

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.”

HELLENIC REPUBLIC in Greek.