Obverse (Image: Mythological Story of Europa)
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Reverse (Image: Europe, Denomination and 12 Stars)
[[posterous-content:pid___0]]With my employer constantly checking economic forecasts for the Euro / USD exchange rate, I decided to look through my Euro coin collection. I picked out Greece, one country that has led to the exchange rate being so volatile over the past few years.
All 2 Euro coins have the same reverse with a depiction of Europe, the denomination and the 12 stars on the flag of Europe. The coins alloy mixture creates two colors, silver and gold. The obverse is country-specific, but must show:
1) the year of issue and
2) the 12 european stars.
The Greek obverse depicts the abduction of Europa by Zeus, in the form of a bull. The continent "Europe" derived its name from this mythological character, a Phoenician who became the first queen of Crete. Zeus later portrayed the bull in the stars, the constellation we now know as Taurus.
An interesting aside - since Greece uses an alphabet other than Latin, it is allowed to show the denomination in Greek on the obverse side.
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