50 Drachmai 1964, Greece
| in Krause book | Number: 195a |
| Years of issue: | 01.10.1964 |
| Edition: | |
| Signatures: | Unknown signature |
| Serie: | 1964 - 1970 Issue |
| Specimen of: | 1964 |
| Material: | Cotton fiber |
| Size (mm): | 144 x 64 |
| Printer: | Printing works department of Bank of Greece (Idryma Trapezis tis Ellados), Athens |
* All pictures marked 
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Description
Watermark:
The Antikythera Ephebe is a bronze statue of a young man of languorous grace that was found in 1900 by sponge-divers in the area of an ancient shipwreck off the island of Antikythera, Greece. It was the first of the series of Greek bronze sculptures that the Aegean and Mediterranean yielded up in the twentieth century which have fundamentally altered the modern view of Ancient Greek sculpture.
The wreck site, which is dated about 70-60 BC, also yielded the Antikythera Mechanism, an astronomical calculating device, a characterful head of a Stoic philosopher, and a hoard of coins. The coins included a disproportionate quantity of Pergamene cistophoric tetradrachms and Ephesian coins, leading scholars to surmise that it had begun its journey on the Ionian coast, perhaps at Ephesus; none of its recovered cargo has been identified as from mainland Greece.
The Ephebe, which measures 1.94 meters, slightly over lifesize, was retrieved in numerous fragments. Its first restoration was revised in the 1950s, under the direction of Christos Karouzos, changing the focus of the eyes, the configuration of the abdomen, the connection between the torso and the right upper thigh and the position of the right arm; the re-restoration is universally considered a success.
The Ephebe does not correspond to any familiar iconographic model, and there are no known copies of the type. He held a spherical object in his right hand, and possibly may have represented Paris presenting the Apple of Discord to Aphrodite; however, since Paris is consistently depicted cloaked and with the distinctive Phrygian cap, other scholars have suggested a beardless, youthful Heracles with the Apple of the Hesperides. It has also been suggested that the youth is a depiction of Perseus holding the head of the slain Gorgon. At any rate, the loss of the context of the Antikythera Ephebe has stripped it of its original cultural meaning.
The Ephebe, dated by its style to about 340 BC, is one of the most brilliant products of Peloponnesian bronze sculpture; the individuality and character it displays have encouraged speculation on its possible sculptor. It is, perhaps, the work of the famous sculptor Euphranor, trained in the Polyclitan tradition, who did make a sculpture of Paris, according to Pliny. 
Avers:
On the left is an approximate image from the reverse of an ancient Greek coin - Tetradrachm, which was circulated in Syracuse (Sicily).
Motif - Arethusa (Ἀρέθουσα) and two dolphins, around.
Tetradrachm. Syracuse. Hieron 480 BC, Silver. Weight - 17.06 grams. Diameter - 23 mm.
Obverse - A charioteer on a chariot holds a quadriga (to the right), holds the reins and a whip, from above - Nika holds a wreath over the horses.
Reverse - ΣVRΑΚΟΣΙΟΝ Arethusa's head in a diadem (to the right), surrounded by four dolphins, swimming clockwise.
The coins of Arethusa are arguably the most beautiful minted by the ancient Greeks. Their rapid artistic development from the archaic types at the beginning of the fifth century B.C. to the masterpieces of Kimon and Euainetos at the end of that century parallels the rapid development of Greek civilization during that period.
Arethusa (Arethusa, Ἀρέθουσα) is the nymph of Syracuse. Arethusa was once one of the companions of Artemis.
Once, when, after hunting in the Elidian forests, she decided to swim in the river, the god of this river, Alpheus, saw her and fell in love with her. But Arethusa herself was indifferent to men, so she rushed into the water and tried to swim away from Alfey. However, he swam much better, so he soon caught up with her. At the last moment, when Alfei wanted to master Arethusa, she called for help from Artemis.
And the goddess intervened: she turned Aretusa into a source and laid a long tunnel in the depths of the earth, which reached the surface in the distance, on a small island of Ortigia, near Syracuse (Sicily). Only there Aretusa saw the light of day again. But, ultimately, she did not manage to protect herself from men. From the sea god Poseidon, she bore a son Abanta, the future king in Phocis.
The tetradrachms of Sicily are deservedly attributed to one of the masterpieces of ancient numismatics. This tetradrachm was probably already in use during the famous Termopilsky battle in 480 BC. er we are known for the feat of 300 Spartans headed by the king of Sparta - Leonid.
In Syracuse, then Hieron I ruled - a tyrant of Syracuse (Sicily) from the Dinomenid dynasty, who ruled in 478-466. BC er With huge funds, Hieron I led a large construction in Syracuse. At his court some poets Simonides, Pindar, and Vakhilid lived for some time, who glorified his name in their odes.
Hieron inherited power in Syracuse after his elder brother, the famous Gelon. He did not at all resemble his predecessor, because he was avid and unjust. He did not have sincerity and honesty at all. If Gelon was not afraid to appear on public holidays without any protection, then Hieron never went out to the people without bodyguards. Having no confidence in his fellow citizens, every time he sent his “eavesdroppers” to the place where a friendly meeting or meeting took place.
Nevertheless, his rule was also not without glory and splendor. Syracuse continued to remain the richest and most powerful city in the whole Greek world. Virtually the entire Greek part of Sicily (the Sicilian power of Gelon) was in their power. The inhabitants of Naxos and Katana Hieron relocated to Leontiny, and on the liberated land he founded in 476 BC. er new city - Etna. Ten thousand colonists were sent here: half were from the Peloponnese, half were citizens of the strongly overgrown Syracuse. The ruler here became the son of Hieron - Dinomen.
Lower, right is an ancient Greek trireme. According to the testimony of Pliny the Elder, in the III century BC. er Ptolemy Philopator built a trireme with four dozen rows of oars (Tessaraconter) with a hull 124 meters long, 17 meters wide with a freeboard of 22 meters, displacement of 3000 tons. A similar giant ship was built in Syracuse, with the tyrant Hieron (displacement 4200 tons) (one time with a coin on a banknote!).
A trireme (derived from Latin: trirēmis" with three banks of oars"; Ancient Greek: τριήρης triērēs, literally "three-rower") was an ancient vessel and a type of galley that was used by the ancient maritime civilizations of the Mediterranean, especially the Phoenicians, ancient Greeks and Romans.
The trireme derives its name from its three rows of oars, manned with one man per oar. The early trireme was a development of the penteconter, an ancient warship with a single row of 25 oars on each side (i.e., a single-banked boat), and of the bireme (Ancient Greek: διήρης, diērēs), a warship with two banks of oars, of Phoenician origin. The word dieres does not appear until the Roman period. According to Morrison and Williams, "It must be assumed the term pentekontor covered the two-level type". As a ship it was fast and agile, and it was the dominant warship in the Mediterranean during the 7th to 4th centuries BC, after which it was largely superseded by the larger quadriremes and quinqueremes. Triremes played a vital role in the Persian Wars, the creation of the Athenian maritime empire, and its downfall in the Peloponnesian War.
The term is sometimes also used to refer to medieval and early modern galleys with three files of oarsmen per side as triremes.
Based on all archeological evidence, the design of the trireme most likely pushed the technological limits of the ancient world. After gathering the proper timbers and materials it was time to consider the fundamentals of the trireme design. These fundamentals included accommodations, propulsion, weight and waterline, center of gravity and stability, strength, and feasibility. All of these variables are dependent on one another; however a certain area may be more important than another depending on the purpose of the ship.
The arrangement and number of oarsmen is the first deciding factor in the size of the ship. For a ship to travel at high speeds would require a high oar-gearing, which is the ratio between the outboard length of an oar and the inboard length; it is this arrangement of the oars which is unique and highly effective for the trireme. The ports would house the oarsmen with a minimal waste of space. There would be three files of oarsmen on each side tightly but workably packed by placing each man outboard of, and in height overlapping, the one below, provided that thalamian tholes were set inboard and their ports enlarged to allow oar movement. Thalamian is the English term for the Greek word, thalamios, which was the name of the oarsmen in the lowest file of the triereis; zygian is the English term for the Greek word, zygios, which were the oarsmen in the middle file of the triereis, and thranite is the English term for the Greek word, thranites, which were the oarsmen in the uppermost file of the triereis. Tholes were pins that acted as fulcrums to the oars that allowed them to move. The center of gravity of the ship is low because of the overlapping formation of the files that allow the ports to remain closer to the ships walls. A lower center of gravity would provide adequate stability.
The trireme was constructed to maximize all traits of the ship to the point where if any changes were made the design would be compromised. Speed was maximized to the point where any less weight would have resulted in considerable losses to the ship's integrity. The center of gravity was placed at the lowest possible position where the Thalamian tholes were just above the waterline which retained the ship's resistance to waves and the possible rollover. If the center of gravity were placed any higher, the additional beams needed to restore stability would have resulted in the exclusion of the Thalamian tholes due to the reduced hull space. The purpose of the area just below the center of gravity and the waterline known as the hypozomata was to allow bending of the hull when faced with up to 90 kN of force. The calculations of forces that could have been absorbed by the ship are arguable because there is not enough evidence to confirm the exact process of jointing used in ancient times. In a modern reconstruction of the ship, a polysulphide sealant was used to compare to the caulking that evidence suggests was used; however this is also argued because there is simply not enough evidence to authentically reproduce the triereis seams.
Triremes required a great deal of upkeep in order to stay afloat, as references to the replacement of ropes, sails, rudders, oars and masts in the middle of campaigns suggest. They also would become waterlogged if left in the sea for too long. In order to prevent this from happening, ships would have to be pulled from the water during the night. The use of lightwoods meant that the ship could be carried ashore by as few as 140 men. Beaching the ships at night however, would leave the troops vulnerable to surprise attacks. While well-maintained triremes would last up to 25 years, during the Peloponnesian War, Athens had to build nearly 20 triremes a year to maintain their fleet of 300.
The Athenian trireme had two great cables of about 47 mm. in diameter and twice the ship's length called hypozomata (undergirding), and carried two spares. They were possibly rigged fore and aft from end to end along the middle line of the hull just under the main beams and tensioned to 13.5 tonnes force. The hypozomata were considered important and secret: their export from Athens was a capital offense. This cable would act as a stretched tendon straight down the middle of the hull, and would have prevented hogging. Additionally, hull plank butts would remain in compression in all but the most severe sea conditions, reducing working of joints and consequent leakage. The hypozomata would also have significantly braced the structure of the trireme against the stresses of ramming, giving it an important advantage in combat. According to material scientist J.E. Gordon: "The hupozoma was therefore an essential part of the hulls of these ships; they were unable to fight, or even to go to sea at all, without it. Just as it used to be the practice to disarm modern warships by removing the breech-blocks from the guns, so, in classical times, disarmament commissioners used to disarm triremes by removing the hupozomata."
Dimensions.
Excavations of the ship sheds (neōsoikoi) at the harbour of Zea in Piraeus, which was the main war harbour of ancient Athens, were first carried out by Dragatsis and Wilhelm Dörpfeld in the 1880s. These have provided us with a general outline of the Athenian trireme. The sheds were ca. 40 meters long and just 6 m wide. These dimensions are corroborated by the evidence of Vitruvius, whereby the individual space allotted to each rower was 2 cubits. With the Doric cubit of 0.49 m., this results in an overall ship length of just under 37 m. The height of the sheds' interior was established as 4.026 meters, leading to estimates that the height of the hull above the water surface was ca. 2.15 meters. Its draught was relatively shallow, about 1 metre, which, in addition to the relatively flat keel and low weight, allowed it to be beached easily.
Construction.
The mortise and tenon joint method of hull construction employed in ancient vessels.
Construction of the trireme differed from modern practice. The construction of a trireme was expensive and required around 6000 man-days of labor to complete. The ancient Mediterranean practice was to build the outer hull first, and the ribs afterwards. To secure and strengthen the hull, cables (hypozōmata) were employed, fitted in the keel and stretched by means of windlasses. Hence the triremes were often called "girded" when in commission.
The materials from which the trireme was constructed were an important aspect of its design. The three principal timbers included fir, pine, and cedar. Primarily the choice in timber depended on where the construction took place. For example, in Syria and Phoenicia, triereis were made of cedar because pine was not readily available. Pine is stronger and more resistant to decay, but it is heavy unlike fir which was used because it was lightweight. The frame and internal structure would consist of pine and fir for a compromise between durability and weight.
Another very strong type of timber is oak; this was primarily used for the hulls of triereis to withstand the force of hauling ashore. Other ships would usually have their hulls made of pine because they would usually come ashore via a port or with the use of an anchor. It was necessary to ride the triereis onto the shores because there simply was no time to anchor a ship during war and gaining control of enemy shores was crucial in the advancement of an invading army. (Petersen) The joints of the ship required finding wood that was capable of absorbing water but was not completely dried out to the point where no water absorption could occur. There would be gaps between the planks of the hull when the ship was new, but once submerged the planks would absorb the water and expand thus forming a watertight hull.
Problems would occur for example when shipbuilders would use green wood for the hull; when green timber is allowed to dry it loses moisture which causes cracks in the wood that could cause catastrophic damages to the ship. The sailyards and masts were preferably made from fir because fir trees were naturally tall and provided these parts in usually a single piece. Making durable rope consisted of using both papyrus and white flax; the idea to use such materials is suggested by evidence to have originated in Egypt. In addition, ropes began being made from a variety of esparto grass in the later third century BC.
The use of lightwoods meant that the ship could be carried ashore by as few as 140 men, but also that the hull soaked up water, which adversely affected its speed and maneuverability. But it was still faster than other warships.
Once the triremes were seaworthy, it is argued that they were highly decorated with, "eyes, nameplates, painted figureheads, and various ornaments". These decorations were used both to show the wealth of the patrician and to make the ship frightening to the enemy. The home port of each trireme was signaled by the wooden statue of a deity located above the bronze ram on the front of the ship. In the case of Athens, since most of the fleet's triremes were paid for by wealthy citizens, there was a natural sense of competition among the patricians to create the "most impressive" trireme, both to intimidate the enemy and to attract the best oarsmen. Of all military expenditure, triremes were the most labor- and (in terms of men and money) investment-intensive.
Centered are three dolphins, swimming around denomination.
Denominations in numerals are in three corners, in words centered.
Revers:
Composition of an old and a modern shipyard.
Shipbuilding in Greece has a long history. Since ancient times, the Greeks were skillful builders of ships and skillful sailors. They made long voyages in the Mediterranean and Black seas. It is enough to recall the ancient myths about the maritime campaigns of the Argonauts behind the Golden Fleece, the colonization of the coast of Crimea and the Caucasus by the ancient Greeks.
The development of shipbuilding was seriously influenced by the peculiarities of the country's historical path and the insular position of a large part of its territory. The rapid development of trade and the need to maintain links between the islands and the mainland required the construction of ships and boats.
In the period between the two world wars, shipbuilding in Greece developed slowly due to its economic backwardness.
The possibilities of shipbuilding began to expand on the basis of domestic shipbuilding, which received intensive development in the 60-70s, when several large and well-equipped shipbuilding enterprises were built in the country. All this contributed to the growth of the national merchant fleet, which at the beginning of 1990 consisted of more than 2,000 different vessels with a total gross tonnage of 21.5 million per. t * and came to one of the first places in the world.
There are no specialized military shipbuilding plants in Greece. According to foreign press reports, there are more than 40 shipbuilding and two ship repair enterprises in the country that carry out naval orders. They have 80 construction sites, including 25 stocks of 70 to 95 meters in length, 20 in lengths of 100 to 120 meters, one of 132 meters and two of 190 meters, as well as one dry repair and construction dock of 327 meters for ships and ships with a deadweight of up to 250 thousand tons. The main part of shipbuilding and ship repair enterprises is located in the Athens area or at a distance of no more than 30 km from the capital. The number of people employed in them exceeds 14 thousand people.
The production capacity of the Greek shipbuilding industry at the beginning of 1990 is estimated by foreign experts at 500 thousand tons of deadweight per year. It is believed that the country's shipyards are capable of processing 80-90 thousand tons of steel annually. Up to 1000 different ships and vessels per year with a total gross tonnage of up to 20 million tons could be repaired on these shipyards.
Despite the absence of shipyards specializing in the construction of only warships, in 1986 the Greek government adopted a shipbuilding program for 1987-1992, which envisages the construction of four MEKO 200 URO designation frigates, three tank landing ships, ten rocket boats, eight tankers and auxiliary ships single floater It was planned to allocate $ 1.3 billion for the implementation of this program, of which over $ 1 billion was spent on the construction of URO frigates and $ 200 million for tank-landing ships. In addition, 62 million were allocated for the repair and modernization of naval ships in service. . dollars. It was also envisaged to overhaul and upgrade five squadron destroyers, five frigates and four submarines. (Article of the late 1980s .rus)
Denominations in numerals are in three corners, in words lower, centered.
Comments:
Engravers: L. Orphanos, G. Angelopoulos.
Designers: G. Velissaridis, I. Stinis.
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