200 Euros Persian Wars

Issued to mark the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Thermopylae and the broader Persian Wars commemorations organized across Greece in 2020, this coin is part of a multi-denomination program coordinated with the Hellenic Ministry of Culture. The 2020 series drew on decades of earlier Greek commemorative numismatic tradition stretching back to the 1970s junta-era issues, though the anniversary itself carried obvious contemporary political resonance for a country that had spent the preceding decade under severe austerity imposed largely by foreign creditors.

Struck in 22-karat gold at the Bank of Greece's contracted minting facilities, mintages for this program were tightly limited — typically in the low hundreds for the higher-denomination gold pieces.