GREEK FLAG OF 1821

During the first year of the War of Independence, the Greeks had no unified command, each local armed band using its own improvised flag. These flags, varying in colour and design, typically featured such symbols as the cross, figures of military saints, the double-headed eagle and others used by the Friendly Society (anchor, bird attacking snake, inversed crescent foreboding the demise of Ottoman rule). Also inscribed on the flags were phrases such as «ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΙΑ Ή ΘΑΝΑΤΟΣ» (“Freedom or Death”) and «Ή ΤΑΝ Ή ΕΠΙ ΤΑΣ» (“Either come back with your shield, or on it” – i.e. return victorious or die fighting –, as Spartan mothers famously told departing warriors). The flag of 1821 depicted on this coin is a forerunner of the one adopted in 1822. It features a blue cross that divides the white background into four equal parts.