The Eurozone on May 2 began circulation of a new 5-euro banknote bearing the image of the goddess Europa, who, in Greek mythology, was a noble Phoenician woman whose beauty inspired the god Zeus to seduce her.
He appeared to her as a white bull and carried her away to Crete. Later she bore Zeus three sons, one of whom, Minos, became ruler of Crete.
The note will be used throughout the Eurozone of 17 countries. “Over the years, euro banknotes have become the most visible symbol of European integration,” European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said in January when the idea was unveiled.
“The single currency, the euro, was conceived as a key step towards that goal. Despite the challenges facing the euro area, progress was made in 2012 and I am confident that 2013 will bring a deepening of Economic and Monetary Union and will strengthen European integration,” he said.
The new notes being introduced are more difficult to copy, the ECB said. They have raised lines on both left and right edges and an emerald-colored number 5, which changes color to deep blue when the note is tilted. Also, Europa’s face appears as a watermark and hologram on the note.
The image used on the five-euro note comes from a vase in the Louvre Museum in Paris. The vase is more than 2,000 years old and was found in southern Italy. Other notes will also be reissued in what is only the second series of euro banknotes since the single currency’s launch on 1 January 1999. This series will be known as Europa.
The new series will be phased in over several years and original 5-euro notes will continue to be issued for several months alongside the new ones. The two series will circulate in parallel as legal tender. A total of 332 million people in 17 countries use euro banknotes. There are 15.7 billion of them in circulation.
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