Foreign Currency Page 2

Bank Notes from Around the World

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Syria: Wow! Syrian money is a museum!

Syria, 50 Pound note, 1982. On the front is an Amorite Spring Goddess from Mari, an ancient city on the Euphrates River from 1800 BC! From the Aleppo Museum, she's 5 feet (1.5 m.) tall, of white alabaster, and was used as a functioning fountain! Back side has the Citadel of Aleppo (Haleb), 13th Century AD. Watermark: Horse's head

Syria, 100 Pound note, 1982. The ruins of Palmyra, 100 AD, and its powerful Queen Xenobia on the front; modern grain silos on back. Watermark: Horse's head

Syria, 500 Pound note, 1986. All items front and back are artefacts of Ugarit culture, 1500 BC, found at Ras Shamra, and are now in the Damascus Museum. Front: The head is an ivory carving five inches (13 cm.) high. The goddess with two children is part of a relief carved in ivory; it is one of eight pannels in a plaque six inches (15 cm.) tall. Back: Bottom right is a clay tablet three inches (8 cm.) long listing the Ugarit alphabet, currently the earliest known alphabet in the world. The circular image in the center is the tooled design on the outside of a pure gold bowl eight inches (20 cm.) in diameter; this one is in the Aleppo Museum. Designs in the corners of front and back are examples of designs made by carved cylindrical rollers; these were used to make continuous designs by rolling across clay tablets; they are actual size on the money. Watermark: Horse's head (see it?)

Lebanon, 250 Pound note, 1988. Unknown ruin and desert scene on the front; The ruins of Ancient Tyre on back. Watermark: Round design Thanks to Jane Woodruff for contributing this image!