'national emblem', [eθˈnosimo] ⓘ) or national seal of Greece comprises a white Greek cross on a blue escutcheon, surrounded by two laurel branches.

The design is a heraldic representation of the Greek national flag adopted in 1822, which featured a white cross on a blue field.

The Law regulating the coat of arms does not specify a tincture for the laurel branches, implying proper (or vert, i.e. green).

Other designs adopted prior to 1832 made heavy use of ancient Greek imagery, such as Athena and her owl, as well as other popular revolutionary symbols such as the Phoenix rising from its ashes, symbolising the rebirth of Greece as an independent state.

[2] Rigas' proposal was composed of a club of Heracles, with the words Liberty – Equality – Fraternity superimposed on it, and three crosses topping it.

[2] The club, sewn onto a white cockade, would be the identifying mark by which "free democrats and equal brothers" would recognise each other.

7 January] 1833,[13] when the regency council which was governing Greece on behalf of its first king, Otto, announced the official design for the coat of arms.

Approved by Prime Minister Josef Ludwig von Armansperg, it detailed the entire heraldic achievement and described, in Greek and German, its constituent parts.

The lesser arms are described as an "equidistant azure escutcheon, pointed towards the middle of its lower side, and containing the Greek cross, argent, bearing at its centre an inescutcheon with the lozenges of the Royal House of Bavaria.

[13] The entire composition was contained within a mantle and pavilion, purple[14] on the outside and ermine on the inside, topped again with the royal crown.

[15] This design, described both as a 'national emblem' (ἐθνόσημον) and a 'cockade' (κοκάρδα) in Greek and as the 'national cockade' (National-Kokarde) in German, was to be worn on caps by uniformed military and civilian personnel as well as on the hats of private citizens that wished to display their national pride.

[16] The shield remained surmounted by the royal crown but the supporters were changed to figures of Heracles,[16] similar to the 'wild men' of the coat of arms of Denmark.

[17][18] The Order of the Redeemer was also added, while the new royal motto, "Ἰσχύς μου ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ λαοῦ" ("The people's love is my strength"), was also introduced in gold lettering on an azure band.

[7] This particular emblem was criticised for being inappropriate and violating heraldic rules, before being again replaced by the simple shield following the fall of Pangalos and his dictatorship.

This greater arms included all the former elements, as well as the three crowns of the former Kalmar Union, the stockfish of Iceland, the ram of Faroe Islands, the polar bear of Greenland, the lion and hearts of the King of the Goths, the wyvern of the King of the Wends, the swan with a crown of Stormarn, and the knight on horseback of Dithmarschen.

During the 1941–1944 Axis occupation of Greece, the Greek puppet government used the republican escutcheon, "crowned with the depiction of the mythological Phoenix bird rising from its ashes, surrounded in between its wings by a contour of rays".

The constituent act that abolished the monarchy bore just the inscription "Government Gazette of the Hellenic Republic" (June 1, GG Issue 118 A).

It was subsequently used on military uniforms, passports and other official uses, while seals and material adhering to previous designs were also considered valid.

The 2003 version of the Civil Service Communications Regulations provide a scalable vector graphic file of the coat of arms in black, without specifying any colours.