Hermes (Greek stamp) (Vienna emission) . All these issues have been overprinted in many cases up to 1920: Value, colour and type of the sixteen stamps of common usage set, printed in "taille douce" in 1911 : General Philately: General Philately - Literature: Large Hermes Head - Traditional Philately: Large Hermes Head - Postal History: Hermes (Greek stamp) The Greek god Hermes, messenger of the Gods in the Greek mythology, is the representation chosen, in 1860, by the Kingdom of Greece to illustrate its first postal stamps. The first type, the "large Hermes head", was issued in October 1861, and stayed in circulation
Shooting the messenger him". A related sentiment was expressed in "Antigone" by Sophocles as "no one loves the messenger who brings bad news" or "no man delights in the bearer of bad news" (). The sentiment that one should not shoot the messenger was expressed by Shakespeare in "Henry IV, Part 2" (1598) and in "Antony and Cleopatra": Cleopatra threatens to treat the messenger's eyes as balls when told Antony has married another, eliciting the response "Gracious madam, I that do bring the news made not the match." The term also applied to a town crier, an officer of the court who made