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 back emissaries or diplomatic envoys sent by the enemy unharmed. During the early Warring States period of China, the concept of chivalry and virtue prevented the executions of messengers sent by opposing sides. An early literary citing of "shooting the messenger" is in Plutarch's "Lives states": "The first messenger, that gave notice of Lucullus' coming was so far from pleasing Tigranes that, he had his head cut off for his pains; and no man dared to bring further information. Without any intelligence at all, Tigranes sat while war was already blazing around him, giving ear only to those who flattered