LOT OF 361 Large Hermes Head Stamps and 389 Cretan State Stamps Greece From 1864 to 1910 100% Authentic and Genuine Stamps! 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 up to 1886, it was then replaced by the second type, the "small Hermes head". The Cretan State on the island of Crete. In 1897, the Cretan Revolt led the Ottoman Empire to declare war on Greece, which led the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Russia to intervene on the grounds that the Ottoman Empire could no longer maintain control. It was the prelude to the island's final annexation to the Kingdom of Greece, which occurred de facto in 1908 and de jure in 1913 after the First Balkan War.