day of the stamp - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 1968 - 3.50 Shilling

The God of the Wandering, Hermes, served the gods as a messenger. He is the symbol of the active, executing God-power, which passes through all regions of the world - wandering in all things, familiar with all ways. Even the Greeks, but also the Romans gave him many nicknames to keep his functions apart. From the god of nature, fertility and herds to the god of healing, from the God of the ways to the god of merchants and thieves - as later mocking put together - reaches the wide scale of his sphere of protection. In between were many other areas, such as cunning cunning, language and rhetoric. As a messenger, Hermes can also be seen twice in the façade reliefs at the former post office Purkersdorf near Vienna, one of which is depicted on the present stamp. Here the god wears only one cloak out of one piece, which is held light by the right armpit and the right upper arm, leaving the otherwise unclothed body almost free, but surrounding it in many beautiful, very moving folds. Especially beautiful are the folds arched in the wind above and below the outstretched left arm. This is aptly implied by the wind-swept hurry of the god. On his head, the youthful beardless god has a bell-shaped hat with two wings, under which one can still see the round-cut locks of hair.