Occupation Octagonals
Stamp Magazine|October 2017

Produced for use by an occupying army which was already in full retreat, Thessaly’s one and only issue comprised the world’s first octagonal stamps

Occupation Octagonals

Thessaly may be close to the centre of modern Greece, but it has a chequered history, not all of it Hellenic.

Originally known as Aeolia, and mentioned in Homer’s Odyssey, it has been part of the Persian, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman empires. Even after the Greeks regained their independence in 1830, they had to wait more than 50 years before they could incorporate Thessaly into the country, in 1881.

Ironically, its short-lived but distinctive stamp issue dates from 1898, when it was occupied once again by the Turks.

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