Hi Rodney
Tiresias came across two snakes in the act of copulation and he used
his staff to divide them. They then entwined round the staff. As a
result of this deed Tiresias was turned into a woman! There is a
surrealist play I remember from my yourth "Les mammaires de Tiresias"
referring to the time he spent as a woman. He remained as a woman until
he could find another pair of copulating snakes - a year! The symbol
was later adopted and acquired by Hermes and became winged and as this
is the caduceus, the symbol of medecine!

On "fasces" remember there is a fasces carved on each of the upright
below the arms on the seat that the statue of Lincoln on Capital Hill
is sitting! I don't know whether these would show up on a stamp though.

Rodney