The War of Hermes was a conflict between early hermetic houses over the validity of their creed. Set in Greece during the time of Pythagoras, these different groups, although their individual interpretations of the Truth seemed similar enough, despised each other and formed the Acousmatics (who would later evolve into the Order of Hermes) and the Mathematics (who would later evolve into the Order of Reason). Their struggles continued until 100 BCE, when the local autorities used their influence to supress the magicians and many of the struggling factions died out or splintered into tiny cults without much power.