The taxonomic predicament of Hermann’s tortoise has been revised and revisited throughout their natural history on numerous occasions. Dating back as far as 1789, German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin dubbed this European tortoise “Testudo hermanni” after seeing it in the collection of Johann Hermann, a French naturalist. This same animal was previously described in 1783 by Johann Gottlob Schneider, also a German naturalist, but it was left unnamed. Johann David Schoepff then described it as Testudo graeca, Linnaeus, 1758 in 1792. This specimen, known as Gmelin’s holotype, still exists in the Strasbourg University Zoological Museum in Strasbourg, France. It wasn’t until 1833-1835 that Testudo graeca and Testudo hermanni were taxonomically divided by Gabriel Bibron, a French zoologist, but his nomenclature was incorrect as he labeled Hermann’s tortoise as Testudo graeca. This unfortunate classification remained for nearly a century. During this time, all Testudo hermanni tortoises were referred to as Testudo ibera, Pallas, 1814. Finally in 1925, Stanley Flower, British zoologist, resurrected the name Testudo hermanni. The revisiting of the nomenclature surrounding Hermann’s tortoises did not stop then. Circumstances such as the 2005-2006 discovery of T. hermanni being part of a clade in which Agrionemys, Indotestudo and Malacochersus exist through molecular analysis, led to the proposal of possibly placing it in the genus Agrionemys alongside the Russian tortoise. This was the projected solution to this paraphyly. As of 2016, the subspecies are still widely accepted as Testudo hermanni hermanni and Testudo hermanni boettgeri. However, in 2014, the synonyms Chersine hermanni hermanni and Chersine hermanni boettgeri were listed as acceptable in the Turtles of the World, 7th Edition: Annotated Checklist of Taxonomy, Synonymy, Distribution with Maps, and Conservation Status by the Turtle Taxonomy Working Group. Chersine dates back to Blasius Merrem’s “Essay on the Systematics of Amphibians” 1820, where the German herpetologist listed it as a replacement name for Testudo. Merrem incorporated Testudo (Chersine) graeca and then included Testudo hermanni as a synonym to it. Quite possibly the most familiar outdated taxa regarding Hermann’s tortoises is the literature published before 1987 where Testudo hermanni hermanni actually refers to the eastern subspecies while Testudo hermanni robertmertensi refers to the western. This was later revised accordingly but the reason for this taxa being so well-known is because many authors did not apply this new nomenclature after 1987. Therefore, it is sometimes uncertain as to which subspecies they may actually be referring to in their writings. To this day, although rare, a small few will still refer to the western subspecies as T. h. robertmertensi. Various taxonomic drops, elevations and synonyms have transpired over time as is the case with all chelonians and as additional research surfaces, more changes will inevitably become apparent. Conceivably, resurrecting the idea of elevation to full species rank but with newly described subspecies is what is on the horizon for the eastern and western Hermann’s tortoises.