The Royal Road and the Persian courier system

Darius I built a 2,700-km road from Susa to Sardis with relay stations; couriers on fresh horses carried messages faster than anything before.

Why it matters

The first engineered, state-run communication network at continental scale. Herodotus' famous line about these messengers — 'neither snow nor rain...' — still describes the ideal of a delivery service.

Threads

This event sits on Communication and Transportation.

Related events

• 550 BCE – 330 BCE

  Cyrus founds the Achaemenid Persian empire

  Cyrus the Great conquered Media, Lydia and Babylon; his successors ruled the largest empire yet seen through satrapies, tribute and relative tolerance of local customs and religions.

  Empires · persia

• 1206 – 1294

  The Mongol empire and the Yam relay network

  The largest contiguous land empire in history ran on the yam: a network of relay stations where couriers changed horses, moving messages hundreds of kilometres a day.

  Empires

• 1844

  'What hath God wrought': the telegraph

  Samuel Morse's line between Washington and Baltimore carried the first formal message in code — information traveling without any physical carrier to see.

  Communication · americas

From this site

• Writing · 3,000 Years of Communication Technology10 min read

Sources

• Encyclopædia Britannica — Royal Road