Found out the Roman Empire had a functioning postal system way before us

I was reading some random history blog last week while waiting for my coffee to brew. Turns out the Romans had this thing called the cursus publicus. It was like their version of mail delivery. Horses stationed every few miles. Couriers could cover like 50 miles a day. That's faster than some rural mail routes today. I mean they had no internet obviously but they moved official messages quicker than I thought. Blew my mind for a Tuesday morning. Has anyone else stumbled on a random ancient tech that made you rethink history?

3 comments

3 Comments

lilyp374d agoOG Member

oh man i actually looked into this a while back and it was even more wild than people give it credit for lol. but one thing though, the cursus publicus wasn't really a postal system for regular people. it was more like a government courier service for official messages and tax stuff. like you had to have a special permit to use it, it wasn't like sending a letter to your grandma in gaul or whatever. still impressive that they had horse relays every 7 or 8 miles though.

betty_wells3d ago

Yeah, nothing says "efficient" like needing a government ID just to mail a letter.

west.richard2d ago

Fair enough @betty_wells but I think you're overstating the permit thing. It was strict but so is needing stamps and addresses today. The real point is they had a working system that moved messages across an empire with no cars or phones. That's still a big deal.