ROMAN MAIL

From Emperors to commoners, the Romans were in the habit of corresponding by letter. We have found a sizeable number of their letters, inked on papyrus scraps discarded in Egyptian rubbish tips, stamped on thin lead plates in Greece, and scribbled on thin sheets of sanded wood. These letters have given us great insights into the daily life of the Roman empire, but what they have not told us is how these letters reached their destination.

Philip Matyszak

LIVING LIKE AN ANCIENT CORRESPONDING ACROSS THE EMPIRE Ancient Rome had no universal postal service and how a letter travelled to its recipient depended greatly on the status of the sender. At the top of the mailing list was the Roman emperor and his functionaries. For them, an efficient mail service was not a matter of exchanging social niceties but an essential component of a functional empire. As a result, from the time of Augustus, Rome had a dedicated courier service – the Cursus Publicus – which carried imperial mail to the far corners of the empire. Really urgent messages were sent by ship if the conditions were right, and otherwise by horseman. A courier on horseback had a set of dedicated waystations (mansiones) along his route which allowed him a…

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Ancient History (Digital) - 1 Issue, AH 46

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