The main road of the Persians was the Royal Road. It started at Susa, the capital, in what is now southwestern Iran, and ran to Sardis and Ephesus. Along these roads were numerous stations. The great Royal Road of Darius can still be traced in places over the uplands of Asia Minor by the wheel-ruts of chariots and other vehicles worn in the surface rock. Really good roads are apparently a Roman invention, but the great trunk roads of the Persian Empire, over which the King's posts travelled faster than anything else that was mortal, must have been kept in decent repair. This also contributed to the freedom and activity of commerce.
The Persian empire was founded by Cyrus the Great. He himself tells us who he was. "I am Cyrus," he says on one of the Babylonian cylinders, "king of hosts, great king, mighty king, king of Babylon, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of the four regions; son of Cambyses, great king, king of Anshan ; grandson of Cyrus, great king, king of Anshan ; great-grandson of Teispes, great king, king of Anshan." Cyrus was succeeded by his son Cambyses, a man of suspicious and ungovernable temper. His reign is marked by the conquest of Egypt and Libya. Cambyses left no son, and upon his death Darius proclaimed himself king.
When Darius had securely established his authority over all parts of his empire, he set to work on the reorganization of its administration. Before the reign of Darius I the government of the Persian Empire was like that of all the great empires that had preceded it, save the Assyrian in a measure and for a short space of time; that is to say, it consisted of a great number of subject states, which were allowed to retain their own kings and manage their- own affairs, only paying tribute and furnishing contingents, when called upon in time of war, to the Great King. The principle he adopted was that of uniformity of control, a principle as difficult of application as it was necessary in an empire composed of such diverse nationalities. He divided the empire into twenty-three satrapies or provinces. These satrapies were in fact kingdoms. Darius died in 486 BC after a reign of 36 years.
The Persian Empire, which under Darius stretched from east to west for a distance of three thousand miles and comprised no less than two million square miles, with a population of seventy to eighty millions, had with the exception of the Romans, perhaps the best system of roads known to ancient history. Indeed, it is doubtful whether without it such a vast empire, more than half as large as modern Europe, could have been held together. Each satrap, or prefect of province, was obliged to make regular reports to the king, who was also kept informed by spies of what was taking place in every part of the empire. To aid the administration of }he government, postal communication for the exclusive use of the king and his trusted servants connected the capital with the distant provinces. This postal service was four or five centuries later patterned after by the Romans.
The Persian empire was tied together by a system of royal roads that facilitated military control and communication with the provinces on the empire's rim. The roads made it possible for the king to move forces quickly to any point within the empire to suppress civil unrest or meet a threat from outside. These roads were unpaved, packed dirt-tracks wide enough to support the movement of the mobile Persian siege towers drawn by teams of oxen. A system of bridges over streams and other terrain obstacles, more than the road surface itself, greatly increased rates of movement. The most famous of these roads ran from Sardis on the Mediterranean to the Persian capital of Susa, a distance of 1,500 miles. A messenger could travel this distance in 15 days using a series of horse relay stations. Without the road the journey would have taken 3 months.
To facilitate trade and the quick movement of troops, Darius improved existing roads and built new ones throughout the empire. The "Royal Road" ran from Susa to Nineveh, thence west to the Cilician Gates, thence north through Tyana and Mazaca to Pteria, thence west across the Halys by a fortified bridge (the other rivers being crossed by boats) to Ancyra, thence southwest through Pessinus and Ceramon Agora to Sardis and Ephesus. This was called the " Royal Road" because the service of the " Great King " passed over it. Along this road, between Susa and Sardis, Darius established 111 stations, where mounted couriers were kept ready day and night to forward the royal despatches. Orders were transmitted by this simple device, the first postal service of which we have any knowledge, with astonishing rapidity.
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