Interesting facts about courier delivery. Antique jewelry: What jewelry were worn by the emperors of ancient Rome Postmen of ancient Rome

| POSTAL SERVICES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

Although the word "post" appeared in ancient Rome only at the turn of our era, for convenience it is customary to call the various communication services that existed earlier. The same applies to such terms as "postmaster", "mailing" and others.

Mail in the land of the pyramids. It is known that already under the pharaohs of the IV dynasty (2900 - 2700 BC) in Egypt there was a post office with foot (walkers) and horse messengers plying along military roads to Libya, Abyssinia, and Arabia. The local population was obliged to provide the messengers with a post. Pharaohs in the form of special privileges exempted individual cities from this obligation. Information about this is found in ancient papyri. For example, Pharaoh Piopi (Lepi) II from the VI dynasty, which ruled the Old Kingdom in 2500-2400. BC e., granted privileges to the cities of Copt and Dashur: "It was commanded by my Majesty that for the sake of King Sneferu this city was freed from all kinds of work and duties imposed in favor of the royal house and court ... so that all tenants of this city were free from standing couriers traveling by water or land, up or down, for eternity ... "

The service of the royal messengers was difficult and dangerous. According to the customs of that time, a messenger who brought bad news could be executed by an angry ruler. The story of the dangers and hardships of such a service was preserved in the scientist's diary dating back to the XII Dynasty (2000 - 1788 BC): “When a messenger goes to a foreign country, he bequeaths his property to his children out of fear of lions and Asians . And if he returned to Egypt, as soon as he reached the garden, as soon as he reached his house in the evening, how soon he must get ready to go again. " The author bequeathed to his son: "Become whoever you want, but not a messenger."

Letters were most often written on papyrus, rolled into a tube, tied with string, and sealed with a clay seal.

Egyptian fellahs in Tel el-Amarna, where Akheta-ton, the capital of the Egyptian king Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten) (1419 - 1400 BC), found in 1887 his archive of foreign affairs in 1887. Several hundred clay tablets, written in Babylonian cuneiform, were the correspondence of the pharaoh with the kings of the Babylonian, Hittite, Mitannian and Assyrian states, as well as reports to the Egyptian king from the princes of Syrian and Phoenician cities subordinate to him.

20 years later, in 1906, not far from Ankara, near the village of Bogazkei, the expedition of Professor G. Winkler excavated the Hittite capital Hattusas and found another huge archive (about 15 thousand clay tablets). Among the various documents, many letters were kept here in Hittite, Akkadian and other languages. The letters belonged mainly to the XIV-XIII centuries. BC NS.

Among them was found the famous letter of the widow of the early deceased Pharaoh Tutankhamun to the Hittite king Suppilulium. “My husband has died, I have no son,” she wrote. “And they say you have many sons. If you give me one of them, he will be my husband. and read it? "

On the roads of the vast kingdom of the Achaemenids. The most perfect postal system for his time began to be created by the Persian king Cyrus II the Great (? -530 BC); it reached its highest level under Darius I (522 - 486 BC). In order to more firmly keep in subjection numerous peoples on a vast territory, it was necessary to have a powerful and developed network of roads. The Persian roads not only had much in common with the Assyrian military roads, but surpassed them, they can be called the predecessors of the Roman roads. One of the main roads, the royal one, ran from Sardis on the Aegean coast of Asia Minor through Armenia and Assyria to the south of Mesopotamia to Susa. Two other roads branched off from it: one to Tire and Sidon, the other to the borders of Bactria and India. There were many other roads as well.

Greek historians Herodotus (484 -425 BC) and Xenophon (430 - 355 BC) admired the state of the roads and the clarity of the organization of the courier service. Herodotus, who traveled in the middle of the 5th century. BC NS. on the Persian state, noted that the roads gave him the opportunity to get to know the country in detail. Along the entire length of the royal road, there were royal hotels with beautiful living quarters. At various points, troops were stationed to ensure the safety of the movement of mail, travelers, merchants with goods. To cover the path from Sardis to Susa (about 2300 kilometers), our traveler, according to Herodotus, took about 90 days.

Tsar's mail was delivered much faster. The distance of 20 kilometers between the hotel stations was divided into parasangs (five kilometers), at the end of which there were pickets of couriers who were always ready to go. Mail was passed on according to the principle of a relay race: the rider, having received the mail, rushed at full speed to the neighboring picket, passed the package to another, who rushed further. Therefore, the state post covered a huge distance from end to end of the royal road in six to eight days, passing 111 stations.

The Greeks called this mail "Angareion", and messengers called "Angara". “The Persians so skillfully organized the transmission of messages,” writes Herodotus, “that no one in the world can surpass their messengers. the section of the journey allocated to him... Nothing in the world is executed as quickly as the orders delivered by his couriers... " Herodotus is echoed by Xenophon, who writes about the messengers of Cyrus the Younger (? - 401 BC): "No one in the world can argue with them in speed, doves and cranes can hardly keep up with them."

The Persians first introduced a regularly operating postal service, which is now commonly called military fieldhowl mail. The army, which was making a campaign of conquest, was followed by a special service that maintained postal communication with the capital of the state. There is information that especially important and urgent military news and orders were transmitted from picket to picket by fire signals.

Under the sky of Hellas. The peculiarities of the political life of ancient Greece determined the originality of its postal relations. Numerous small states, city-states did not maintain regular mail between themselves - they simply did not need it. If there was a need to convey important news (for example, military), then they used sea vessels (to communicate with the islands and numerous colonies along the shores of the Mediterranean and Black Seas) or hemerodromes - "day messengers" (if necessary, they fled at night). For the transmission of news over close distances, grammophores ("letter carriers") were used. The service of those and others was considered responsible and honorable. For her, enduring and fast runners were selected, often Olympic winners - the winners of the Olympic Games.

History has preserved information about Lasphenes, a hemerodrome from Thebes, overtaking swift horses at long distances. His friend Efhid accomplished a feat by sacrificing his life, like the famous marathon messenger. Efhid ran more than 200 kilometers to deliver the sacred fire from the Delphic temple when the sacred fire in the temple on the Athenian Acropolis was extinguished due to an oversight of the priestess. Efhid fled so quickly that, returning to Athens, he died of overwork. Another famous messenger, Philip, ran 225 kilometers in 24 hours to convey to the Lacedaemonians the request of the Athenians for military assistance against the invading Persians.

In ancient Rome. In the vast spaces of the ancient Roman state and the countries conquered by Rome, from the Middle East to Britain, an extensive communications system was created, operating according to clear regulations. The post office existed even during the times of the republic, but ordered by Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC), was improved during the reign of Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD), and reached its peak under the emperors of Nerva , Trajan, Hadrian (96 - 138 AD). The individual routes with a total length of about 100,000 kilometers were gradually merged into a single system. The postal service was named "kursus publicus" - public mail. In fairness, we note that this name did not quite correspond to the truth: only members of the imperial family, patricians, officials, legionnaires could use the mail. But over time, for a fee, the post office began to serve wider sections of Roman free citizens. At a distance of one day's journey, there were the main post stations - Mancio, where it was possible to change the carriage, charioteer, eat and spend the night. Between the two Mancios there were usually six to eight intermediate stations - mutazio, where horses were changed if necessary. The mail was delivered by both foot ambassadors (cursorius) and mounted messengers (veredarians). In addition to letters, passengers and cargo were transported. For this, carts of strictly defined types were used (Fig. 14, but)- from light two-wheeled, harnessed by horses, to heavy four-wheeled, which harnessed 8-10 horses, mules, donkeys or oxen. Everything was painted down to the smallest detail: the types of departures, and the carrying capacity of the carts, and the categories of passengers and employees, their content, etc.

We owe this communication system and the appearance of the word "mail". The stations had no special names. If it was necessary to indicate a station, then they wrote or said: "the station located at the point N" or "an intermediate station located at NN". From the word "posita" - "located" - arose over time the word "mail", which in the XIII century. entered into most European languages. Many researchers believe that the word "post" in medieval Europe was first used in Italian ("poeste") B 1298 in the famous book by Marco Polo "Travel

In ancient times, and in the Middle Ages, too, a messenger (as couriers were called in those days), who delivered a message with bad news, was often threatened with death. Such messengers were often executed - remember in Pushkin's "The Tale of Tsar Saltan": "In anger he began to wonder / And ordered to hang the messenger." Just 150-200 years ago, delivery times for letters and parcels even within one country like Russia could be measured in years. If the letter was in transit for less than 6 months, it was considered that it arrived very quickly.


Today, the courier service in Russia is established at the highest level and among all the others, the delivery of parcels in St. Petersburg "Express Tochka Ru" stands out - this company has established itself at the highest level - saving time and money.

Organization of the postal service in the country of the Incas
Before its death as a result of the invasion of the conquistadors, the Inca civilization occupied a vast territory in South America. One of the main achievements of this civilization is an excellently organized courier service at an accessible technical level. The country of the Incas had an extensive road network, and the roads were well equipped. Every 7.2 km there was always a sign with information about the distance to the nearest city, after 19-29 km there were special stations intended for travelers' rest. Specialized courier stations were deployed very often: at intervals of 2.5 km. Inca couriers ("chaske") delivered their cargo (sometimes it was oral messages) by relay race: upon arriving at the station, the tired courier passed his load to the rested one, and he immediately continued on his way. This process lasted around the clock. Thus, dispatches were delivered over distances of up to 2 thousand km. for a period of less than 5 days.


The relay principle was adopted and implemented in many countries. So, in the developed part of the territory of Russia in the 17th-20th centuries, there was an extensive network of postal stations, where government couriers, as well as other persons traveling on state affairs, could rest and / or change tired horses for fresh ones.

Courier services of antiquity
In ancient Rome, courier delivery was very high quality. It was thanks to her that the inhabitants of remote provinces could learn about the news relatively quickly. The position of the state (during the time of the Republic) and later, the imperial courier was very prestigious and highly paid.

China in ancient times was a centralized state with a developed government structure. Naturally, he, too, could not do without an organized courier service. It was in China that they first began to issue special sheets of paper with summaries of important news, which were delivered by couriers to all parts of the Celestial Empire.

Perhaps the most famous courier of the ancient world is the Greek Phillipides, who delivered the news of the victory over the Persian army in the Battle of Marathon to Athens. After running 42 km, 195 m without rest, from the battlefield to the central square of Athens, he shouted “Rejoice! We whitewashed! " and fell dead. It was in his honor that the competitions in the discipline "Marathon Run" were introduced into the program of the Olympic Games, which are still being held.

Organization of postal and courier service in Russia
The first specialized service for the delivery of written correspondence was organized in Russia in the 13th century. It was called "Yamskaya gonba" and was a very distinctive purely Russian institution, which, not without changes, continued to exist almost until the end of the 19th century. The coachman's profession was one of the most widespread.


Since the XVI century. In order to improve accounting and introduce the personal responsibility of the messenger for the safety and timeliness of the delivery of correspondence, special "marks" were put on the packaging of documents, which became the prototypes of the postmark. Since the 17th century. such marks indicated the personal data of the messenger and the date of delivery of the document.

In 1665, a postal and courier route Moscow-Riga was laid, and 4 years later, a similar route to Vilnius. Thus, for the first time, regular postal communication with Europe was organized.

On November 17, 1710, Peter I signed a decree on the organization of a specialized courier route Moscow - St. Petersburg. And after 6 years, 03.30. 1716 by the same Peter I the All-Russian military field courier service was approved.

Since 1783, uniform rates of postal delivery began to operate in Russia. The price was determined taking into account the weight of the item and the distance to the addressee.

Since 1837, railways have been used to transport mail in Russia. Moreover, Russia was one of the first states where railway postage was delivered on a regular basis.

At the beginning of the XIX century. The Russian postal and courier service numbered about 460 institutions, and the total number of couriers who served in them was 5 thousand people.

IN USA
The first regular services for the delivery of small loads (up to flowers), as well as mail in the United States, began to be provided by UPS in 1907.
Since 1946, TNT, founded by K. Thomas, began to provide its services. It was this company that established regular long-distance mail service. Among Thomas's innovations, one can note the beginning of delivery of delivery services with an acknowledgment of receipt, when the sender received from the company a certificate of delivery of his shipment, signed by the recipient.
Since 1969, airplanes have been regularly used for courier delivery. From that moment on, courier delivery companies could begin to cover the whole world with their activities, and not individual regions.

Another intellectual game "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" Took place today. In this article you can see answers to all questions in "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" for May 13, 2017 ... Two pairs of players took part in the game with the presenter Dmitry Dibrov today. Below are the questions and answers themselves, I decided not to write the answers, so as not to distract readers, because you only need the necessary information.

The first pair of players in the game "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" for 13.05.2017

1. What is the name of a person who performs small, simple assignments?

• errand boy

2.What did the Soviet pioneer have to answer to the call “Be ready!”?

• "Always ready!"

3. Where is the heroine of the song performed by Lyubov Uspenskaya going to sit?

• into a convertible

4.What can you earn in many games?

5. Who sang ditties in the cartoon "The Flying Ship"?

• Grandma-hedgehogs

6. What predator lives high in the mountains?

• Snow Leopard

7.What, besides horsepower, is the power of a car measured?

• in kilowatts

8. What nickname did Sir Lancelot, Knight of the Round Table, have?

• Ozerny

9. Which song of the bard Sergei Nikitin was recorded by Paul Mauriat's orchestra?

• "To the music of Vivaldi"

10. What adorned the hats of the postal couriers of Ancient Rome?

• wings

11.Which artist's house is one of the most famous museums in Amsterdam?

• Rembrandt

The players of the first pair won nothing and left without a penny of the money they won.

The second pair of players on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" for 13.05.2017

1. What are the organisms of animals and plants made of?

• from cells

2. How did Ershov describe the Little Humpbacked Horse: "On the back with two humps and ..."?

• with arshin ears

3. What is used in acupuncture?

• needles

4.What Shakespeare play was the basis for Kiss Me Kat?

• "The Taming of the Shrew"

5.What do koalas eat?

• eucalyptus leaves

6. What country's martial arts are known as wushu?

• China

7. From which poem by Pushkin did Vladimir Motyl take the title for his film "The Star of Captivating Happiness"?

• "To Chaadaev"

8. What letter does the rugby goal resemble?

9. What musical instrument is depicted on the coat of arms of Ireland?

10. On which lake did Tsar Peter I build the Amusing Flotilla?

• Pleshcheyevo

The players answered incorrectly and left without a penny of the money they won.

The most powerful state formation of the ancient world, of course, is Ancient Rome... This city not only subjugated the Apennine Peninsula, but also spread its possessions over a vast territory: from Britain to North Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula to Syria.
Capital connection with remote provinces became an urgent necessity for Rome.

For this, a network of solid stone-paved roads was built, unprecedented before. Their total length already in the time of Gaius Julius Caesar was 150 thousand kilometers.
By the way, the catch phrase " All roads lead to Rome"Not as metaphorical as it seems at first glance. The oldest and widest roads did converge like rays in the capital of the empire. It was along these roads from Rome that legions were sent to war or to suppress revolts.

Appian Way, preserved to this day.

Although the basics of regular state post was laid by Julius Caesar, it acquired its canonical form under Augustus. It was he who united all routes into a single network, which was called " courseus publicus". This mail controlled by the emperor personally and was intended exclusively for state needs. The government officials who managed the post had to have a "diploma" - a document certifying their services to the state. In the provinces postal service controlled by the governors, and its content completely fell on the shoulders of the local population, which was supposed to supply mail carts, horses and riders.

Foot messengers were called " timesheets". Insignia Roman couriers became a headdress, decorated first with feathers, and then with stylized wings. After all, such a winged helmet was worn Mercury- the messenger of the gods and the patron saint of trade.

Urgent messages were delivered by horse messengers, and valuable state goods were transported on carts. Horse messengers called "beredos" - from the Persian word "berd", meaning "beast of burden".
Not all Roman provinces could be reached by land, and in this case for mail transportation used ships

“Suddenly today we have ships from Alexandria, which usually go ahead and announce the arrival of the next fleet after them. Therefore, they are also called mail ships. "

The main advantage " courseus publicus"has become a well-established system of road postal stations.
The stations were divided into two categories. The so-called "mansio" were comfortable inns, painted red. Here the messengers were awaited not only by accommodation and food, but also by an extensive network of services. "Mancio" was run by the chief-manseps, under whose leadership were "hospitals" (caretakers of stables), "hippocoms" (grooms), "mulions" (mule drivers), "mulomedicuses" (veterinarians) and "carpentarii" (caretakers of carts).
It is believed that it is from the Latin expression "mansio posita in ..." ("Station located at a point") subsequently, the modern concept was singled out " post" - "mail".
In addition, between the two "Mansio" there were 6-8 intermediate small stations - "mutazio", which served primarily to change horses.

Kursus Publicus, reconstruction by L. Burger.

To ensure the safety of movement, the Romans set up military camps along important routes, which at the same time also performed the functions of a construction battalion - i.e. repaired roads.
At busy intersections, special walls have even appeared, which play the role of a kind of newspapers. Everyone wrote whatever they wanted on them - from news and announcements to epigrams and love notes like "Mark loves Elena." No wonder some joker inscribed the following on one of these walls: "I wonder at you, wall, how you won't collapse, continuing to carry so many trashy inscriptions.".

About how effective it was " courseus publicus"evidenced by the following fact. If Julius Caesar, constantly changing horses, could cover no more than 100 miles per day, then Emperor Tiberius, using the services postal service, moved twice as fast. As a result, the rulers of the Roman Empire received the latest news quite regularly.

But private correspondence through the state mail was prohibited. Therefore, the wealthiest of the Roman citizens had their own slave messengers. On a day, such a runner could walk about 70 km. If the message had to be sent over a long distance, then it was transmitted through traders or traveling acquaintances. True, such messages reached them much slower than the state ones. There is a known case as a certain Augustus (not the emperor) got a letter only nine years later.

Seneca, from Letters to Lucilius:
“I received your letter only many months after it was sent. Therefore, I considered it unnecessary to ask the person who delivered him about your life. "

Unfortunately, the achievements of the Romans were forgotten for a long time, after the empire fell under the onslaught of the barbarians, and Europe plunged into the "dark ages" for a long time. Decline postal service was so strong that even in the 16th century, the messenger moved one and a half times slower than roman courier during the heyday " courseus publicus".

Interestingly, the terminology of the hospitality industry owes a lot to the Romans. And here they also contributed to the development of many civilizations. The word hospitality comes from the Latin hospitium. The same root words are host (owner), hospice (shelter), hotel (hotel, hotel). Hospiters - this is how people were called in antiquity, together with their family, who received guests in their home. The foreign state entered into an alliance with the hospiters for mutual assistance, friendship and protection.

After the introduction of a regular state postal service (during the reign of Emperor Octavian from 63 BC), state inns also appeared. The state arranged courtyards in cities and on main roads, along which couriers and civil servants passed from Rome up to Asia Minor or to Gaul L.V. Batalova. From the history of tourism development, Sat. scientific articles. Issue Izhevsk, 1999, - 148 p ..

State inns were created, distant from each other at a distance of one day of horse riding. As the conquest of new territories and the expansion of the Roman Empire, its customs, economic and organizational structures also spread to new provinces and conquered countries. The fact of the special interest of the state testifies to how seriously the reliability of an institution that provided travelers with shelter, food and lodging for the night was seriously considered in ancient times. So, in the code of Roman laws, the responsibility of such an institution for the belongings of the guest was provided. It was then that it became possible to safely spend the night in an inn. Even today, the legislation of a number of states regulates this issue, based on the above provisions of Roman civil law. After all, guest protection in all countries is one of the main goals of the hotel industry.

Merchants, traders and other guests from the common people could never be settled next to government officials and government messengers. This circumstance influenced the quality of the inns. Those in which representatives of the aristocracy and government officials stayed were built according to all the rules of architectural art and offered a wide range of services for those times. Subsequently, Marco Polo said that at such inns and "the king is not ashamed to stay" "Polo Marco. Book by Marco Polo. M .: Geografgiz, 1956 ..

Taverns and inns, designed to serve the lower class citizens, offered minimal accommodation and recreation. For example, very often travelers simply slept on straw, and in order not to freeze in the cold season, they clung to the warm side of their horse. There was no question of any additional comfort. The organization of the hotel business in the Roman Empire was based on a certain classification of hotels developed by the state authorities. There were two types of hotels: only for patricians (mansiones), the other for plebeians (stabularia).

The Roman hotel was a certain complex of premises of a fairly wide functional purpose: these are not only rooms for accommodating travelers, but also storage facilities, stables, shops, workshops, etc. Hotels, as a rule, were built of stone and had the necessary list of services. In winter they were heated. Some hotels were served only by officials according to special documents issued by state authorities. This tradition has survived to this day in the form of special rooms for VIPs at airports, train stations and other places where tourists stay.

With the improvement of the functioning of the postal service in the second half of the 4th century, when for a long time it combined the needs for transport and sending messages, visiting yards were set up along the roads. They were called "Mansio" and "Station". The first of these terms meant a courtyard, in which there were conditions for the placement of the imperial retinue, the second - a traffic police post.

Later, the alignment of these inns took place. Between the mancio and the station, there were inns of lesser importance, or mutazio (places for changing the horse's harness), in which it was possible to satisfy the most urgent needs of travelers: to eat something, spend the night, replace riding or pack animals.

The distance between the two Mancios depended on the nature of the terrain, but on average it was 40--55 km. Between the two Mancios there could be one or two smaller courtyards, and this already depended not only on the area, but also on its population.

Such inns differed from each other in the volume and quality of their service, ranging from the praetorium, in which it was possible to receive the imperial retinue, to modest institutions. A fully equipped inn could offer almost everything a traveler needed. Here it was possible to eat, spend the night, change mounts (there were up to forty horses and mules in the stables of large visiting yards), carts, charioteers, find servants, people who returned draft animals to the previous station, veterinarians, coachmen and chariots fixing damaged carriages. Kotler F., Bowen J., Makenz J. Marketing. Hospitality and Tourism / Per. from English - M .: UNITI, 1998 ..

Inns and inns and post stations were not built specifically for these purposes, they served not only specifically to the following travelers, although they, of course, had the primacy of service. The mail, in spite of the fact that it served mainly the central government, was maintained by local residents. The emperors simply chose the already existing inns of the quality needed for the service and included them in the system, demanding a free overnight stay for each diploma holder.

Only in remote areas, as, for example, on passes or on secluded roads, the imperial power was forced to build everything from the very foundation. In such places, all travelers, individuals, as well as representatives of official authorities were accepted for the night in order to compensate for the costs. Carts, animals, charioteers, grooms - everyone was attracted to serve there from the local surroundings, if possible. From that time on, people began to appear who worked precisely in inns. Inns, especially on the main roads, were competently built by the Romans and were quite comfortable for their time.

Over time, the maintenance of the inn became burdensome for its manager, since with the development of society and civilization, the requirements for it constantly increased. They were presented not only by those who had the right to use the visiting courtyard by law, but also those from among the officials deprived of conscience who arbitrarily confiscated horses and carriages or brazenly brought with them to the visiting courtyards people who did not have the right to free service. Special inspectors (curiosi, courseus, publicity) checked the eligibility of using the diplomas after their expiration date, driving on the wrong route along which the person who presented the document was supposed to follow, and using the wrong type of riding animals that were used by those passing by.

One by one, the emperors enacted stringent laws to end abuse and keep the service at the coaching grounds at an appropriate level.

There were regulations regarding the number of carts and animals that could be used by officials, which determined the maximum allowed cargo, the number of drivers, travel routes, the weight of saddles and packs, even the size and type of whips. One prescription stated that "no one will reward a single driver, charioteer or veterinarian serving in a public institution, because they receive food and clothing that is sufficient for them." In other words, it was forbidden to tip these employees. Orders not to be given were rarely followed, and all indications are that these orders were not being properly followed.

Every person using the post had to know exactly where the various inns were located. There were itineraria available to travelers, which listed the courtyards along a given road and the distance between them.

There were also conditionally made schematic maps, from which it was possible to find out not only where the inn was located, but also what they could offer on it. A copy of one such map made in the Middle Ages, the so-called Peutinger's table, reached the Renaissance period. It was drawn on a long sheet of parchment 33 cm wide and 6.7 cm long. It is extremely inaccurate in cartographic terms, but it represents the roads of the entire Roman Empire in such a way that it can be easily read. It contains information similar to that which can be found on a modern road map: lines indicating roads, names of cities and large villages and other places where you can stop; numbers indicating the distance between them in Roman miles. It is interesting to note that about many of the names there are small colored drawings - symbols. They served the same purpose as symbols surprisingly similar to them in modern guidebooks. They had to indicate at a glance what are the possibilities to spend the next night while following this road Shapoval GD History of tourism. Minsk., IP, "Enoperspectiva" -1999, - 216 p.

The names, without accompanying drawings, denoted the simplest courtyard, which could represent little more than water, a roof over your head, food and a fresh change of riding or riding animals.

For example, a traveler, leaving Rome along the Aurelian road leading north along the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, could learn from a map diagram that the first suitable place to stay would be Alcyum, eighteen Roman miles from the capital, with a minimum of amenities (there was no picture in the name), from there it was ten miles to Pyrgi with a minimum of amenities, then it was six miles to Punik, where there were also few amenities, but from there it was a stone's throw to the Aqua Apollinarski with a first-class hotel (indicated by a quadrangular building), from there it was four miles to Aqua Tavri with the same amenities, as in the Aqua of Apollinar, etc.

Government messengers hurried from station to station at an average speed of five miles per hour, or, during a normal day of travel, traveled fifty Roman miles. Thus, news from Rome reached Brundisium in seven days, to Byzantium - about 25 days, to Antioch - about 40 days, to Alexandria - about 55 days. In exceptional cases, traveling day and night, messengers could triple this speed. When in 69 A.D. NS. in Mogunti-ak over the Rhine (now Mainz, Germany) the legions mutinied, news of this reached Rome within 8-9 days. A messenger on such occasions traveled an average of 150 Roman miles per day. The traveler, who was given government orders, relied on the conveniences of the public post and had few worries. He presented his diploma in a nearby inn and received the appropriate means of transportation, looked at his list of stations or a map diagram in search of appropriate places to stay on his way, ate there, spent the night, changed teams and crew until he arrived at the destination. Officially, private travelers were not allowed to use the mail, but since human nature is what it is, exceptions were inevitable.

Those who traveled privately and could not legally or illegally use government mail had the opportunity to find lodging in the courtyards and shelters, since in many provinces they were the only, and in some areas the best, courtyards. Moreover, if he did not travel in a carriage with his own team, he could hire one, which was quite accessible to those who were going to travel not on foot, but with the help of vehicles. If on the open road he reached the post station immediately after the official group that requisitioned everything that was at the disposal of this station, he had no choice but to wait. In any case, he moved more slowly than the government messenger.

Already in the III century. BC. the builders of Rome erected tall tenement buildings - insulas - to accommodate the city's growing population and visitors. These were three-, four-, and sometimes five-storey buildings with a wooden frame. In Rome, the insula were inhabited by both the poor and the middle class of the townspeople; rich people lived in mansions. In such a multi-storey building, individual rooms or entire floors were rented out. In the Roman port of Ostia, where the lack of space was especially acute, everyone lived in the multi-storey insuls (the remains of a number of not only comfortable but also decorated with frescoes and reliefs insuls have survived). In other cities, where there was enough space for building (such as Pompeii), insul was not erected at all, houses with a garden or mansions were built. Hundreds of cities in Rome had aqueducts - aqueducts that supply water to the city. As a rule, aqueducts were monumental structures on arched supports. The longest aqueduct - 132 km - was built under the Emperor Hadrian in Carthage. At the same time, there are houses - lupanaria (brothels) Shapoval GD History of tourism. Minsk., IP, "Enoperspektiva" -1999, - 216 p ..

Some wealthy landowners also built inns on the borders of their estates. They were usually run by slaves specializing in housekeeping. Those inns and taverns, which were located closer to the cities, were more often visited by wealthy citizens, and therefore they were supported by freedmen or retired gladiators who decided to invest their savings in the "restaurant business". Innkeepers in those days were deprived of many civil rights, including the right to serve in the army, bring proceedings against anyone in court, take the oath and act as guardians of other people's children. In other words, the moral foundations of every person involved in this business were automatically questioned.