Then and Now: The Postal System

PELEGRINE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Communication is key for most aspects of human life, from the relationships we share with others to the governance of modern states. This is as true today as it was in the ancient world, so it comes as no surprise that a standardized method for relaying communications—a postal system—developed in some of the world’s earliest civilizations, including Egypt and China. Indeed, during the Persian Achaemenid Empire (sixth–fourth centuries BCE), government administrators established the first post offices. These buildings were intended as waystations for messengers to pick up or drop off missives and as relay points for the system’s messengers and the animals they depended on.

One of history’s most famous messengers is Pheidippides (or Philippides in some sources). After running to Sparta and back to request aid, the Athenian herald ran an additional 25 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce the Greek victory over the Persians at the Battle of Marathon in 490 BCE. Legend has it that he ran into Athens yelling nikomen (“We have won!”), then promptly died from exhaustion. The modern marathon, which is approximately 26 miles, was named after Pheidippides’s famous run.

From the messengers of the past, who largely went by foot or on horseback, the modern postal system has grown and changed to adapt to a new world with new technologies. Today, more than 100,000 copies of each issue of BAR are mailed throughout the world, in addition to more than one million renewal notices and other mail BAS sends out each year. Thanks to postal carriers, who had their beginnings in heralds like Pheidippides, BAR has reached our readers’ homes for the past 50 years, with many more to come!