The Inca Empire maintained a complex guild of messengers, the Chasqui, and maintained a vast system of paved roads and relay stations specifically only for the Chasqui's use, under penalty of immediate execution. At their most basic, junior Chasqui simply relayed oral messages, while older Chasqui also put together and translated the quipu knot system. Senior members assisted with imperial inspectors and auditors in helping maintain the empire.Mephisto wrote: ↑Fri Mar 11, 2022 11:44 am Indeed the Pharaohs were pretty rich but it was also the Bronze Age so it is far too long ago. What I meant was that the idea preexisted. The Persians had a network of royal mounted couriers, the angarium who were remarkably efficient in transmitting messages important to the functioning of the kingdom, called the Royal Road. The riders would be stationed at a day's ride along the road, and the letters would be handed from one courier to another as they made a journey of a day’s length, which allowed messages to travel fast. The Romans adapted their state post from this ancient Persian network called cursus publicus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chasqui