| POSTAL SERVICES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

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

Post office in the land of the pyramids. It is known that already under the pharaohs of the 4th dynasty (2900 - 2700 BC), there was a post office in Egypt with foot (fast walkers) and horse messengers who traveled along the military roads to Libya, Abyssinia, Arabia. The local population was obliged to provide the messengers with accommodation. The pharaohs, in the form of special privileges, exempted individual cities from this duty. Information about this is found in ancient papyri. For example, pharaoh Piopi (Lepi) II from the VI dynasty that ruled the Old Kingdom in 2500-2400. BC e., granted benefits to the cities of Copt and Dashur: "My Majesty commanded that for the sake of King Snefru this city be freed from all kinds of work and duties assigned in favor of the royal house and court, ... so that all tenants of this city were free from standing couriers, going by water or land, up or down, for all 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. A story about the dangers and hardships of such a service is preserved in the diary of a scientist dating back to the times of the XII dynasty (2000 - 1788 BC): "When a messenger goes to a foreign country, he bequeaths his property to his children for 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 should he get ready to go again. The author bequeaths to his son: "Be whoever you want, but not a messenger."

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

Egyptian fellahs in Tel el-Amarna, where Aheta-ton, the capital of the Egyptian king Amenhotep IV (Akhenaton) (1419 - 1400 BC), was located in 1887, found in 1887 his archive of foreign affairs. Several hundred clay tablets written in Babylonian cuneiform formed 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 the Syrian and Phoenician cities subordinate to him.

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

Among them was found the famous letter from the widow of the early deceased pharaoh Tutankhamen to the Hittite king Suppiluliuma. “My husband is dead, I don’t have a son,” she wrote. “And you, they say, have many sons. If you give me one of them, he will be my husband. and honor him?"

On the roads of the vast kingdom of the Achaemenids. The most perfect postal system for its time was 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 hold the numerous peoples in subjection 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 were superior to them, they can be called the forerunners of the Roman roads. One of the main roads, the royal one, went 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.

The 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 e. on the Persian state, noted that the roads gave him the opportunity to get to know the country in detail. Throughout the royal road there were royal hotels with beautiful residential quarters. Troops stood at various points, ensuring the safety of the movement of mail, travelers, merchants with goods. To cover the route from Sardis to Susa (about 2300 kilometers), our traveler, according to Herodotus, needed about 90 days.

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

The Greeks called this post "angareion", and the messengers "angara". “The Persians so skillfully organized the transmission of news,” writes Herodotus, “that no one in the world can surpass their messengers ... Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor darkness will delay the messengers of King Darius, will not prevent them from rushing at the highest speed the segment of the path 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 for the first time introduced a regular postal service, which is now commonly called military fieldhowl by mail. A special service moved behind the army, which was making an aggressive campaign, maintaining a postal connection with the capital of the state. There is evidence that especially important and urgent military news and orders were transmitted from picket to picket by fire signals.

Under the sky of Hellas. Features of the political life of ancient Greece determined the originality of its postal communications. 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 (for communication 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). Grammatophores ("letters") were used to transmit news over short distances. The service of both was considered responsible and honorable. For her, hardy and fast runners were selected, often olympionists - winners of the Olympic Games.

History has preserved information about Lasfen, a hemerodrom from Thebes, overtaking fast-footed horses at long distances. His friend Efkhid accomplished a feat by sacrificing his life, like the famous marathon herald. Efhid ran more than 200 kilometers to deliver the sacred fire from the Temple of Delphi, when the sacred fire in the temple on the Athenian Acropolis went out due to an oversight of the priestess. Efkhid ran so fast that, returning to Athens, he died from overwork. Another famous messenger, Philip, ran 225 kilometers in 24 hours to convey to the Lacedaemonians a request from the Athenians for military assistance against the invading Persians.

In ancient Rome. In the vast expanses of the ancient Roman state and the countries conquered by Rome, from the Middle East to Britain, an extensive communication system operating according to clear regulations was created. Postal service existed even in the days of the republic, but ordered by Julius Caesar (100 - 44 BC), it was improved during the reign of Augustus (27 BC - 14 AD), and reached its peak under the emperors of Nerva , Trajan, Adrian (96 - 138 AD). Separate routes with a total length of about 100,000 kilometers were gradually merged into a single system. The postal service was called "kursus publicus" - public mail. In fairness, we note that this name was not entirely true: 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 a wider section of the Roman free citizens. At a distance of one day's journey, there were the main postal stations - Mancio, where you could change the cart, charioteer, eat and spend the night. Between two mancios there were usually six to eight intermediate stations - mutations, where, if necessary, they changed horses. Mail was delivered by both foot ambassadors (cursorius) and horse messengers (veredarii). In addition to letters, passengers and cargo were transported. For this, carts of strictly defined types were used (Fig. 14, a)- from light two-wheeled, horse-drawn, to heavy four-wheeled, which harnessed 8-10 horses, mules, donkeys or oxen. Everything was planned down to the smallest detail: the types of shipments, the carrying capacity of the carts, the categories of passengers and employees, their maintenance, etc.

We owe this communication system the appearance of the word "mail". There were no special station names. If it was necessary to indicate the station, then they wrote or said: "the station located at the point N" or "an intermediate station located at a point NN". From the word "posita" - "located" - the word "mail" arose over time, 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") in 1298 in the famous book by Marco Polo "Journey

1. Some hundred years ago, the delivery of parcels and letters in Russia was considered very fast, if it did not exceed six months. In the old days, royal messengers could pay with their own lives for bad news, and therefore the work of a courier in those days was not only difficult, but also dangerous.
2. In the ancient civilization of the Incas, it was possible to keep a vast territory under a single administration thanks to excellent roads with a well-functioning courier service. Insk roads were intended for pedestrians and caravans of llamas, every 7.2 km there were distance indicators, and after 19-29 km - stations for travelers to rest. In addition, courier stations were located every 2.5 km. Couriers (chasks) transmitted news and orders by relay, and in this way information was transmitted over 2000 km in 5 days.
3. In the ancient Roman Empire, thanks to courier delivery, the inhabitants of the country could receive up-to-date information about the events of political life, litigation, scandals, military campaigns and executions. Being an imperial courier was very honorable, and this activity was quite well paid.
4. In ancient China, it was practiced to issue special news sheets, which were then delivered by couriers to various regions of the country. We can say that courier delivery has been an important part of the public administration system for many centuries.
5. In ancient Egypt, Phillipides was considered the most famous courier, who, according to legend, in 490 BC. brought the message of the victory at the Battle of Marathon to Athens. He, having run about 40 km, died of exhaustion, but became the founder of the marathon race.
6. In the 13th century, the first special service for sending written messages was organized in Russia, the so-called yamskaya chase, an original Russian institution that lasted until the second half of the 19th century.
7. In the 16th century, in order to account for correspondence and increase the personal responsibility of messengers for its safety, special marks began to be made on originals or copies of documents. In the 17th century, these marks became more detailed and contained, in addition to the last name and first name of the messenger, the year, month and day of delivery of the correspondence.
8. In 1665, postal and courier routes were organized from Moscow to Riga and in 1669 to Vilnius, which made it possible to exchange correspondence, including private, with foreign countries.
9. In Russia, the courier postal service appeared in the 17th century, on November 17, 1710, Peter I signed a decree establishing a special courier route from St. Petersburg to Moscow, which was the prototype of the military field courier service, approved by the Decree of Peter I of March 30, 1716.
10. In 1783, for the first time in Russia, uniform tariffs were introduced for sending correspondence, depending on its weight and distance.
11. Since 1837, in Russia, postal and courier items began to be transported by rail. Russia is one of the first countries to organize such transportation.
12. By the beginning of the 19th century, there were about 460 postal and courier institutions in Russia, where 5,000 couriers regularly served.
13. In America, the first courier services began to be provided in 1907 by the American company UPS. This company was engaged in the delivery of flowers, postal items and small cargo.
14. In 1946, Ken Thomas founded the shipping company TNT. He made the main emphasis on the implementation of regular communication between cities. And he brought his innovations, all customers who wanted to make sure that the delivery was successful were now given a special certificate signed by the recipient.
15. In 1969, air delivery first appeared, which made it possible to

Antique cameos, these miniature creations of human hands, combine subtle grace and beauty. And although their age is estimated at more than a dozen centuries, looking at them, every viewer has the feeling that these images are about to come to life! After all, in ancient times in Ancient Rome, in Ancient Greece and the Hellenistic states, this art reached the heights of perfection.

No wonder it is said about them: Gems are small but they conquer centuries"(S. Reinak). The art of miniature carving on precious and semi-precious stones, glyptic, has been known since ancient times. At the same time, carved miniatures, called gems, can be of two types - with convex images (these are cameos) or with carved ones (intaglios).

Intaglio as seals

Intaglio is a more ancient type of carving, and they survived their heyday a very long time ago. Intaglios were carved on single-color stones, usually always for a practical purpose - for use as seals. Impressions were made on soft clay or wax, thus sealing the premises, sealing letters and documents. They also stamped some things, thus marking their belonging to the owner of the intaglio.

Carving miniature intaglios is not an easy task, the carver must have a good idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat an inverted print will look like. Varieties of quartz are most often used as the material for intaglios: carnelian and reddish chalcedony, as well as rock crystal.

Cameos - luxury goods in ancient Greece

In the era of antiquity, at the end of the 4th century BC. e., the masters of Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece, continuing to work with intaglios, begin to work with another material - multi-colored and multi-layered sardonyx or agate, from which convex relief gems - cameos are cut. With a skillful approach, the carvers managed to achieve interesting color and lighting effects.
Working on double or triple portraits, they tried to keep each of them in its own color. And if it was possible to successfully hit the color, which was not at all easy, the cameos seemed to come to life.
While intaglios were used for practical purposes, cameos became a luxury item. They were inserted into rings and diadems for beauty, they decorated their clothes with them ... But not everyone could afford to buy them.

Gems of Alexandria

The first to work with cameos based on polychrome sardonyx were unnamed Greek stone carvers who served at the Ptolemaic court in Alexandria. In terms of glyptics, they were great masters, even their earliest work with cameos was performed masterfully.

A number of their works have become famous masterpieces. These include the unique "Gonzaga Cameo", "Farnese Cup", "Ptolemy Cup" and others.

Their most brilliant work, recognized as a masterpiece for all time, was the "Gonzaga Cameo", stored in the Hermitage.

A most beautiful cameo, one of the largest. Two profiles are carved on it - male and female. Most likely, this is Ptolemy II and his wife Arsinoe, who is also his sister.

This cameo did not escape the fate of many historical relics: seven times it passed from one owner to another until it ended up in St. Petersburg. It was presented to the Russian Emperor Alexander I by Josephine in 1814 after the defeat of France in the war with Russia.

Glyptics in Ancient Rome

After the fall of the Ptolemaic kingdom (30 BC), the Hellenistic era ended, and the Greek masters began to work for the benefit of the Roman Empire, which successfully absorbed the culture of Ancient Hellas, including glyptics. But reproducing at home its best examples, Roman carvers began to create a multitude of portrait and multi-figure cameos with mythical and allegorical heroes.
Gradually, a new period began in the history of glyptics, in which a new style took shape. Now the triumph of the emperor has become the main storyline, and in technology, preference has been given to more strict and graphic two-tone compositions - white silhouettes on a dark background.

"August Cameo"

This two-tone cameo depicts Emperor Augustus surrounded by real historical figures and Roman gods.

"Gemma of Tiberius"

This cameo is the largest cameo in the world. Napoleon I called it the "Great Cameo of France". A cameo was made during the reign of Emperor Tiberius in his honor on the basis of a five-layer sardonyx. There are more than 20 figures on it in three rows. Emperor Tiberius and his wife Livia are depicted surrounded by their relatives and gods, carved with jewelry precision, and under their feet are the defeated Germans and Dacians with their women and children.

It is clear that miniature stone carving is not at all an easy task, requiring great skill and patience. In addition, the master must be able to discern the beauty in the stone, to predict how the layers are located inside it. The carving process itself is very long. It can take not even months, but years of hard work to create one cameo. Experts compare the process of making one large cameo with the construction of an entire cathedral. Apparently, you have to love your job very much in order to do it.

But, despite all these difficulties, many beautiful specimens, real works of art, came out from under the chisels of ancient masters. And all subsequent years they remain the ideal of beauty and perfection, which many glyptic masters aspire to.

Intaglio

cameos

In the center of the cross is a rather large cameo depicting Emperor Augustus. This cross was presented to the ancient and famous Aachen Cathedral by the German Emperor Otto III.

Cameo of Emperor Constantine, sardonyx, 4th century AD e., Constantine and Tyche. Sardonyx. Roman work. 4th century St. Petersburg, State Hermitage.

The museums of Vienna, Paris and St. Petersburg have the best collections of cameos. Largely thanks to the efforts of Catherine II, who adored cameos and collected them, the collection of antique cameos in the Hermitage is one of the largest in the world. And today they impress the most sophisticated connoisseurs.