# How Fast Were Communications in the Roman Empire?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-were-communications-in-the-roman-empire/486213>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [February 17, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-were-communications-in-the-roman-empire/486213 "2009-02-17T01:14:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-were-communications-in-the-roman-empire/486213/1 "2009-02-17T01:14:24Z")

</div>

Suppose the emperor Hadian wanted to send a letter to the Roman governor of Brittania. How long would his letter take to reach London? Was there regular postal service. or did the emperors have their own couriers?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-fast-were-communications-in-the-roman-empire/486213/2 "2009-02-17T01:50:14Z")

</div>

Everything you wanted to know about the [Roman Postal Service](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursus_publicus).