וַיִּשְׁלַח סְפָרִים בְּיַד הָרָצִים בַּסּוּסִים

The messengers needed to get out quickly. The short video clip below explains how the entire Persian empire was connected by a remarkably efficient road system (called the Royal Road or Royal Highway) which was used to convey messages throughout the kingdom quickly and efficiently. Using these roads couriers could travel 1,677 in only seven days!

The image below shows a map of the Persian road system.

An inscription on the main postal office building in New York reads:

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

This is actually a description of the Persian postal system by the Greek Historian Herodotus.

Herodotus also wrote:

"There is nothing in the world that travels faster than these Persian couriers."