The Persian Royal Road was an ancient highway that ran through a large part of the
Achaemenid Empire in the 5th century BCE. Serving as a trade and communication route, the course of the road linked several great cities. It was controlled by imperial custom houses, and a series of fortified garrisons guarded the road from attack.
Built 300 years before the Silk Road was established, the Royal Road connected Susa in modern-day Iran to Sardis in modern-day Turkey. Essentially, the road facilitated the governance of a massive, ethnically diverse territory from a central authority.
But what system did the road pioneer, and who were among the first to use it? In this gallery, we travel the length of this ancient superhighway to find out. Read on and join the journey.