Angaria (Roman law)

2025-02-08T08:31:00Z

47.4.82.31:

{{Short description|Roman law}}
'''Angaria''' ([[Latin language|Latin]]; {{langx|grc|ἀγγαρεία}}, [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]]: ''ангарѝя'') was a sort of [[Mail|postal system]] adopted by the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] imperial government from the ancient [[Persian Empire|Persians]]. According to [[Xenophon]],<ref>{{harvnb|Chisholm|1911 |p=4}} cites ''Cyrop''. VIII. 6; Cf. [[Herodotus]] VIII. 98.</ref> the Persian system was established by [[Cyrus the Great]]. Couriers on horseback were posted at certain stages along the chief roads of the empire, for the transmission of royal dispatches by night and day in all weather.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911 |p=4}}

The Roman system took its name from the Greek form of a [[Babylon]]ian word adopted in [[Persian language|Persian]] for these mounted couriers. In the Roman system, the supply of horses and their maintenance was a compulsory duty from which the emperor alone could grant exemption.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911 |p=4}}

The term was also used from the 4th century for the heavy transport vehicles of the ''[[cursus publicus]]'' and the draft animals which pulled them. It came to mean any compulsory service (cf. [[Conscription#Medieval levies|levy]]) or [[oppression]] in [[medieval Latin]], [[Byzantine Greek]], and [[old Bulgarian]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911 |p=4}} In [[modern Greek]] and [[modern Bulgarian]], it means any service or task only grudgingly undertaken by the one forced to perform it.

==See also==
*[[Angary]]
*[[Royal Road]]
*[[Angarum]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
* {{EB1911 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Angaria |volume=2 |page=4}}.

==External links==
* {{cite EB9 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Angaria |volume=2 |page=26 |short=x}}

[[Category:Transport in ancient Rome]]
[[Category:Postal history]]

{{AncientRome-law-stub}}

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Angaria (Roman law)