Find the road
Open the map in 500 BC, turn on the Trade Routes layer and find the Persian Royal Road. Follow it from Sardis in the west across Anatolia to Susa. Which rivers and mountain ranges does it have to cross?
Open this view on the mapAchaemenid Persia · 500 BC
The Royal Road: a message across an empire
From Sardis near the Aegean to Susa in Iran, the Royal Road ran about 2,700 km with rest stations every day's march. Students measure it, race a relay courier against an army, and find out why roads mattered more than walls to the Persian kings.
- Length
- 45 minutes
- Ages
- 10–13
- On the map
- 3 steps, 500 BC
- Live lesson
- 7 rounds, 3 on the map
- Worksheet
- Two A4 pages, with Classroom
- You need
- A projector; phones for live
Live lesson · new in Classroom
Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.
Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.
€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.
- 7 rounds
- 3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
- About 15 minutes
- Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
- A report
- Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
Introduction
5 minRead aloud
From Sardis near the Aegean to Susa in Iran, the Royal Road ran about 2,700 km with rest stations every day's march. Students measure it, race a relay courier against an army, and find out why roads mattered more than walls to the Persian kings.
By the end of the lesson, students can
- Trace the Royal Road from Sardis to Susa on the map and name two regions it crossed.
- Compare the travel time of a walking traveler (about 90 days) with the relay couriers (about a week or two).
- Explain two reasons an empire builds roads: moving armies and news, and collecting taxes.
Explore the map
12 minProject the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.
The western end
Zoom in on Sardis, the old Lydian capital and now a Persian provincial seat. From here Greek cities on the coast are a few days away. Why would the Persians put the road's end here and not on the coast itself?
Open this view on the mapThe eastern end
Jump along the road to Susa with the Cities layer on. Herodotus counted 111 rest stations along the way. A messenger with a fresh horse at each station could cover the distance in about a week, while an army took three months. Where else did the road continue from Susa?
Open this view on the mapClass discussion
14 minPick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.
- Herodotus wrote that nothing travels faster than the Persian couriers, who are stopped by neither snow nor rain nor heat nor darkness. Why would he, a Greek, admire a Persian road so much?
- A relay of riders is fast but expensive: stations, horses, guards. What kinds of news are worth that cost to a king?
- The road also let tax collectors, inspectors and soldiers reach every province. How does a road change the balance of power between a capital and its provinces?
- Greek merchants and later Alexander's army used the same road. Can a road built for control end up serving the people who use it to attack you?
- Today a message crosses the same distance in a second. What has changed about ruling a large country, and what has not?
Game round
9 minPlay one round of Rule History as Darius the Great and look for a ruling about roads, inspectors or messengers. Then ask the class: with the Royal Road in place, how long would it take Darius to hear of a revolt in Sardis and send an army back?
Open Rule HistoryWorksheet
5 minThis worksheet comes with Classroom
€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.