The Royal Road

The Royal Road was a major intercontinental thoroughfare built by the Achaemenid king Darius the Great (521-485 BC), to allow access to their conquered cities. It is also the road that Alexander the Great used to conquer the Achaemenid dynasty.

The Royal Road led from the Aegean Sea to Iran, a length of some 1500 miles. A major branch connected the cities of Susa, Kirkuk, Nineveh, Edessa, Hattusa and Sardis. The journey from Susa to Sardis was reported to have taken 90 days on foot, and three more to get to the Mediterranean coast at Ephesus.

Architectural Features of the Royal Road

Intact sections of the road, such as that at Gordion and Sardis, are cobble pavements atop a low embankment from 5-7 meters in width and, in places, faced with a curbing of dressed stone.

A hundred and eleven way-posting stations were reported to existing on the road, where fresh horses were to be had. A handful of way stations have been tentatively identified archaeologically. One possibility is a large (40x30 meters) five-room stone building near the site of Kuh-e Qale; another is at the site of JinJan (Tappeh Survan), in Iran.

Archaeology of the Royal Road

Archaeological evidence suggests that there was a precursor to the Royal Road, that part connecting Gordion to the coast probably used by Cyrus during his conquest of Anatolia. It is possible that the first roads were established in the 10th century BC under the Hittites. These roads would have been used as trade routes by the Assyrians and Hittites at Boghakzoy.

Sources

Livius has the last word from Herodotus on the Royal Road; a Map of the Royal Road is available at Western Florida University.

Sumner, W. M. 1986 Achaemenid Settlement in the Persepolis Plain. American Journal of Archaeology 90(1):3-31.

Young, Rodney S. 1963 Gordion on the Royal Road. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 107(4):348-364.

This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.