Speeding up the messenger: 2nd - 11th century
Until recent centuries, the only way to increase the speed of communication has been to improve the speed of the messenger. This depends on good roads, fast riders and well provisioned staging posts at which fresh men and horses are always available. The network of Roman roads makes communication steady and reliable, but it is unlikely that it is faster than the delivery system perfected by the Persians - on the terrain of steppe and plateau, across which horsemen can gallop with fine abandon.
However one major improvement in the speed of communication is recorded in the Middle East, where in certain circumstances a simpler messenger is substituted for the horse and rider.