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ANGARIA (from ayyapos, the Greek form...

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 4 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANGARIA (from ayyapos, the See also:Greek See also:form of a Babylonian word adopted in See also:Persian for " mounted See also:courier ")  , a sort of postal See also:system adopted by the See also:Roman imperial See also:government from the See also:ancient Persians, among whom, according to See also:Xenophon (Cyrop. viii . 6; cf . See also:Herodotus viii . 98) it was established by See also:Cyrus the See also:Great . Couriers on horseback were posted at certain stages along the See also:chief roads of the See also:empire, for the transmission of royal despatches by See also:night and See also:day in all weathers . In the Roman system the See also:supply of horses and their See also:maintenance was a compulsory See also:duty from which the See also:emperor alone could See also:grant exemption . The word, which in the 4th See also:century was used for the heavy transport vehicles of the cursus publicus, and also for the animals by which they were See also:drawn, came to mean generally " compulsory service." So See also:angaria, angariare, in See also:medieval Latin, and the rare See also:English derivatives "angariate," "angariation," came to mean any service which was forcibly or unjustly demanded, and oppression in See also:general .

End of Article: ANGARIA (from ayyapos, the Greek form of a Babylonian word adopted in Persian for " mounted courier ")
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