Explore the Museum...
- Explore Section (Home)
- Biographies
- History of the Post
- 2000BC - Late Bronze Age
- 500BC - Roman Postal System
- 800 - 1400AD - Medieval
- 1400 - Renaissance
- 1500 - The Reformation
- 1700 - Georgian
- 1800 - Victorian
- 1900 - Modern Elizabethan
- 2000 - Today and Beyond
- History of the British Postbox
- Digital Archives
History of the Post
Discover the history of post from ancient times to the present.
Click each era in the timeline below to view the postal history for that period.
2000BC: Late Bronze Age
The earliest known instance of 'post' is from ancient Egypt. The Postal Museum has a clay letter thought to date from around 2000BC and Egyptian papyrus dating around 1200BC.
Drawings of ancient Egyptian writing tools, were found in in the tomb of Mereuka at Saqqara, dated around 2330BC
Example of Egyptian Papyrus - dated 1200BC. On display at the Bath Postal Museum.
A Sumerian tablet in it's original envelope.
The outer seal shows a seated god being approached by a worshipper. The impression was made by rolling the seal on the wet clay. The face of the seal was cut from semi-precious stone.
A receipt for a sale of goods in clay.
A Sumerian list of livestock it shows clearly the cuneiform (wedge shaped) writing, made in the wet clay with a pointed stylus.
- Next Period - 500BC - Roman Postal System >>