One forerunner to the postal service in Europe was Rome's cursus publicus, literally: "the post course" or else modern equivalent being a Public bus. Organised by Emperor Augustus, this was a public courier and transport service in the form of relay stations annotated with messages for officials and tax monies between points across Rome's vast territorial holdings. The cursus publicus covered 50,145 kilomteres of roads and consisted og a system of post-houses with change horses which allowed the maintenance os long-distance communication/ travel.