ASaxon postal milepost(German:kursächsische Postmeilensäule,colloquiallysächsische PostmeilensäuleorPostsäule) was amilepostin the formerElectorate of Saxonythat gave distances expressed as journey times to the nearest eighth of an hour. With one hour being the equivalent of oneleague,this corresponds to a distance of about 566 m. The design of the mileposts varied according to the distance at which they were placed. They were hewn from natural stone into the shape of anobelisk,an ancienthermaor astele.Their prototype was theRoman milepost.From its German namerömische Meilensäulethe rather inaccurate German description ofSäule(lit.: "column" ) was derived. The Saxon head postal director (Oberpostdirektor), Paul Vermehren, brought about their inception based on official distance surveys, whose results were given inleagueson the post mileposts. A league in Saxony at that time (1722 to 1840) was meant to be an hour's journey, equivalent to half a mile or 4.531 kilometres.
Saxon postal mileposts were set up during the reign ofAugust the Strongand his successor along all important postal and trading routes and in almost all towns in theElectorate of Saxonyto indicate the official distances. This was intended to be the basis for the creation of a unified calculation of postal charges. Because the territory of the Electorate of Saxony was larger than that of the present-day German state ofSaxony,these mileposts are nowadays also found in the states ofThuringia,BrandenburgandSaxony-Anhalt,as well as inPoland.
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