Media (singular medium) are the storage and transmission channels or tools used to store and deliver information or data. It is often referred to as synonymous with mass media or news media, but may refer to a single medium used to communicate any data for any purpose.
The word medium comes from the Latin word medius (middle).
The beginning of human communication through artificial channels, i.e. not vocalization or gestures, dates back to ancient cave paintings, drawn maps, and writing.
The Persian Empire (centred around present-day Iran and Afghanistan) played an important role in the field of communication. It devised what might be described as the first real mail or postal system, which is said to have been developed by the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great (c. 550 BC) after his conquest of Media. The role of the system as an intelligence gathering apparatus is well documented, and the service was (later) called angariae, a term that in time turned to indicate a tax system. The Old…