In many countries, Kilometre Zero (also written km 0) or similar terms in other languages (also known as Zero mile marker, control stations or control points) is a particular location (often in the nation's capital city), from which distances are traditionally measured. They were markers where drivers could set their odometers to follow directions in early guide books.
A similar notion also exists for individual roads (that is, all locations on the road have a number, depending on their distance from that location), and for individual cities (often the city's central post office is used for this).
The most famous such marker of which any part survives from ancient times is the Milliarium Aureum ("Golden Milestone") of the Roman Empire, believed to be the literal origin for the maxim that "all roads lead to Rome".
Famous quotes containing the words mile and/or marker:
“Telephone poles were matchsticks, put there to be snapped off at a whim. Dogs trotting across the road were suddenly big trucks. Old ladies turned into movingvans. Everything was too bright, but very funny and made for my delight. And about half a mile from my long liquid breakfast I turned carefully down a side street and parked, and sat beaming happily through the tannic fog for about an hour, remembering how witty we all had been, how handsome and talented ... [ellipsis in original]”
—M.F.K. Fisher (19081992)
“Personal change, growth, development, identity formationthese tasks that once were thought to belong to childhood and adolescence alone now are recognized as part of adult life as well. Gone is the belief that adulthood is, or ought to be, a time of internal peace and comfort, that growing pains belong only to the young; gone the belief that these are marker eventsa job, a mate, a childthrough which we will pass into a life of relative ease.”
—Lillian Breslow Rubin (20th century)