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:
“I have got enough of the old masters! Brown says he has “shook” them, and I think I will shake them, too. You wander through a mile of picture galleries and stare stupidly at ghastly old nightmares done in lampblack and lightning, and listen to the ecstatic encomiums of the guides, and try to get up some enthusiasm, but it won’t come.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“Personal change, growth, development, identity formation—these 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 events—a job, a mate, a child—through which we will pass into a life of relative ease.”
—Lillian Breslow Rubin (20th century)