Western Civilization

Near East, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Assyria but also

extended into Thrace and Asia Minor in the west and

into India in the east. For administrative purposes, the

empire had been divided into around twenty satrapies.

Each of these provinces was ruled by a governor or

satrap, literally, a “protector of the kingdom.”

Although Darius had not introduced the system of

satrapies, he organized it more rationally. He created a

sensible system for calculating the tribute that each

satrapy owed to the central government and gave the

satraps specific civil and military duties. They collected

tributes, were responsible for justice and security,

raised military levies for the royal army, and normally

commanded the military forces within their satrapies.

In terms of real power, the satraps were miniature

kings with courts imitative of the Great King’s.

FromthetimeofDariuson,satrapswereallofPer-

sian descent. The major satrapies were given to prin-

ces of the royal family, and their position became

essentially hereditary. The minor satrapies were

placed in the hands of Persian nobles. Their offices,

too, tended to pass from father to son. The hereditary

nature of the governors’ offices made it necessary to

provide some checks on their power. Consequently,

royal officials at the satrapal courts acted as spies for

the Great King.

An efficient system of communication was crucial

to sustaining the Persian Empire. Well-maintained

roads facilitated the rapid transit of military and gov-

ernment personnel. One in particular, the so-called

Royal Road, stretched from Sardis, the center of Lydia

in Asia Minor, to Susa, the chief capital of the Persian

Empire. Like the Assyrians, the Persians established

staging posts equipped with fresh horses for the

king’s messengers.

CHRONOLOGYThe Ancient Empires

The Assyrians

Height of power 700 B.C.E.

Ashurbanipal 669–627B.C.E.

Fall of Nineveh 612 B.C.E.

Destruction of the Assyrian Empire 605 B.C.E.

The Chaldeans

Ascendancy in Babylonia 600sB.C.E.

Height of Neo-Babylonian Empire under

King Nebuchadnezzar II

605–562B.C.E.

Fall of Babylon 539 B.C.E.

The Persians

Unification under Achaemenid dynasty 600sB.C.E.

Persian control over Medes 550 B.C.E.

Conquests of Cyrus the Great 559–530B.C.E.

Cambyses and conquest of Egypt 530–522B.C.E.

Reign of Darius 521–486B.C.E.

Darius, the Great King.Darius ruled the Persian Empire from

521 to 486B.C.E. He is shown here on his throne in Persepolis,

a new capital city that he built. In his right hand, Darius holds

the royal staff; in his left, he holds a lotus blossom with two

buds, a symbol of royalty.

Gianni Dagli Orti/The Art Archive at Art Resource, NY

The Persian Empire 43

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