absolute ruler of the state; indeed, it could be said that he was
the state, since no one was allowed to question his decisions.
His power came from Assur, the chief Assyrian god, though
the king made no claims to be a god himself. Absolute the
Assyrian king might be, but he still required aid in running
an empire that contained much of the ancient Near East. Th e
central Assyrian state was governed by the crown prince, and
each province was administered by a governor and each dis-
trict by a district chief. Both governors and district chiefs were
Assyrians appointed by the king. Most governors were mili-
tary men and oft en took part in campaigns to capture new ter-
ritory or to suppress rebellions. To supervise a province in the
governor’s absence, there probably was a lieutenant governor.
Th e king also had his advisers. His chief source of ad-
vice came from a council made up of high-ranking army
offi cers, some of whom were also provincial governors. Th e
chief advisor was the turtanu, that is, the commander in
chief of the army. Swift communication was essential in or-
der for the king to maintain his control and to spread his or-
ders throughout the empire. Consequently, he was served by
a corps of mounted messengers. Riding the royal roads, the
main highways of the empire, messengers changed mounts
at posts every 20 to 30 miles, thus effi ciently tying the empire
together. Swift communication helped not only in spreading
royal commands but also in stopping the occasional rebel-
lion. Troops from the central Assyrian state or other prov-
inces could be ordered relatively quickly to the trouble spot.
Once a rebellion was put down and its leaders tortured
and executed, the Assyrian king might order some of the re-
bellious population’s merchants, craft speople, and aristocrats
relocated as a further punishment. Such deportees found
themselves far from home and surrounded by strangers. Th e
threat of gruesome death and lifelong exile did not end rebel-
lion, but they made such uprisings less likely.
ACHAEMENID PERSIA
Half a century aft er the collapse of the Assyrian state, in the
middle of the sixth century b.c.e., a new empire, the Achae-
menid Persian (538–331 b.c.e.), arose. For the next two centu-
ries the Achaemenids would govern a territory considerably
larger than Assyria, encompassing not only the entirety of
the ancient Near East, including upper Egypt, but also the
regions that are now Iran, Afghanistan, parts of Central Asia,
and Pakistan as far east as the Indus River valley. Th e Ach-
aemenids were hereditary kings, and like their Assyrian pre-
decessors, they claimed absolute authority over their realm.
Since the king was the representative of the Iranian god and
creator of the world Ahura Mazda, the Persian monarch also
claimed that he had the divine right to rule the entire world.
Th e Achaemenids thus took the titles Great King and King of
Kings to diff erentiate themselves from other rulers.
To emphasize the king’s authority, he wore a long-sleeved
purple robe embroidered in gold and much gold jewelry, in-
cluding on occasion a golden crown. Four pillars supported
his throne, which sat beneath a purple canopy, and he walked
through his palace on purple carpets that no one else could use.
Despite his claim of absolute power, the king was expected to
seek the advice of important offi cials and members of the aris-
tocracy, particularly since no one person could have governed
a state the size of the Persian Empire without advice and help.
Th e king, however, did not have to heed advice if it confl icted
with his own desires. Th e chief Persian offi cial beneath the
king was the hazarapatish (“commander of a thousand”). Th is
offi cial, who belonged to the highest ranks of Persian nobility,
was the supervisor of the palace staff and commander of the
royal bodyguard. He arranged audiences with the monarch
and personally delivered messages to the king.
Th e hazarapatish, along with other palace offi cials, aided
the king in administering the various conquered territories of
the empire. From the beginning the Achaemenid tolerated a
fair amount of local rule in conquered territories. Indeed, ini-
tially, the founder of the empire, Cyrus II (r. ca. 538–ca. 529
b.c.e.), known as the Great, did not appoint Persians as gov-
ernors of the empire’s various conquered states. Instead, he
chose those native to each region. Darius I (r. 522–486 b.c.e.),
however, revamped Cyrus’s system. He wanted to make the
overall governing of the empire more unifi ed and to empha-
size the dominance of Persia. For this reason Darius divided
the empire into 20 provinces, known as satrapies. Persia itself
was not a satrapy; only conquered territories were.
Each satrapy included a number of former states and a di-
versity of ethnic groups. Th u s t h e s a t r a p o f A b a r n a h a r a ( “ b e y o n d
the river,” referring to the Euphrates) included all of Syrio-Pal-
estine with its Phoenician cities and Jewish states along with
the island of Cyprus. Th e capital of this satrap was probably
Damascus. Except for Persia, which was under the direct rule
of the king, each satrapy was administered by a governor, or sa-
trap, who was always a Persian. Th is governor was rewarded for
his service with rich lands and a palace in the satrapal capital.
Both the satrap and his holdings were a visible reminder that
the Persians had ultimate authority in the empire.
Below the satrap, government continued to be mostly in
the hands of local rulers, generally, like the satraps, appointed
by the Persian king. Merchant councils continued to oversee
the Phoenician cities along the Mediterranean, and tyrants
still ruled the Greek cities in Asia Minor. Th ese local rulers
even enjoyed some degree of autonomy. Th e chief duties of the
satrap and of the local authorities below him were to imple-
ment royal decrees, keep order, and collect the annual tribute,
which was then sent to Persia. Only Persia itself was exempt
from this taxation, one of its privileges of not being a satrapy.
In order to collect the tribute and to keep order, the sa-
trap had the help of a garrison of Persian soldiers. However,
he did not have command of this military unit. Instead, it
answered only to its commanding offi cer, who in turn was re-
sponsible only to the king. It was the king rather than the sa-
trap who appointed this military chief. Th is division of power
was meant to lessen the risk that an ambitious satrap would
use the forces at his disposal to set himself up as an indepen-
dent ruler. At least one satrap during the reign of Darius was
killed by Persian soldiers on the orders of the king when he
was suspected of treason.518 government organization: The Middle East