Satrapy

From the time of the Medes and the Persians on, a province within one of the ancient empires that spanned Mesopotamia and neighboring regions of the Near East. The ruler of a satrapy was called a satrap, a term derived from the Old Persian word khshathrapava, meaning “protector of the province.” The Greek equivalent was satrapes. The Medes, who were culturally related to the Persians, organized the first imperial provinces in Iran, perhaps based on Assyrian models. After conquering the Medes, Persia’s King Cyrus II also adopted the concept of satrapies. Yet whereas Median satraps were in effect local vassal kings who lent support to the principal, central king in Ecbatana, Persian satraps were mere governors, and closely controlled ones at that. A Persian satrap did have a number of powers on the local level, including governmental administration, tax collection, judging court cases, and putting down local rebellions. However, Cyrus and other Persian kings placed secretaries, financial officers, and military governors in each province, and these men oversaw the local satrap and made sure he did not overstep his authority. Cyrus created twenty satrapies, and one of his distinguished successors, Darius I, added three more.

The Persian system of satrapies must have been either fairly efficient or widely perceived to be so because later imperialists in the region kept versions of it in place. For example, the Macedonian Greek king Alexander III (“the Great”) retained the Persian satrapies after defeating King Darius III in the 320s b. c. And in the second century b. c., following Alexander’s death and the wars of his leading generals, the Greek Seleucid rulers did the same. Under the Seleucids, a satrap was called a strategos, the Greek word for “military general.” The Parthians, who supplanted the Seleucids in the area, also had satrapylike provinces based on the older Persian versions. However, Parthian governors were, like Median ones, more like local vassal kings than mere governors. Then came the Sassanians, who followed the old Persian system more closely. Sassanian satraps were called shahrabs.

SEE ALSO: Cyrus II; Median Empire; Persian Empire