Native magistrates and kings still bore sway in Phoenicia* and Cyprus, and the shêkhs of the desert preserved their authority over the marauding and semi-nomadic tribes of Idumasa, Nabatsea, Moab, and Ammon, and the wandering Bedâwin on the Euphrates and the Khabur. Egypt, under Darius, remained what she had been under the Saitic and Ethiopian dynasties, a feudal state governed by a Pharaoh, who, though a foreigner, was yet reputed to be of the solar race; the land continued to be divided unequally into diverse principalities, Thebes still preserving its character as a theocracy under the guidance of the pallacide of Amon and her priestly counsellors, while the other districts subsisted under military chieftains. Our information concerning the organisation of the central and eastern provinces is incomplete, but it is certain that here also the same system prevailed. In the years of peace which succeeded the troubled opening of his reign, that is, from 519 to 515 B.C.,** Darius divided the whole empire into satrapies, whose number varied at different periods of his reign from twenty to twenty-three, and even twenty-eight.***
* Three kings, viz. the kings of Sidon, Tyre, and Arvad,
bore commands in the Phoenician fleet of Xerxes.
** Herodotus states that this dividing of the empire into
provinces took place immediately after the accession of
Darius, and this mistake is explained by the fact that he
ignores almost entirely the civil wars which filled the
earliest years of the reign. His enumeration of twenty
satrapies comprises India and omits Thrace, which enables us
to refer the drawing up of his list to a period before the
Scythian campaign, viz. before 514 B.C. Herodotus very
probably copied it from the work of Hecatseus of Miletus,
and consequently it reproduces a document contemporary with
Darius himself.
*** The number twenty is, as has been remarked, that given
by Herodotus, and probably by Hecatæus of Miletus. The great
Behistun Inscription enumerates twenty-three countries, and
the Inscription of Nakhsh-î-Rustem gives twenty-eight.
Persia proper was not included among these, for she had been the cradle of the reigning house, and the instrument of conquest.*
* In the great Behistun Inscription Darius mentions Persia
first of all the countries in his possession. In the
Inscription E of Persepolis he omits it entirely, and in
that of Nakhsh-î-Rustem he does not include it in the
general catalogue.
The Iranian table-land, and the parts of India or regions beyond the Oxus which bordered on it, formed twelve important vice-royalties—Media, Hyrcania, Parthia, Zaranka, Aria, Khorasmia, Bactriana, Sogdiana, Gandaria, and the country of the Sakae—reaching from the plains of Tartary almost to the borders of China, the country of the Thatagus in the upper basin of the Elmend, Arachosia, and the land of Maka on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Ten satrapies were reckoned in the west—Uvayâ, Elam, in which lay Susa, one of the favourite residences of Darius; Babirus (Babylon) and Chaldæa; Athurâ, the ancient kingdom of Assyria; Arabayâ, stretching from the Khabur to the Litany, the Jordan, and the Orontes; Egypt, the peoples of the sea, among whom were reckoned the Phoenicians, Cilicians, and Cypriots, and the islanders of the Ægean; Yaunâ, which comprised Lycia, Caria, and the Greek colonies along the coast; Sparda, with Phrygia and Mysia; Armenia; and lastly, Katpatuka or Cappadocia, which lay on both sides of the Halys from the Taurus to the Black Sea. If each of these provinces had been governed, as formerly, by a single individual, who thus became king in all but name and descent, the empire would have run great risk of a speedy dissolution. Darius therefore avoided concentrating the civil and military powers in the same hands. In each province he installed three officials independent of each other, but each in direct communication with himself—a satrap, a general, and a secretary of state. The satraps were chosen from any class in the nation, from among the poor as well as from among the wealthy, from foreigners as well as from Persians;* but the most important satrapies were bestowed only on persons allied by birth** or marriage with the Achæmenids,*** and, by preference, on the legitimate descendants of the six noble houses. They were not appointed for any prescribed period, but continued in office during the king’s pleasure. They exercised absolute authority in all civil matters, and maintained a court, a body-guard,**** palaces and extensive parks, or paradises, where they indulged in the pleasures of the chase; they controlled the incidence of taxation,^ administered justice, and possessed the power of life and death.
* Herodotus mentions a satrap chosen from among the Lydians,
Pactyas, and another satrap of Greek extraction, Xenagoras
of Halicarnassus.
** The most characteristic instance is that of Hystaspes,
who was satrap of Persia under Oambyses, and of Parthia and
Hyrcania under his own son. One of the brothers of Darius,
Artaphernes, was satrap of Sardes, and three of the king’s
sons, Achemenes, Ariabignes, and Masistes, were satraps of
Egypt, Ionia, and Bactriana respectively.
*** To understand how well established was the custom of
bestowing satrapies on those only who were allied by
marriage to the royal house, it is sufficient to recall the
fact that, later on, under Xerxes I., when Pausanias, King
of Sparta, had thoughts of obtaining the position of satrap
in Greece, he asked for the hand of an Achæmenian princess.
**** We know, for example, that Orcotes, satrap of Sardes
under Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius, had a body-guard of 1000
Persians.
^ Thus, Artaphernes, satrap of Sardes, had a cadastral
survey made of the territory of the Ionians, and by the
results of this survey he regulated the imposition of taxes,
“which from that time up to the present day are exacted
according to his ordinance.”
Attached to each satrap was a secretary of state, who ostensibly acted as his chancellor, but whose real function was to exercise a secret supervision over his conduct and report upon it to the imperial ministers.* The Persian troops, native militia and auxiliary forces quartered in the province, were placed under the orders, moreover, of a general, who was usually hostile to the satrap and the secretary.** These three officials counterbalanced each other, and held each other mutually in check, so that a revolt was rendered very difficult, if not impossible. All three were kept in constant communication with the court by relays of regular couriers, who carried their despatches on horseback or on camels, from one end of Asia to the other, in the space of a few weeks.***
* The rôle played by the secretary is clearly indicated by
the history of Orotes, satrap of Sardes.
** While Darius appoints his brother Artaphernes satrap of
Lydia, he entrusts the command of the army and the fleet to
Otanes, son of Sisamnes. Similarly several generals are met
with at the side of Artaphernes in the Ionic revolt.
*** Xenophon compares their speed in travelling to the
flight of birds. A good example of the use of the camel for
the postal service is cited by Strabo, on the occasion of
the death of Philotas and the execution of Parmenion under
Alexander.
The most celebrated of the post-roads was that which ran from Sardes to Susa through Lydia and Phrygia, crossing the Halys, traversing Cappadocia and Cilicia, and passing through Armenia and across the Euphrates, until at length, after passing through Matiênê and the country of the Cossæans, it reached Elam. This main route was divided into one hundred and eleven stages, which were performed by couriers on horseback and partly in ferry-boats, in eighty-four days. Other routes, of which we have no particular information, led to Egypt, Media, Bactria, and India,* and by their means the imperial officials in the capital were kept fully informed of all that took place in the most distant parts of the empire. As an extra precaution, the king sent out annually certain officers, called his “eyes” or his “ears,” ** who appeared on the scene when they were least expected, and investigated the financial or political situation, reformed abuses in the administration, and reprimanded or even suspended the government officials; they were accompanied by a body of troops to support their decisions, whose presence invested their counsels with the strongest sanction.*** An unfavourable report, a slight irregularity, a mere suspicion, even, was sufficient to disqualify a satrap. Sometimes he was deposed, often secretly condemned to death without a trial, and the execution of the judgment was committed even to his own servants.