Satrap

The word came to suggest tyranny or ostentatious splendour,[3][4] and its modern usage is a pejorative and refers to any subordinate or local ruler, usually with unfavourable connotations of corruption.

Darius the Great gave the satrapies a definitive organization, increased their number to thirty-six, and fixed their annual tribute (Behistun inscription).

The satrap was in charge of the land that he owned as an administrator, and found himself surrounded by an all-but-royal court; he collected the taxes, controlled the local officials and the subject tribes and cities, and was the supreme judge of the province before whose "chair" (Nehemiah 3:7) every civil and criminal case could be brought.

There were further checks on the power of each satrap: besides his secretarial scribe, his chief financial official (Old Persian ganzabara) and the general in charge of the regular army of his province and of the fortresses were independent of him and periodically reported directly to the shah, in person.

As the provinces were the result of consecutive conquests (the homeland had a special status, exempt from provincial tribute), both primary and sub-satrapies were often defined by former states and/or ethno-religious identity.

Whenever central authority in the empire weakened, the satrap often enjoyed practical independence, especially as it became customary to appoint him also as general-in-chief of the army district, contrary to the original rule.

Exceptionally, the Byzantine Empire also adopted the title "satrap" for the semi-autonomous princes that governed one of its Armenian provinces, the Satrapiae.

The Herakleia head , probable portrait of a Persian (Achaemenid) Empire Satrap of Asia Minor , end of 6th century BCE, probably under Darius I [ 1 ]
Satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire
A dignitary of Asia Minor in Achaemenid style, c. 475 BC ; Karaburun tomb near Elmalı , Lycia [ 12 ]
Coin of Themistocles , a former Athenian general, as Achaemenid Empire Satrap of Magnesia , c. 465–459 BC
Coinage of Tiribazos , Satrap of Achaemenid Lydia , 388–380 BC
Achaemenid Satrap Autophradates receiving visitors, on the Tomb of Payava , c. 380 BC
Banquet scene of a Satrap, on the "Sarcophagus of the Satrap", Sidon , 4th century BC
The satraps appointed by Alexander the Great during his campaign
Bagadates I (Minted 290–280 BC), the first indigenous satrap to be appointed by the Seleucid Empire [ 14 ] [ 15 ]
Coin of " Western Satrap " Nahapana , c. 120 CE