518 government organization: The Middle East 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 The central Assyrian state was governed by the crown prince, and each province was administered by a governor and each district by a district chief Both governors and district chiefs were Assyrians appointed by the king Most governors were military men and often took part in campaigns to capture new territory or to suppress rebellions To supervise a province in the governor’s absence, there probably was a lieutenant governor The king also had his advisers His chief source of advice came from a council made up of high-ranking army officers, some of whom were also provincial governors The chief advisor was the turtanu, that is, the commander in chief of the army Swift communication was essential in order for the king to maintain his control and to spread his orders 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 efficiently tying the empire together Swift communication helped not only in spreading royal commands but also in stopping the occasional rebellion Troops from the central Assyrian state or other provinces 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 rebellious population’s merchants, craftspeople, and aristocrats relocated as a further punishment Such deportees found themselves far from home and surrounded by strangers The threat of gruesome death and lifelong exile did not end rebellion, but they made such uprisings less likely ACHAEMENID PERSIA Half a century after the collapse of the Assyrian state, in the middle of the sixth century b.c.e., a new empire, the Achaemenid Persian (538–331 b.c.e.), arose For the next two centuries 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 The Achaemenids were hereditary kings, and like their Assyrian predecessors, 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 The Achaemenids thus took the titles Great King and King of Kings to differentiate themselves from other rulers To emphasize the king’s authority, he wore a long-sleeved purple robe embroidered in gold and much gold jewelry, including 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 officials and members of the aristocracy, particularly since no one person could have governed a state the size of the Persian Empire without advice and help The king, however, did not have to heed advice if it conflicted with his own desires The chief Persian official beneath the king was the hazarapatish (“commander of a thousand”) This official, 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 The hazarapatish, along with other palace officials, 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, initially, the founder of the empire, Cyrus II (r ca 538–ca 529 b.c.e.), known as the Great, did not appoint Persians as governors 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 unified and to emphasize 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 diversity of ethnic groups Thus the satrap of Abarnahara (“beyond the river,” referring to the Euphrates) included all of Syrio-Palestine with its Phoenician cities and Jewish states along with the island of Cyprus The 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 satrap, who was always a Persian This 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 These local rulers even enjoyed some degree of autonomy The chief duties of the satrap and of the local authorities below him were to implement 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 satrap 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 officer, who in turn was responsible only to the king It was the king rather than the satrap who appointed this military chief This 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 independent 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