Twenty Provinces, One Empire
Caption
Twenty provinces, one empire. Darius I gave the Achaemenid world governors called satraps, fixed tribute and a gold coin, the daric. Herodotus lists twenty tax districts, from Ionia’s 400 talents of silver to India’s 360 talents of gold dust. #Achaemenid #Persia #History
Short takes
A satrap, from Old Persian khshathrapavan, was a governor, “protector of the province”. Under Darius I each of the twenty tax districts Herodotus lists had one, gathering tribute and raising troops.
Herodotus’s tribute list: Babylon and Assyria 1,000 talents of silver, Egypt 700, Ionia and neighbours 400. India sent 360 talents of gold dust, the largest single sum.
Persians themselves paid no tribute under Darius. Some peoples, such as the Nubians, Colchians and Arabs, sent gifts instead of fixed tribute.
Image description
Infographic titled Twenty Provinces, One Empire. Two sepia photographs of Persepolis show delegations on the Apadana stairs and the Gate of All Nations. Five numbered panels cover the satrap as governor, tribute in silver and gold, Persians exempt from tribute, Darius’s inscriptions beside Herodotus’s twenty tax districts, and gold and silver standards. Cards read 20 tax districts and 14,560 Euboean talents a year. A dark panel notes that the first district paid 400 talents from many peoples together.
