Satraps of the Persian Empire

[keroro]

Does anyone know of a place where I can get hold of some info on the Satraps of the Persian Empire at the time of Alexander's Campaign? The kind of info I would ideally like is the size, relative wealth, governor's (Satrap's?) name, whether it had any troops or goods that it was reknowned for, major cities in them... and really anything else I can get. A map would be useful too.

Also, is there a convention on whether Satrap refers to the actual province or the governor of the province? I have found it being used in both ways.

If anyone has any info I would be greatly indebted, and many thanks in advance for anything you can contribute.

[amyntoros]

Does anyone know of a place where I can get hold of some info on the Satraps of the Persian Empire at the time of Alexander's Campaign? The kind of info I would ideally like is the size, relative wealth, governor's (Satrap's?) name, whether it had any troops or goods that it was reknowned for, major cities in them... and really anything else I can get. A map would be useful too.

The first thought I had on reading your post was that someone must have collected this information, but unfortunately I’m unable to point you towards such an article (if it exists) so I looked at the next best thing; Jona Lendering’s Livius.org page on Persia. Using the links under topography and doing a quick scan of the pages I came up with the following satrapies: Arachosia, Armenia, Bactria (includes Sogdia), Caria, Cilicia, Hellespontine Phrygia, Drangiana, Gandara, Hyrcania, Parthia, Media, Sattagydia, Taxila.

If you link to the above pages you will also find some information on cities in individual satrapies, etc. - certainly not as much as you are seeking, but it’s a start. And perhaps further satrapy names can be found in the Livius links to cities or natural features - I went through the pages rather quickly and may have missed some. (You’ll see, for instance, that the satrapy of Hellespontine Phryigia is mentioned in the page for the city of Dascylium.) Also, a very quick scan of my electronic source files produced the satrapies of Persis, Ionia, Lydia, Egypt, Areia (or Aria), Babylonia, Carmania, Paropanisadae, Susiana, Mesopatamia and Uxia.

Marcus or myself (with his permission) could give you the names of the some of the Persian satraps. I’ve noted from his file on Persians in Alexander’s histories that some were appointed satrap of more than one region. For example, Nabarzanes was appointed satrap of Hyrkania/Parthia by Bessus.

As for the rest of the information you require; honestly, Keroro, this looks like a major undertaking. If you are able to gather it all together I would be very interested in the results.

Best regards,

[marcus]

Does anyone know of a place where I can get hold of some info on the Satraps of the Persian Empire at the time of Alexander's Campaign? The kind of info I would ideally like is the size, relative wealth, governor's (Satrap's?) name, whether it had any troops or goods that it was reknowned for, major cities in them... and really anything else I can get. A map would be useful too.

The first thought I had on reading your post was that someone must have collected this information, but unfortunately I’m unable to point you towards such an article (if it exists) so I looked at the next best thing; Jona Lendering’s Livius.org page on Persia. Using the links under topography and doing a quick scan of the pages I came up with the following satrapies: Arachosia, Armenia, Bactria (includes Sogdia), Caria, Cilicia, Hellespontine Phrygia, Drangiana, Gandara, Hyrcania, Parthia, Media, Sattagydia, Taxila.

If you link to the above pages you will also find some information on cities in individual satrapies, etc. - certainly not as much as you are seeking, but it’s a start. And perhaps further satrapy names can be found in the Livius links to cities or natural features - I went through the pages rather quickly and may have missed some. (You’ll see, for instance, that the satrapy of Hellespontine Phryigia is mentioned in the page for the city of Dascylium.) Also, a very quick scan of my electronic source files produced the satrapies of Persis, Ionia, Lydia, Egypt, Areia (or Aria), Babylonia, Carmania, Paropanisadae, Susiana, Mesopatamia and Uxia.

Marcus or myself (with his permission) could give you the names of the some of the Persian satraps. I’ve noted from his file on Persians in Alexander’s histories that some were appointed satrap of more than one region. For example, Nabarzanes was appointed satrap of Hyrkania/Parthia by Bessus.

As for the rest of the information you require; honestly, Keroro, this looks like a major undertaking. If you are able to gather it all together I would be very interested in the results.

Best regards,

I did do a spreadsheet that had all the satraps listed (although not with the additional information). I would have to dig it out again - I've definitely still got it, but it's a question of exactly where (my files aren't quite as well organised as I like to pretend they are). If you want to PM me your email address, I'll be happy to send it over when I've located it.

In the meantime, if Amyntoros wishes to send you the list I prepared of the Persians mentioned in Alexander's histories, then I have no objection.

ATB

[keroro]

Amyntoros - I also thought that this was the kind of info that would be available out there somewhere, but I just drew a blank trying to find it. All the info seems to be in little bits and pieces scattered to the four winds. I'll have a go at gathering it together, though like you say, I imagine it will take a large effort.

Thanks for the links on Livius. I hadn't realised it had so much info on the Persians.

Marcus - That spreadsheet sounds interesting. I would like to take a look at it so I tried sending you a PM, but this is the first time that I tried to PM on this forum, and I got an error message:

Ran into problems sending Mail. Response: 553 : Sender address rejected: not owned by user forum@pothos.org

DEBUG MODE

Line : 272
File : smtp.php

If the PM didn't get through then perhaps you could try sending me your email address by PM and I'll send you mine back.

[marcus]

Marcus - That spreadsheet sounds interesting. I would like to take a look at it so I tried sending you a PM, but this is the first time that I tried to PM on this forum, and I got an error message:

Ran into problems sending Mail. Response: 553 : Sender address rejected: not owned by user forum@pothos.org

DEBUG MODE

Line : 272
File : smtp.php

If the PM didn't get through then perhaps you could try sending me your email address by PM and I'll send you mine back.

Yeah, I've been having problems as well with PM. However, your message has now come through (twice), so I now have your email to send it to you.

As it is, I haven't yet dug out the spreadsheet, so it's not as if it was sitting there waiting ...

ATB