of the Elmend, Arachosia, and the land of Maka on the shores of the Indian Ocean.  Ten satrapies were reckoned in the west—­Uvaya, Elam, in which lay Susa, one of the favourite residences of Darius; Babirus (Babylon) and Chaldaea; Athura, the ancient kingdom of Assyria; Arabaya, 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 AEgean; Yauna, 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 Achaemenids,*** 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 Achaemenian princess.

     **** We know, for example, that Orcotes, satrap of Sardes
     under Cyrus, Cambyses, and Darius, had a body-guard of 1000
     Persians.