Ancient History – Xerxes Essay Example

purposes.

Pasargadae was the coronation city (New Year's celebrations); Babylon was the economic power and the polltlcal capital, Susa was the economic and geographic entre of the empire as well as the chief administrative centre, Ecbatana was the old Median capital and Persepolis was the grandest and remotest of the residences, possibly intended for ceremonial use during the New Year's festivities and the burial place of Darius and Xerxes, This meant each central state of the empire had d significant role and kept the states under control as representatives ot the king were constantly there.This was successful in achieving administration ofthe empire as each central state did its Job within the empire. Although the King Is centre of all of he administration, he was supported by a raft of high officials from the royal family and other Persian and Median nobles who owed Xerxes loyalty In return for the land allocated to them and the military and administrative roles assigned to them. The key advisors were nobles, courtiers and member of Xerxes family.

Many princes held senior positions In the administration and the mllltary_ Historians argue that the Persian kings had a council of Seven Advisors and to honour the closest advisors for their assistance the king gave them d special place at court and their families were iven land and "rights ot audience" with the king. The Persians and the Medes themselves did not write so scribes were the official recorders for the nation. Royal scribes worked on official correspondence Iike decrees and look after archives for reports about taxes, economic and political activities from parts of the empire.Royal treasuries were located In each major city

and all subject peoples had the pay some form of tribute to the king. By having all of these people assigned to these certain roles, the King did not have much dirty work to do for himself. There were problems ith the use of scribes as there were language barriers and different regions would have the documents translated or read to them as it was most likely that most of the Persian nobles were illiterate.

Most documents were written in two or more languages to help this problem.Translators and interpreters were an essential part of the central administration to promote the best communication amongst a diverse group of subject peoples. This central administration was inherited by xerxes. With all of its flaws, this was all successful with the administration of the empire as they worked out problems with communication.

The king had satraps in every major city and they were often referred to as minor kings as they were responsible for collecting taxes, maintaining loyalty to the king in his province and supervising the political, economic and legal affairs of his province.Satraps were also known as 'protectors of the kingdom' and did have responsibility for security within the limits of the boarders of their own satrapy and had a small bodyguard of soldiers and militia. The army was under the authority of military leaders, who were independent of the straps and directly subordinate to the king. The most important satrapies such as Babylon, Egypt were often given to royal princes. The kings secretary was an officer who formed a part of every satrap's administration.

The Persians also replaced a portion of local civil servants with

Persians.One of the main problems facing a satrap was how to deal with an emergency when the king was away on campaign at the far end of the empire. Satraps and military chiefs were closely linked with the central administration but they had the potential power to cause trouble for the king. Agents of the king (independent of the satraps and local authorities) in the provinces eported on the activities of satraps and other officials in case of revolts. These 'spies' were given the title of 'ears of the king.

The purpose of satraps and secret spies was to keep the empire under control and the role of a satrap was assigned to royal princes in order to eliminate competition for the throne. This was all very successful with keeping the peace of the empire and the administration, only up until revolts broke out, but in Xerxes time of reign, all revolts were successfully put to an end before anything major happened. Darius was sometimes described as a shopkeeper, dministrator and a trader, because he introduced some economic changes which helped make the empire run smoothly and left a well organised empire to his son Xerxes when he died.Darius minted the first Persian coins which were called Darics which were gold coins featured with a king represented figure that was a running archer wearing a crown. This was a good piece of propaganda since Darics were circulated everywhere.

The king also tried to make weights and measure the same everywhere so all subjects paid the same amount of tax. Darius had also made taxation of the empire more systematic which helped drastically. The king made it

clear how much each province had to pay each year. Although this was worked out in terms of silver and local metals, many provinces still paid their taxes in produce.

The silver and gold went into the kings treasury while the produce was used to support the court and feed the army. This all worked well for Xerxes as he didn't have to do much himself, again, he had people do the dirty work for him as well as making taxation more systematic so it was easier for him. This all achieved successful administration of the empire as it was easier for Xerxes to work with and everything as fair for each state. Communication within the empire was difficult because of the vast distances and type of terrain.Darius introduced an efficient royal courier service to speed up communication. The Royal Road is the most well known and most used in the empire as it linked the capital Susa with the western provincial capital of Sardis in Asia Minor.

The road passed through mountains and over rivers crossable by bridges and ferries. At intervals along the trail there were staging posts and inns where the relay or couriers changed horses and were given refreshments. The royal Road was later extended to Persepolis while other roads ran from Babylon through to Ecbatana.The Royal Road was approximately two thousand four hundred and sixty eight kilometres and took three months/ninety days to travel along the entire road.

The Kings couriers did not take three months however, they rode is relays, a day for each messenger. The couriers would travel through seven provinces and crossed four large rivers to eventually end

up in Susa. The purpose of the Royal Road was to make trade, communication and travel much easier and safer and again Xerxes did not have to leave his palace to do anything.The royal Road was successful in the administration process of the empire as it allowed the kings couriers to send his messages to each state easily and safely. A lot of historians Judge Xerxes Just based of his military leadership, as he did not have a lot of success. But with the administration of his empire, a more positive Judgement of Xerxes can be made as he successfully maintained an empire that contained fifty million subjects.

Although Xerxes inherited the majority of the administration for his father, Darius l, Xerxes can still be titled as the "king of kings" as he managed to hold the empire together for wenty one years.This Judgment of Xerxes was proven through the central administration (the role of the cities), the royal court (advisors, scribes, translators, interpreters and the role of the treasury), Provincial organisation (the satrapy system, the inspectors, economic organisation; coins, weights and measures, agriculture, trade and tribute) and communication (royal road language and scribes). Even though Xerxes was not particularly the nicest and most tolerant leader or successful military wise, he was able to create a positive Judgment for himself as a good leader administratively.