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Achaemenid Imperial Policies and Provincial Governments

Achaemenid Imperial Policies and Provincial Governments

Iranica Antiqua, vol. XXXIV, 1999

ACHAEMENID IMPERIAL POLICIES AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS

BY M.A. DANDAMAYEV

The first millennium B.C1. was a period of the rise, decline and fall of great . It is true that large empires existed already in the third and second millennia but their economic basis differed in a striking manner from that of the later empires. While the Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid empires depended mainly on from private households, out of which the kings maintained the official staff and the army, the ear- lier empires were based on enormous or state-temple economies. This difference is easily to be explained by the fact that in the third and second millennia, there did not yet exist a developed market economy or any private extensive international trade and consequently there was no pos- sibility to acquire freely raw materials in any considerable quantity or to use hired labor on a large scale in the crafts or in agriculture. The most obvious case of such empires was the Sumerian state of the kings of the dynasty of who ruled , and for about a hundred years (2112-2003). But already during the period preceding the Persian conquest of Mesopotamia, the royal economy in and had not occupied a large share of the economy of these countries. In the first millennium an enormous royal economy would have been an anom- alous phenomenon. The Neo-Assyrian state, the borders of which stretched from to Median regions, was the first world . At the end of the seventh cen- tury the well-organized Assyrian empire was replaced with rather primi- tive Neo-Babylonian and Median states, to a considerable degree based on tribal organizations. Within a few decades, between 550 and 512, the Persian state, originally also based on tribal organization, raised to the position of an enormous world empire, which comprised the , Central , the

1 All dates in this paper are B.C. 270 M.A. DANDAMAYEV northwestern and many other countries to the west and north of Persia. This empire existed for two hundred years, however, never was a monolithic state. In other words, the socio-economic structures, legal sys- tems and institutions of the were extremely diverse ranging from the highly developed to very primitive, since it comprised the economic developed regions of Asia Minor, Elam, Babylonia, Syria, and Egypt, which had their own state institutions, and also numerous primitive tribes or even peoples who still retained matriarchal relations. Moreover, Persia itself which was the main body of the empire remained a comparatively backward country. For instance, Elamite eco- nomic and administrative documents from drafted at the end of the sixth and in the first half of the fifth century reveal the contours of a huge royal household which embraced the large territory of Persia and Elam [see Dandamayev and Lukonin 1989:145ff.]. The reasons of the emergence of this type of economy were the same ones as in earlier empires, namely the absence of markets and consequently the poor development of commodity-money relations in Persia. Thus, despite its decisive role in the establishment and maintenance of the empire, from economic point of view Persia remained a peripheral country and could not determine or even influence to a considerable degree the tendencies of development typical of advanced regions based on private property and intensive market relations. For instance, though the Persian kings possessed a large amount of land in Babylonia during the Achaemenid period, the royal economy did not play there the leading role which belonged at that time to the pri- vate and temple households. The who had had little experience of government were now to create a developed system of administration to govern more than eighty ethnic groups. For this they had apparently to turn to the administrative institutions of the preceding empires, first of all, of the Assyrians and at the same time to interfere as little as possible in the traditional political and social structures of their provinces. The Achaemenids realized well that they were to rule, inter alia, the nations who had had thousands of years of cultural traditions behind them and therefore had not only to - strate a high respect for these traditions but also to appear in the role of the direct heirs to them and their keepers. Thus, for instance, already II, the founder of the empire, in his Babylonian inscriptions proudly calls himself “the of ”, using this age-old royal title in order to emphasize his Elamite and Mesopotamian cultural and historical ACHAEMENID IMPERIAL POLICIES AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS 271 background. Presenting himself as liberator of Mesopotamia, he also declared (and, in all probability, believed in this himself) that the Baby- lonian supreme god ordered him to become the ruler of the whole world and to enter in order to liberate its population from the oppressive role of , the last native king. Similarly, when Cam- byses conquered Egypt, according to his words, this was done at the appeal of the Egyptian Neith. Cyrus and Cambyses retained with practically no alterations the local administrative, economic and legal institutions in , Babylonia and other countries, gave their conquests the character of a legitimate union with the vanquished peoples, crowned themselves in each country according to local customs. For instance, Cyrus formally preserved the Neo-Babylonian kingdom within its former borders comprising Mesopotamia and the countries to the west of the . Moreover, he received his title of king of Babylon from the hand of the god Marduk, having performed the ancient ceremonies. Similarly, Cambyses considered himself the legitimate successor to the of the Saite dynasty. When in 522 I became king of the Achaemenid empire, numer- ous revolts broke in Persia and many conquered countries. Having crushed these revolts, he was confronted with the need to reform the provin- cial administrative system in order to avert separatist tendencies. Ca. 519 he started to carry out his important reforms, first of all, creating twenty satrapies, in which the supreme administrative and judicial power belonged to the appointed by the king. A large central was created which was situated in , the administrative of the empire. The state bureaucracy was based on the language which was also dominant in the commercial sphere. Official documents were sent in Aramaic from Susa throughout the entire state and back to Susa. In addition to Aramaic, in various countries were also used local languages for the compilation of official documents (Elamite in southwest , Akkadian in Babylonia, in Egypt, Greek in Ionian cities of Asia Minor, etc.). Nevertheless, there was no uniform provincial system which was characterized rather by the variety and diversity than by uniformity. For instance, Persia was exempted from monetary taxes, Media held a special position, Babylonia and Egypt formally remained separate kingdoms. There were also many hereditary rulers: Carian princes in , a local dynasty in , semi-autonomous temple communities and the 272 M.A. DANDAMAYEV in the Ionian cities, free Greek cities with a democratic organiza- tion in Asia Minor; a council of aristocrats on the island of , local kings on , and so on [cf. Frei 1990:160]. Such remote tribes as the , Colchians, , Sakai, etc. were governed by their own chiefs. Moreover, the Arabs, Cilicians, Phoenician cities and some other peoples not only enjoyed local autonomy, but were also considered allies of the Persian king. Besides, Phoenician and Ionian city states, satraps and rulers in Asia Minor and Syria were allowed their own local coinage. Some remote areas of the empire (such as regions of India) were probably administered not directly by royal or local chiefs but with the help of their neighbors living more near to the center of the empire [see Vogelsang 1990:108]. In other words, each province remained independent socio-economic unit with its own social institutions, internal structure, old local laws, cus- toms, traditions, systems of weights and measures, and monetary systems. Thus, the Persian empire was based on previous infrastructures in various areas which “retained to a large degree their individual, traditional struc- tures” [Kuhrt and Sancisi-Weerdenburg 1991:XVIII). As we have seen above, different political regimes (monarchic, democra- tic, aristocratic. and theocratic) existed in the countries of the Achaemenid empire and continued to function owing rather to historical traditions in each given region, as well as to convictions of the subjects of the Persian king than to the choice or preference of the central government. When autonomy was granted to a certain province, kingdom or city, Persian administration remained indifferent towards the internal political structure of the population. But in a few cases such a practice caused a serious dissatisfaction of the subjects. For instance, in Asia Minor did not alter the traditional political order, and they showed support for the tyrants who had already ruled there. But soon tyranny had become an unpopular force which was against the spirit of time and which the Persian government continued to support out of tradition. Therefore it appeared to the Greek citizens in that it was impossible to throw away the tyrants without first liberating themselves from Persian domination [cf. Balcer 1991:65]. Therefore the Ionian cities revolted against “Persian ” (499-493). Having crushed the Ionian revolt, the Persians reinstated the tyrants into their former positions. Some time later, however, the Persian general put down all the tyrants and up democracies in Ion- ian cities [ 6.43]. ACHAEMENID IMPERIAL POLICIES AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS 273

The countries which enjoyed autonomy in internal affairs could also be included in the more extensive satrapies. For instance, under Cyrus, Cam- byses and Darius I, Mesopotamia and all the regions to the west of the Euphrates as far as the border on Egypt constituted a single satrapy called Babylonia and Beyond the River (Ebir Nari, Aramaic Abar Nahara). This enormous satrapy comprised almost all the territory of the former Neo- Babylonian empire. This satrapy was divided into the semi-independent Phoenician city states Tyre, , and Arad ruled by local dynasties of the kings; the province of Judah; where the post of was handed down by inheritance in the family of Sanballat; and, finally, the provinces Megiddo, Dor, Ashod and Gaza [see Stern 1984:78-87; Eph‘al 1988:157-164]. The rulers of all these provinces and of autonomous cities were responsible to the of Babylonia and Beyond the River. Only sometime after 486 this satrapy was divided into two parts, i.e. Babylonia and Beyond the River [see Stolper 1989:288-293]. As to Judah, for a short time during the reign of Cyrus Sheshbazzar was its governor, and then this post was taken by . Gradually, this province began to enjoy great independence in domestic affairs. In the fifth and fourth centuries, its rulers were also appointed from among the local individuals. As a result of the activities of and Nehemiah, a foundation was laid for the community united around its Tem- ple and headed by the high priest. Jerusalem gradually transformed into a self-governing temple city [Tadmor 1994:269-270]. The Persian satrap did not interfere into the internal affairs of this community. Thus, the high priests of Jerusalem gradually became the governors of the province, col- lected taxes in the name of the Persian kings and also minted silver [cf. Machinist 1994:376-379]. The interest of the Persian kings in Jewish religion or their benevolent attitude towards the are, however, sometimes exaggerated by scholars. Arguing with the view of Meyer [1896:65] and Schaeder [1930:55] that “ was created by the Persian empire”, Albright [1950:53] wrote that “there was more opposition than support among Persian… officials” to the restoration of the Temple in Jerusalem. According to Albright, Judaism was “developed by the Jewish people, working against great odds”. It seems to me that the historical situation can be presented as fol- lows. Rigid prevailed among the Jews in Babylonian captiv- ity, while pagan practices and syncretic rites continued to function among the Yahwists in Judah itself and Samaria. As known, Cyrus’ Edict permitted 274 M.A. DANDAMAYEV the Jewish exiles in Babylonia to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple there. Eph‘al [1988:151] correctly writes that since “it is rather improba- ble that the Jews received preferential treatment, one can assume that other ethnic-national groups were dealt with similarly”. As far as it can be judged from various sources, no Persian officials laid any obstacles to the Jewish repatriates who returned to Jerusalem with Sheshbazzar and later with Ezra, except some individuals like Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, who regarded Judah as part of his province [see Albright 1950:48] or Tobiah, an opponent of Nehemiah, whose Yahwistic convictions differed from those of Nehemiah and his followers. Although after Darius’ reforms, many important military and civil posts were occupied by the Persians, frequently governors of cities and whole regions, judges and other comparatively highly-placed civil servants were from among local inhabitants. In the central administrative apparatus in Susa, alongside with Elamite and Aramean scribes, there were also coun- selors from other countries, like Ezra who was an expert on Jewish affairs. For some time of his life, Nehemiah served the king as cup-bearer at the court at Susa, as well as the Egyptian dignitary Ujahorresne who was a physician of Darius I. Such experts advised the Achaemenid kings on local traditions of vari- ous nations of the empire. Owing to these experts, the traditional laws of the peoples of the empire were given the royal authorization. Apparently, it was Ujahorrense, at whose advice Darius I ordered his satrap of Egypt to convene wise men among the warriors, priests and scribes to put down the Egyptian laws which had been in force during the reign of the Amasis [cf. Bresciani 1984:360; Johnson 1994:157f.]. Similarly, in 458 the priest and scribe Ezra was sent by to establish the laws of Torah among the Jewish community in Judah [Stern 1984:73; on the authorization of laws in some other regions of the empire see Frei 1984:7ff.; cf. Ackroyd 1990:216f.]. At first glance, it might appear that significant changes occurred in tem- ple policies during the Achaemenid period. Let us consider this problem briefly. Cambyses issued a decree on the financial administration of the sanctuaries of Egypt. According to this decree, he cut in half the issue of numerous donations to the temples in silver, poultry, grain, construction timber, etc., which they obtained from the pharaohs of the Saite dynasty. Under Cambyses only three temples (including the sanctuary of the god Ptah in Memphis) retained their exclusive position. ACHAEMENID IMPERIAL POLICIES AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS 275

The restoration of the Temple of Jerusalem, sanctioned by Cyrus, later was reaffirmed by Darius I. The latter and Artaxerxes I also issued decrees providing for the sacrificial , expenses on which were paid from the taxes collected in Beyond the River. Besides, the temple personnel was exempt from payment of the taxes and from forced labor which were obligatory for all the subjects of the empire. There were also established sacrifices intended for the welfare of the king and his sons [Ezra 6:10; see also Eph‘al 1988:151; Tadmor 1994:269f.]. Under the Achaemenids, the Babylonian temples were obliged to deliver considerable amounts of barley, sesame, beer, sheep, cattle, etc. to the state, as well as to supply the provisions of the government officials and to send temple slaves to work in the royal household [Dandamayev 1979:594f.]. A decree of Darius I addressed to Gadatas, the manager of his estates in Asia Minor, contains an order not to collect taxes from the farmers of the Temple of Apollo at Magnesia, and not to send them for tilling royal land taking into consideration that the of Apollo had predicted victory for the Persians [Boffo 1979:267ff.]. Thus, to judge from our sources, the status of the temples in various countries differed, since some important sanctuaries were given special privileges, while other ones were obliged to pay the state taxes and to per- form corvée duties. But these dissimilarities can perhaps be easily explained if they are considered within the framework of the authorization given by the Persian kings to local traditions. Thus, the reduction in the income belonging to Egyptian temples was “an act which can be parallelled many times in the course of Egyptian ” [Johnson 1994:152]. Similarly, long before Achaemenid times, the Temple of Jerusalem was cultic and spiritual center of Judah which was given special favors as the sanctuary of the state god . As to Babylonian temples, under Nabonidus, i.e. still before the conquest of Mesopotamia by Cyrus, they were obliged to take upon themselves a considerable burden of state expenses and to send their slaves to work on the estate [Dandamayev 1979:594]. Finally, the special privileges granted to the Temple of Apollo in Asia Minor are explained in the decree of Darius I itself regarding this sanctuary. Thus, it seems that the Persian kings preserved more or less the same status of the temples which had existed still before the Achaemenid period. Various taxes, duties and requisitions existed as early as approximately twenty five centuries before the Achaemenids and always caused the 276 M.A. DANDAMAYEV discontent of the population. In ca. 519 Darius I established a new system of state taxes. All the satrapies were obliged to pay strictly set sums of taxes in silver on the basis of cultivated land which had been precisely sur- veyed. These taxes can be regarded as sufficiently moderate, and it seems that during Darius’ reign their collection did not cause serious problems. But gradually arbitrary methods used by incorrigible royal and local offi- cials began to ruin the -payers, and especially in the fourth century the taxes became a heavy burden. Besides, the fact that taxes were to be paid in silver adversely affected the condition of the tax-payers who had to bor- row money mortgaging their lands. For instance, many documents from the Murashu Archive, drafted in the second half of the fifth century in the region, attest to that sometimes the members of the Murashu house and their agents ruined entire villages, taking off from there all the movable property of their debtors. It must be said, however, that such actions were illegal, and, in a number of cases, the Murashus had to restore the harm caused by them [see, e.g., Cardascia 1951:183]. It is also well known that some individuals in Judah were forced to borrow silver to pay the royal taxes, delivering their sons and daughters into [Nehemiah 5:3-5]. The discontent of the subjects of the Persian king was caused also by military service. But all the population of the empire was obliged to con- military contingents only in rare cases (for instance, during the war of Xerxes with the ). Finally, many skilled craftsmen of various ethnic origin were sent for a considerable period of time to Iran to build and maintain royal . Until comparatively recent time, following Olmstead, scholars have usu- ally attributed to Achaemenid fiscal policy in the countries of the empire an overtaxing and disastrous drain of and silver which were extracted as taxes and hoarded in royal treasuries thus disrupting local markets and ruining the economy [Olmstead 1948:297f.]. But documentary and archaeological evidence show that there was no shortage of cash or a decay of the economy [Stolper 1985:143-146]. It must also be noted that in a number of countries, the royal administration carried out important projects of cultivation of new or long-abandoned lands and of construction new canals or improving the existing irrigation systems. Thus, there was no economic stagnation in the countries of the empire, and the Achaemenid administration stimulated agriculture, industry and commerce throughout the state [Kuhrt and Sancisi-Weerdenburg 1990:XV; Stolper 1994:259; Young 1988:97]. ACHAEMENID IMPERIAL POLICIES AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS 277

During the formative period of Achaemenid imperial ideology and cul- ture, the Assyrian, Median, Urartian, Egyptian and other ancient traditions were widely used. In particular, Assyrian artistic traditions exercised a considerable influence on Achaemenid representative art intended to sym- bolize the might of the empire and the grandeur of the royal power [Root 1979:203ff.]. The fundamental norms of Achaemenid art were eventually created in Persepolis, built at the end of the sixth and the beginning of the fifth centuries, and then became extremely widespread creating a unity of culture over the entire territory of the empire, although later new motifs and images were added. The fundamental features of this art were a strict canonization of forms, absolute symmetry, and a mirror composition of one and the same scene. The cultural unity of East and West, of course, was not confined to the unity of style in the works of art. Under the Achaemenids, despite the diversity of social and economic structures, eth- nic and cultural varieties, for the first time in history, the world became united and indivisible on enormous territories, beginning with Egypt and ending with northwest India, causing intensive processes of ethnic mixing and syncretism of the cultures and religious concepts of various peoples. This indivisible world was not confined to the upper strata of the popula- tion and therefore caused enormous shifts in psychology. Contacts between peoples of various languages, cultures and modes of life go back to the most remote times and can be traced in written sources and archaeological finds as early as the dawn of civilization. But it was during the Achaemenid period that the world became united and contacts with distant regions were no more a privilege of the groups of population like the Phoenician merchants. In Egypt, Mesopotamia and many other countries the Achaemenid administration established military colonies consisting of soldiers of dozens of various nations who until that time had not even heard of each other. For instance, Chorasmian soldiers from Cen- tral Asia served in military colony on the border of Egypt on , along with Jews, Persians, , Babylonians and representatives of various other peoples. In the Nippur region in Mesopotamia, among royal soldiers there were , , Sakai, , Indians and even Areians from Haraiva on the territory of modern . Furthermore, craftsmen from many regions of the empire were used in state workshops located in , Persia, Egypt, Babylonia and some other countries. Many highly-placed officials and petty civil servants arrived in Susa and Persepolis on state business from various ends of the 278 M.A. DANDAMAYEV empire, beginning with Egypt and ending with India. Not only soldiers, merchants, artisans and state officials traveled regularly in the territory of the empire but also tourists and scholars. When Herodotus, a former sub- ject of the Persian king, traveled through countries of the Near East some time between 460 and 454 and visited Babylonia and Egypt, he met there Greeks who provided him with historical information which not infre- quently was doubtful. Persians, Medes and other Iranians, as well as Egyptians, Lydians, West Semites, etc. participated in Babylonian everyday business life using local law. Intensive contacts existed not only between ordinary individuals of var- ious peoples but also between their intellectual elite. For instance, some documents from Mesopotamia attest to communications of Iranian , the official priests of the Persian kings, with Babylonian temple officials. There is every reason to believe that not only economic affairs were the subject of their contacts [on such contacts see Dandamayev 1995:34ff.] but also religious ideas, including cosmological notions. In Babylonian cities these magi could easily meet leaders of Jewish with whom they had some common or similar religious concepts [cf. Shaked 1984: 324f.]. Approximately during the same time , Aristotle and other Greek philosophers became acquainted with in its general features. The empire consisted of dozens of peoples and tribes, and inimical rela- tions took place between some of them. Such relations were based on commercial or other kinds of competition. For instance, the Phoenicians were strong competitors of the Ionian merchants for the markets of the Near East. But the enmity based on ethnic or racial background was alien to ancient societies during the Achaemenid or earlier periods. Even in the Neo-Assyrian world empire with its practice of constant massive depor- tations of people from one part of the state to another, there were no eth- nic persecutions. Individuals of various nations could gain comparatively high positions at the or in the state administration. Moreover, the ruling class of the Assyrians was not homogeneous in ethnic terms, since many belonged to it, and it was impossible to differ them from the “ingenuous” Assyrians. All the more, the ethnic persecutions were alien to the Achaemenid empire, the administration of which would not have been able to function successfully without enlisting the services of officials and experts of various nations. ACHAEMENID IMPERIAL POLICIES AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS 279

During the Achaemenid period, Zoroastrianism had still not yet become a dogmatic religion with firmly fixed norms, and there emerged various modifications of this religious teaching. One of these modifications was the official religion of the Persian kings. As to the religion of the Persian people, they worshipped the of nature exclusively, first of all, the sungod and , the goddess of waters and fertility. The cult of Ahuramazda, who was the supreme god of the royal and was always mentioned in the first place in the official lists of the gods, did not find the recognition among the Persians during Achaemenid times. For this reason, there are attested no theophoric names with Ahuramazda for the entire Achaemenid period, while many names with Mithra are known. This apparently might attest to the fact that the population of Persia was not obliged to worship Ahuramazda. This fact can easily be understood if we have in mind that in ancient polytheistic societies there existed no dog- matic religions. Moreover, any kind of proselytism was alien to ancient ideology, since nobody wished to share the benefits from their gods with other people. Therefore dogmatism and intolerance toward the beliefs of others were alien to polytheistic religions and for the same reason ancient gods were not jealous to one another [Burkert 1987:48]. Although the Achaemenids considered their own Ahuramazda the most powerful god, they also believed in the deities of the vanquished peoples, worshipped them, and aspired to obtain for themselves their benevolent attention. Therefore the Persians favored the gods and temples of the van- quished nations, and the official pantheon of the Achaemenids included many dozens of deities all of whom were considered state gods of various importance, and sacrifices and prayers for the welfare of the kings were offered in the temples of these gods in the name of the Persian kings [Bickerman 1976:94ff.; see also Tadmor 1994:269]. Although the deification of kings was alien to the Persians, in Egypt, in accordance with local ideology, the Achaemenid kings as successors to the traditions of the old pharaohs were considered divinities. Thus, Diodorus Siculus [1.95,4-5] writes that Darius was deified by the Egyptian priests for his benevolent treatment of local culture and religion. This is corrobo- rated by Egyptian texts. For instance, an Egyptian inscription states: “Darius was born of the goddess Neith… When he was in his mother’s womb… Neith acknowledged him as her son” [Turaev 1913:135]. The Achaemenids considered themselves the elects of the gods and their on earth. Especially important was the link between the Persian 280 M.A. DANDAMAYEV king and Ahuramazda. The image of the Persian king as an ideal ruler was taking shape as early as under Cyrus II, and this concept was developed in the inscriptions of Darius I. Thus, in one of his inscriptions from Naqshi- i-Rustam he declares: “I am a friend to right, I am not a friend to wrong. It is not my desire that the weak man should have wrong done to him by the mighty…” [Kent 1953:140]. This declaration is word for word repeated also in one of Xerxes’ inscriptions [Hinz 1969:46]. Thus, following - ian, Babylonian and Assyrian kings, the Achaemenids depicted themselves as protectors of justice and social order and emphasized their care for the weak and poor. It goes without saying that the dependence of the subjects of various regions of the empire on central power was not the same but on the whole the Persian administration made no attempts to establish a total control over the population at all. Such a control would have contradicted tradi- tional social institutions and popular psychology. The authorities required from the subjects only political allegiance to the regime. The state did not interfere in their private life, daily affairs, and interrelations between the various members of the society, if only the laws in a given country were not violated. A rather high percent of literacy and libraries belonging to vassal rulers, temples and private persons existed in a number of the countries of the empire (e.g., Egypt, , Babylonia, and Asia Minor). But the state authorities did not care for the books in these libraries and were not inter- ested in what their subjects read. Attempts to destroy historical chronicles or other books which occurred extremely rare in ancient societies (for instance, in China) are not attested in first-millennium Near East. Royal officials or local temple authorities did not control whether or how private persons performed their religious duties. People could offer sacrifices to any deities they wanted to but, as a rule, they paid homage to their local city tutelary gods, as well as to their private deities. In the whole, the subjects of the Achaemenids lived in a rather moder- ate ideological climate and felt much less pressure of official ideology and religious doctrines than it was characteristic of later periods of history. Thus, the central government practically did not interfere in local social and economic structures and existing traditions. Moreover, the imperial administration was not interested in the internal intellectual life of the sub- jugated peoples. The ancient cultures of Egypt, Babylonia, Judah, Elam, Ionia and other countries continued to develop during the Achaemenid ACHAEMENID IMPERIAL POLICIES AND PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS 281 period, but all their cultural and ideological alterations were due to inter- nal development and were not considerably influenced by the Persian rule. The Persian authorities were only concerned with creating a stable admin- istration and establishing an efficient system for collecting royal taxes.

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