Satrap

The Herakleia head, probable portrait of a Persian (Achaemenid) Empire Satrap of Asia Minor, end of 6th century BCE, probably under Darius I[1]

A satrap (/ˈsætrəp/) was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Persian (Achaemenid) Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.[2] A satrapy is the territory governed by a satrap.[3]

A satrap served as a viceroy to the king, though with considerable autonomy. The word came to suggest tyranny or ostentatious splendour,[4][5] and its modern usage is a pejorative and refers to any subordinate or local ruler, usually with unfavourable connotations of corruption.[6]

  1. ^ Cahn, Herbert A.; Gerin, Dominique (1988). "Themistocles at Magnesia". The Numismatic Chronicle. 148: 13–20. JSTOR 42668124.
  2. ^ "Satrap". Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  3. ^ "satrapy". Wiktionary.org. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  4. ^ "satrap". Oxford English Dictionary.
  5. ^ Trollope, Anthony (12 May 2011). The Eustace Diamonds. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 626. ISBN 978-0-19-162041-6. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  6. ^ Butterfield, Jeremy, ed. (2015). "satrap". Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage (4 ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 724. ISBN 978-0-19-966135-0.