Achaemenid Empire
Government

Cyrus the Great founded the empire as a multi- state empire, governed from four capital cities: Pasargadae, Babylon, Susa and Ecbatana. The Achaemenids allowed a certain amount of regional autonomy in the form of the satrapy system. A satrapy was an administrative unit, usually organized on a geographical basis. A ' satrap ' (governor) was the governor who administered the region, a 'general' supervised military recruitment and ensured order, and a 'state secretary' kept the official records. The general and the state secretary reported directly to the satrap as well as the central government. At differing times, there were between 20 and 30 satrapies.

Cyrus the Great created an organized army including the Immortals unit, consisting of 10,000 highly trained soldiers Cyrus also formed an innovative postal system throughout the empire, based on several relay stations called Chapar Khaneh.

Persepolis Administrative Archives provide many insights into the Achaemenid government system. Found at Persepolis in the 1930s, they are mostly in ancient Elamite; the remains of more than 10,000 of these cuneiform documents have been uncovered. Aramaic is represented by about 1,000 or more original records. Only one tablet in Old Persian has been identified so far.

Also, many seals and seal impressions are found in these Persepolis archives. These documents represent administrative activity and flow of data in Persepolis over more than fifty consecutive years (509 to 457 BC).
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