Satrapies

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A province or region governed by an appointed official in ancient empires
2. A local administration under a central authority which maintains control over distant territories
3. A delegated rule that signifies the division of an empire into manageable sections for easier governance

Etymology: The Persian Empire ran its vast territories through governors who held a title Greek writers rendered as "satrapes," and the district each one ruled was a "satrapeia." English took the Greek term as "satrapy," so the word carries an ancient imperial administration inside it. Herodotus and other Greek historians describing Achaemenid rule are where the word's original sense was fixed, meaning a province governed on the king's behalf by a local official. The plural "satrapies" is simply the form used when referring to several such provinces at once. Its meaning has stayed close to the original: a territory under the authority of a governor, often with the implication of a distant, semi-autonomous ruler answerable to a central power.