Persian gardens
The tradition and style of garden design represented by Persian gardens or Iranian gardens has influenced the design of gardens from Andalusia to India and beyond. The gardens of the Alhambra show the influence of Persian garden philosophy and style in a Moorish palace scale, from the era of al-Andalus in Spain. Humayun's Tomb and Taj Mahal have some of the largest Persian gardens in the world, from the era of the Mughal Empire in India. From the time of the Achaemenid Empire, the idea of an earthly paradise spread through Persian literature and example to other cultures, both the Hellenistic gardens of the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemies in Alexandria; the Avestan word pairidaēza-, Old Persian *paridaida-, Median *paridaiza-, was borrowed into Akkadian, into Greek Ancient Greek: παράδεισος, translit. Parádeisos rendered into the Latin paradīsus, from there entered into European languages, e.g. French paradis, German Paradies, English paradise; as the word expresses, such gardens would have been enclosed.
The garden's purpose was, is, to provide a place for protected relaxation in a variety of manners: spiritual, leisurely a paradise on earth. The Common Iranian word for "enclosed space" was *pari-daiza-, a term, adopted by Christian mythology to describe the garden of Eden or Paradise on earth; the garden's construction may be casual, following several simple design rules. This allows a maximization, of what may be done in the garden. Persian gardens may originate as early as 4000 BC, but it is clear that this Iranian tradition began with the Achaemenid dynasty around the 6th century BCE. Decorated pottery of that time displays the typical cross plan of the Persian garden; the outline of Pasargadae, built around 500 BC, is still viewable today. Classical Iranians were seen by the Greeks as the'great gardeners' of antiquity. During the suzerainty of the Sasanian Empire, under the influence of Zoroastrianism, water in art grew important; this trend manifested itself in garden design, with greater emphasis on fountains and ponds in gardens.
During the Umayyad and Abbasid periods, the aesthetic aspect of the garden increased in importance, overtaking utility. During this time, aesthetic rules that govern the garden grew in importance. An example of this is the chahār bāgh, a form of garden that attempts to emulate the Abrahamic notion of a Garden of Eden, with four rivers and four quadrants that represent the world; the design sometimes extends one axis longer than the cross-axis, may feature water channels that run through each of the four gardens and connect to a central pool. Under the Abbasid dynasty, this type of garden became an integral part of representational architecture; the Persian garden is a landscape garden, designed individually and created intentionally as a space embedded in the aesthetic and spiritual context of its past and contemporary cultural and social environment. Hallmarks of these formal gardens are a geometric layout following geometric and visual principles, implemented to nature by water channels and basins which divide the enclosed space into defined quarters, a principle that has become known as chahar bagh, water works with channels, basins and cascades, pavilions, a prominent central axes with a vista, a plantation with a variety of chosen trees, herbs. and flowers.
The old-Iranian word for such gardens "pari-daizi' expresses the notion of an earthly paradise, inherent to them. As such, they are a metaphor for the divine order and the unification and protection of the ones who do good, their counterparts on earth fulfill a similar function. These principles are brought to perfection in the gardens of the emperor as the "good gardener". Notwithstanding a formal standardization, the landscape gardens reflect diversity and development, bound to function and chronological characteristics as well as technological know how, personal preferences and demands. Persian gardens are multi-functional: they not only serve contemplation and relaxation, but are a representation and manifestation of power. Designing and implementing a garden demonstrates the occupation of land, holding audiences and celebrating victories or marriages in these gardens signal superiority, or social and political bonds. Starting from the 12th to 13th century, tombs for members of the royal family or important personalities were placed into such formal gardens, providing believers a chance to benefit from the spirituality of a venerated person and the particular aura of the garden.
The invasion of Persia by the Mongols in the thirteenth century led to a new emphasis on ornate structure in the garden. Examples of this include tree chrysanthemums; the Mongols carried a Persian garden tradition to other parts of their empire. The Mughal emperor Babur introduced the Persian garden to India, attempting to replicate the cool, refreshing aura of his homeland in the Ferghana Valley through construction of Persian-style gardens, like those at other Timurid cities like Samarkand and Herat. Babur was a zealous gardener and designed and supervised at least 10 gardens in his capital of Kabul in modern Afghanistan, such as the Bagh-i-Babur, where he recorded the allure of the pome
Medes
The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Under the Neo-Assyrian Empire, late 9th to early 7th centuries BC, the region of Media was bounded by the Zagros Mountains to its west, to its south by the Garrin Mountain in Lorestan Province, to its northwest by the Qaflankuh Mountains in Zanjan Province, to its east by the Dasht-e Kavir desert, its neighbors were the kingdoms of Gizilbunda and Mannea in the northwest, Ellipi and Elam in the south. In the 7th century BC, Media's tribes came together to form the Median Kingdom, which remained a Neo-Assyrian vassal. Between 616 and 609 BC, King Cyaxares, allied with King Nabopolassar of the Neo-Babylonian Empire against the Neo-Assyrian Empire, after which the Median Empire stretched across the Iranian Plateau as far as Anatolia, its precise geographical extent remains unknown. A few archaeological sites and textual sources provide a brief documentation of the history and culture of the Median state.
Apart from a few personal names, the language of the Medes is unknown. The Medes had an ancient Iranian religion with a priesthood named as "Magi". During the reigns of the last Median kings, the reforms of Zoroaster spread into western Iran. According to the Histories of Herodotus, there were six Median tribes: The six Median tribes resided in Media proper, the triangular area between Rhagae and Ecbatana. In present-day Iran, the area between Tehran and Hamadan, respectively. Of the Median tribes, the Magi resided in Rhaga, modern Tehran, they were of a sacred caste. The Paretaceni tribe resided in and around Aspadana, modern Isfahan, the Arizanti lived in and around Kashan, the Busae tribe lived in and around the future Median capital of Ecbatana, near modern Hamadan; the Struchates and the Budii lived in villages in the Median triangle. The original source for their name and homeland is a directly transmitted Old Iranian geographical name, attested as the Old Persian "Māda-"; the meaning of this word is not known.
However, the linguist W. Skalmowski proposes a relation with the proto-Indo European word "med-", meaning "central, suited in the middle", by referring to the Old Indic "madhya-" and Old Iranian "maidiia-" which both carry the same meaning; the Latin medium, Greek méso and German mittel are derived from it. Greek scholars during antiquity would base ethnological conclusions on Greek legends and the similarity of names. According to the Histories of Herodotus: In the Greek myth of Jason and the Argonauts, Medea is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis and a paternal granddaughter of the sun-god Helios. Following her failed marriage to Jason while in Corinth, for one of several reasons depending on the version, she marries King Aegeus of Athens and bears a son Medus. After failing to make Aegeus kill his older son Theseus and her son fled to Aria, where the Medes take their name from her, according to several Greek and Roman accounts, including in Pausanias' Description of Greece. According to other versions, such as in Strabo's Geographica and Justin's Epitoma Historiarum Philippicarum, she returned home to conquer neighboring lands with her husband Jason, one of, named after her.
The discoveries of Median sites in Iran happened only after the 1960s. For 1960 the search for Median archeological sources has focused in an area known as the “Median triangle,” defined as the region bounded by Hamadān and Malāyer and Kangāvar. Three major sites from central western Iran in the Iron Age III period are: Tepe Nush-i Jan,The site is located 14 km west of Malāyer in Hamadan province; the excavations started in 1967 with D. Stronach as the director; the remains of four main buildings in the site are "the central temple, the western temple, the fort, the columned hall" which according to Stronach were to have been built in the order named and predate the latter occupation of the first half of the 6th century BC. According to Stronach, the central temple, with its stark design, "provides a notable, if mute, expression of religious belief and practice". A number of ceramics from the Median levels at Tepe Nush-i Jan have been found which are associated with a period of power consolidation in the Hamadān areas.
These findings show four different wares known as “common ware” including jars in various size the largest of, a form of ribbed pithoi. Smaller and more elaborate vessels were in “grey ware”; the “cooking ware” and “crumbly ware” are recognized each in single handmade products. Godin Tepe,The site is located 13 km east of Kangāvar city on the left bank of the river Gamas Āb"; the excavations, started in 1965, were led by T. C. Young, Jr. which according to David Stronach, evidently shows an important Bronze Age construction th
Pompey
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus known in English as Pompey or Pompey the Great, was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic. He came from a wealthy Italian provincial background, his father had been the first to establish the family among the Roman nobility. Pompey's immense success as a general while still young enabled him to advance directly to his first consulship without meeting the normal requirements for office, his success as a military commander in Sulla's second civil war resulted in Sulla bestowing the nickname Magnus, "the Great", upon him. His Roman adversaries insulted him as adulescentulus carnifex, "the teenage butcher", after his Sicilian campaign, he celebrated three triumphs. In mid-60 BC, Pompey joined Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gaius Julius Caesar in the unofficial military-political alliance known as the First Triumvirate, which Pompey's marriage to Caesar's daughter Julia helped secure. After the deaths of Julia and Crassus, Pompey sided with the optimates, the conservative faction of the Roman Senate.
Pompey and Caesar contended for the leadership of the Roman state, leading to a civil war. When Pompey was defeated at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, he sought refuge in Egypt, where he was assassinated, his career and defeat are significant in Rome's subsequent transformation from Republic to Empire. Pompey was born in Picenum to a local noble family. Pompey's father, Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, was first of his family to achieve senatorial status, despite the anti-rural prejudice of the Roman Senate; the Romans referred to Strabo as a novus homo. Pompeius Strabo ascended the traditional cursus honorum, becoming quaestor in 104 BC, praetor in 92 BC and consul in 89 BC, he acquired a reputation for political double-dealing and military ruthlessness. He fought the Social War against Rome's Italian allies, he supported Sulla, who belonged to the optimates, the pro-aristocracy faction, against Marius, who belonged to the populares, in Sulla's first civil war. He died during the siege of Rome by the Marians, in 87 BC—either as a casualty of an epidemic, or by having been struck by lightning.
His twenty-year-old son Pompey inherited his estates, the loyalty of his legions. Pompey had served two years under his father's command, had participated in the final part of the Social War; when his father died, Pompey was put on trial due to accusations that his father stole public property. As his father's heir, Pompey could be held to account, he discovered. Following his preliminary bouts with his accuser, the judge took a liking to Pompey and offered his daughter Antistia in marriage. Pompey was acquitted. Another civil war broke out between the Marians and Sulla in 83–82 BC; the Marians had taken over Rome while Sulla was fighting the First Mithridatic War against Mithridates VI of Pontus in Greece. In 83 BC, Sulla returned from landing in Brundisium in southern Italy. Pompey raised three legions in Picenum to support Sulla's march on Rome against the Marian regime of Gnaeus Papirius Carbo and Gaius Marius the Younger. Cassius Dio described Pompey's troop levy as a "small band". Sulla was appointed as Dictator.
He thought that he was useful for the administration of his affairs. He and his wife, persuaded Pompey to divorce Antistia and marry Sulla's stepdaughter Aemilia Scaura. Plutarch commented that the marriage was "characteristic of a tyranny, benefitted the needs of Sulla rather than the nature and habits of Pompey, Aemilia being given to him in marriage when she was with child by another man." Antistia had lost both her parents. Pompey accepted, but "Aemilia had scarcely entered Pompey's house before she succumbed to the pains of childbirth." Pompey married Mucia Tertia. We have no record of; the sources only mentioned Pompey divorcing her. Plutarch wrote that Pompey dismissed with contempt a report that she had had an affair while he was fighting in the Third Mithridatic War between and 66 BC and 63 BC. However, on his journey back to Rome he examined the evidence more and filed for divorce. Cicero wrote that the divorce was approved. Cassius Dio wrote that she was the sister of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer and that Metellus Celer was angry because he had divorced her despite having had children by her.
Pompey and Mucia had three children: The eldest, Gnaeus Pompey, Pompeia Magna, a daughter, Sextus Pompey, the younger son. Cassius Dio wrote, he was condemned to death, but released for the sake of his mother Mucia. The survivors of the Marians, those who were exiled after they lost Rome and those who escaped Sulla's persecution of his opponents, were given refuge in Sicily by Marcus Perpenna Vento. Papirius Carbo had a fleet there, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus had forced an entry into the Roman province of Africa. Sulla sent Pompey to Sicily with a large force. According to Plutarch, Perpenna left Sicily to Pompey; the Sicilian cities had been treated harshly by Pompey treated them with kindness. Pompey "treated Carbo in his misfortunes with an unnatural insolence", taking Carbo in fetters to a tribunal he presided over, examining him "to the distress and vexation of the audience", sentencing him to death. Pompey treated Quintus Valerius "with unnatural cruelty", his opp
Tessera
A tessera is an individual tile formed in the shape of a cube, used in creating a mosaic. It is known as an abaciscus or abaculus; the oldest known tesserae dates to the 3rd millennium BCE, discovered in the ancient city of Shahdad in Kerman province, Iran. In early antiquity, mosaics were formed from formed colored pebbles. By 200 BCE cut stone tesserae were being used in Hellenistic-Greek mosaics. For instance, a large body of surviving material from the Hellenistic period can be found in the mosaics of Delos, dating to the late 2nd century BCE. Ancient Roman decorative mosaic panels and floor mosaics were produced during the 2nd century BC at sites such as Pompeii. Marble or limestone were cut into small cubes and arranged into representational designs and geometric patterns. Tesserae were made from colored glass, or clear glass backed with metal foils; the Byzantines used tesserae with gold leaf, in which case the glass pieces were flatter, with two glass pieces sandwiching the gold. This produced a golden reflection emanating from in between the tesserae as well as their front, causing a far richer and more luminous effect than plain gold leaf would create.
Vitreous glass These are manufactured glass tiles made to size. They are made by molten glass being fired. An imprint of grooves is made on their underside for help with adhesion to cement. Ceramic tesserae These are the cheapest range of can be glazed or unglazed; the glazed ceramic tiles have the color painted onto the top of the clay and fired to a high temperature in a kiln. The unglazed or body glazed version has the color mixed into the wet clay so the color runs through them, they vary in size. Smalti This is the classic mosaic material, it is opaque glass fired in large slabs in a kiln and hand cut with a hammer and hardy chisel into small cubes. Their irregular finish makes them a wonderful reflector of light and this material is best used working straight into cement, it is sold by colour and weight. Gold smalti This tile is made with real gold and silver leaf sandwiched between two layers of glass and fired twice in the kiln to embed in the metal. Mirror Mirror adds great sparkle to a mosaic.
It is cheap as offcuts from a glass cutting shop are free. Use mirror glue. Stained glass Known for its translucent qualities stained glass is available in opaque form, it comes as large sheets. It can provide areas of larger tesserae pieces for contrast. Household ceramic tiles & china Colours and surfaces are limitless and can add texture and contrast to mosaic work in the technique known as trencadís or pique assiette. Tessellation — describes tessellation patterns Mosaic — describes techniques for assembling tesserae into a design
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cultures, including most Western cultures; some noteworthy examples of porticos are the East Portico of the United States Capitol, the portico adorning the Pantheon in Rome and the portico of University College London. Porticos are sometimes topped with pediments. Palladio was a pioneer of using temple-fronts for secular buildings. In the UK, the temple-front applied to The Vyne, was the first portico applied to an English country house. A pronaos is the inner area of the portico of a Greek or Roman temple, situated between the portico's colonnade or walls and the entrance to the cella, or shrine. Roman temples had an open pronaos with only columns and no walls, the pronaos could be as long as the cella; the word pronaos is Greek for "before a temple". In Latin, a pronaos is referred to as an anticum or prodomus.
The different variants of porticos are named by the number of columns. The "style" suffix comes from the Greek στῦλος, "column"; the tetrastyle has four columns. The Romans favoured the four columned portico for their pseudoperipteral temples like the Temple of Portunus, for amphiprostyle temples such as the Temple of Venus and Roma, for the prostyle entrance porticos of large public buildings like the Basilica of Maxentius and Constantine. Roman provincial capitals manifested tetrastyle construction, such as the Capitoline Temple in Volubilis; the North Portico of the White House is the most notable four-columned portico in the United States. Hexastyle buildings had six columns and were the standard façade in canonical Greek Doric architecture between the archaic period 600–550 BCE up to the Age of Pericles 450–430 BCE; some well-known examples of classical Doric hexastyle Greek temples: The group at Paestum comprising the Temple of Hera, the Temple of Apollo, the first Temple of Athena and the second Temple of Hera The Temple of Athena Aphaia at Aegina c. 495 BCE Temple E at Selinus dedicated to Hera The Temple of Zeus at Olympia, now a ruin Temple F or the so-called "Temple of Concord" at Agrigentum, one of the best-preserved classical Greek temples, retaining all of its peristyle and entablature.
The "unfinished temple" at Segesta The Hephaesteum below the Acropolis at Athens, long known as the "Theseum" one of the most intact Greek temples surviving from antiquity The Temple of Poseidon on Cape Sunium Hexastyle was applied to Ionic temples, such as the prostyle porch of the sanctuary of Athena on the Erechtheum, at the Acropolis of Athens. With the colonization by the Greeks of Southern Italy, hexastyle was adopted by the Etruscans and subsequently acquired by the ancient Romans. Roman taste favoured narrow pseudoperipteral and amphiprostyle buildings with tall columns, raised on podiums for the added pomp and grandeur conferred by considerable height; the Maison Carrée at Nîmes, France, is the best-preserved Roman hexastyle temple surviving from antiquity. Octastyle buildings had eight columns; the best-known octastyle buildings surviving from antiquity are the Parthenon in Athens, built during the Age of Pericles, the Pantheon in Rome. The destroyed Temple of Divus Augustus in Rome, the centre of the Augustan cult, is shown on Roman coins of the 2nd century CE as having been built in octastyle.
The decastyle has ten columns. The only known Roman decastyle portico is on the Temple of Venus and Roma, built by Hadrian in about 130 CE. Classical architecture List of classical architecture terms Hypostyle Loggia Stoa Porte-cochere "Greek architecture". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1968. Stierlin, Henri. Editor-in-chief Angelika Taschen, ed. Greece: From Mycenae to the Parthenon. Cologne: TASCHEN. ISBN 3-8228-1225-0. CS1 maint: Extra text: editors list Stierlin, Henri. Silvia Kinkle, ed; the Roman Empire: From the Etruscans to the Decline of the Roman Empire. Cologne: TASCHEN. ISBN 3-8228-1778-3
Nickname
A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place, or thing - used for affection. The term hypocoristic is used to refer to a nickname of affection between those in love or with a close emotional bond, compared with a term of endearment, it is a form of amusement. As a concept, it is distinct from both pseudonym and stage name, from a title, although there may be overlap in these concepts. "Moniker" means a nickname or personal name.. The compound word ekename meaning "additional name", was attested as early as 1303; this word was derived from the Old English phrase eaca "an increase", related to eacian "to increase". By the 15th century, the misdivision of the syllables of the phrase "an ekename" led to its rephrasing as "a nekename". Though the spelling has changed, the pronunciation and meaning of the word have remained stable since. To inform an audience or readership of a person's nickname without calling them by their nickname, English nicknames are represented in quotes between the bearer's first and last names.
However, it is common for the nickname to be identified after a comma following the full real name or in the body of the text, such as in an obituary. The middle name is eliminated in speech. Like English, German uses quotation marks between the last names. Other languages may use other conventions; the latter may cause confusion because it resembles an English convention sometimes used for married and maiden names. In Viking societies, many people had heiti, viðrnefni, or kenningarnöfn which were used in addition to, or instead of the first name. In some circumstances, the giving of a nickname had a special status in Viking society in that it created a relationship between the name maker and the recipient of the nickname, to the extent that the creation of a nickname often entailed a formal ceremony and an exchange of gifts known in Old Norse as nafnfestr. Slaves have used nicknames, so that the master who heard about someone doing something could not identify the slave. In capoeira, a Brazilian martial art, the slaves had nicknames to protect them from being caught, as practising capoeira was illegal for decades.
In Anglo-American culture, a nickname is based on a shortening of a person's proper name. However, in other societies, this may not be the case. For example: "my nickname is farmer Phil" In Indian society, for example people have at least one nickname and these affection names are not related to the person's proper name. Indian nicknames often are a trivial word or a diminutive. In Hispanic culture, a nickname is used for a term of endearment and family love, for example: "Papi", it is a colloquial term for “daddy” in Spanish, but in many Spanish-speaking cultures in the Caribbean, it is used as a general term of affection for any man, whether it's a relative, friend, or love. In Australian society, Australian men will give ironic nicknames. For example, a man with red hair will be given the nickname'Blue' or'Bluey'. A tall man will be called ` an obese person ` Slim' and so on. In England, some nicknames are traditionally associated with a person's surname. A man with the surname'Clark' will be nicknamed'Nobby': the surname'Miller' will have the nickname'Dusty': the surname'Adams' has the nickname'Nabby'.
There are several other nicknames linked traditionally with a person's surname, including Chalky White, Bunny Warren, Tug Wilson, Spud Baker. Other English nicknames allude to a person's origins. A Scotsman may be nicknamed'Jock', an Irishman'Paddy' or'Mick', a Welshman may be nicknamed'Taffy'; some nicknames referred to a person's physical characteristics, such as'Lofty' for a short person, or'Curly' for a bald man. Traditional English nicknaming - for men rather than women - was common through the first half of the 20th century, was used in the armed services during World War I and World War II, but has become less common since then. In Chinese culture, nicknames are used within a community among relatives and neighbors. A typical southern Chinese nickname begins with a "阿" followed by another character the last character of the person's given name. For example, Taiwanese politician Chen Shui-bian is sometimes referred as "阿扁". In many Chinese communities of Southeast Asia, nicknames may connote one's occupation or status.
For example, the landlord might be known as Towkay to his tenants or workers while a bread seller would be called "Mianbao Shu" 面包叔. Among Cantonese-speaking communities, the character "仔" may be used in a similar context of "Junior" in Western naming practices. Many writers, performing artists, actors have nicknames, which may
Satrap
Satraps were the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with considerable autonomy; the word "satrap" is often used metaphorically in modern literature to refer to world leaders or governors who are influenced by larger world superpowers or hegemonies and act as their surrogates. The word satrap is derived via Latin satrapes from Greek satrápēs, itself borrowed from an Old Iranian *xšaθra-pā/ă-. In Old Persian, the native language of the Achaemenids, it is recorded as xšaçapāvan; the Median form is reconstructed as *xšaθrapāwan-. It is cognate with Sanskrit kṣatrapa. In the Parthian and Middle Persian, it is recorded in the forms šasab, respectively. In modern Persian the descendant of xšaθrapāvan is shahrbān, but the components have undergone semantic shift so the word now means "town keeper". Although the first large-scale use of satrapies, or provinces, originates from the inception of the Achaemenid Empire under Cyrus the Great, beginning at around 530 BCE, provincial organization originated during the Median era from at least 648 BCE.
Up to the time of the conquest of Media by Cyrus the Great, emperors ruled the lands they conquered through client kings and governors. The main difference was that in Persian culture the concept of kingship was indivisible from divinity: divine authority validated the divine right of kings; the twenty-six satraps established by Cyrus were never kings, but viceroys ruling in the king's name, although in political reality many took advantage of any opportunity to carve themselves an independent power base. Darius the Great gave the satrapies a definitive organization, increased their number to thirty-six, fixed their annual tribute; the satrap was in charge of the land that he owned as an administrator, found himself surrounded by an all-but-royal court. He was responsible for the safety of the roads, had to put down brigands and rebels, he was assisted by a council of Persians, to which provincials were admitted and, controlled by a royal secretary and emissaries of the king the "eye of the king", who made an annual inspection and exercised permanent control.
There were further checks on the power of each satrap: besides his secretarial scribe, his chief financial official and the general in charge of the regular army of his province and of the fortresses were independent of him and periodically ported directly to the shah, in person. The satrap was allowed to have troops in his own service; the great satrapies were divided into smaller districts, the governors of which were called satraps and called hyparchs. The distribution of the great satrapies was changed and two of them were given to the same man; as the provinces were the result of consecutive conquests, both primary and sub-satrapies were defined by former states and/or ethno-religious identity. One of the keys to the Achaemenid success was their open attitude to the culture and religion of the conquered people, so the Persian culture was the one most affected as the Great King endeavoured to meld elements from all his subjects into a new imperial style at his capital, Persepolis. Whenever central authority in the empire weakened, the satrap enjoyed practical independence as it became customary to appoint him as general-in-chief of the army district, contrary to the original rule.
"When his office became hereditary, the threat to the central authority could not be ignored". Rebellions of satraps became frequent from the middle of the 5th century BCE. Darius I struggled with widespread rebellions in the satrapies, under Artaxerxes II the greater parts of Asia Minor and Syria were in open rebellion; the last great rebellions were put down by Artaxerxes III. The satrapic administration and title were retained—even for Greco-Macedonian incumbents—by Alexander the Great, who conquered the Achaemenid Empire, by his successors, the Diadochi who carved it up in the Seleucid Empire, where the satrap was designated as strategos, they would be replaced by conquering empires the Parthians. In the Parthian Empire, the king's power rested on the support of noble families who ruled large estates, supplied soldiers and tribute to the king. City-states within the empire enjoyed a degree of self-government, paid tribute to the king. Administration of the Sassanid Empire was more centralized than that of the Parthian Empire.
Shahrabs ruled both the city and the surroundi
