Essay Example on The Achaemenid Empire reached its peak due to governing from Darius I

The Achaemenid Empire reached its peak due to governing from Darius I His administrative reforms helped create a strong powerful and influential empire Darius governing of Persia allowed the Persian Empire to become a dominant force Darius created many reforms during his reign over the empire His administrative reforms included dividing the empire into satrapies and introducing a regular form of taxation He also created an imperial law code He led military campaigns in Europe Greece and the Indus Valley He introduced both new governing techniques and new infrastructure to the Persian Empire Finally he introduced the Qanat and the Persian Royal Road Darius I also known as Darius the Great was the third emperor of the Achaemenid Empire Unlike his predecessor Cyrus the Great Darius focused most of his efforts on administrative reforms His successful reign lasted from 522 BCE to 486 BCE Darius governing of the Achaemenid Empire helped the empire reach its peak in power Darius completed the idea of dividing the Achaemenid Empire into twenty three satrapies which was first introduced by his predecessor Cyrus The Achaemenid Empire was such a diverse polyglot empire that it was much easier to rule by dividing it into satrapies Each satrapy was ruled by a royally appointed governor called a satrap A satrap had multiple responsibilities The first was to keep their satrapy loyal to the empire The second was to keep the members of their satrapy happy They also had to give troops to the empire Finally they had to make sure that the empire received annual taxes from their satrapy Due to Persia s tribal nature the men who were appointed satraps were usually old tribal leaders or warriors

Darius gave the satraps considerable control over their appointed areas Due to the satraps having so much power there was a possibility that the satraps could rebel against the Persian king To prevent this from happening Darius created a group of imperial spies also known as the Eyes and Ears of the King Darius also introduced new standardized coins After conquering the wealthy nation of Lydia the Persians adapted their use of coins for trading Darius introduced the Daric a gold coin The Daric helped to make trade an easier task By making trade easier the Daric helped with the economic foundation of the Persian Empire The Daric had the face of the Persian emperor on it thus becoming a new form of political propaganda Another reform introduced by Darius was regular taxation Before Darius Cyrus had only demanded a form of symbolic tribute for taxation When Darius came to the throne he replaced irregular tribute with annual taxation that the satraps were expected to collect Darius also created an imperial law code He did not seek to abolish local laws Instead he created an imperial law code that went alongside local laws

 The law code helped to maintain order within the empire Darius was considerably tolerant of the foreign people under Persian rule Due to Persia conquering many places they had a variety of ethnic groups living in the empire Darius did not force Persian beliefs on the foreign people They let them live their way of life as long as they followed Persian rule and paid taxes The governmental reforms helped Persia to become strong and influential Darius also introduced new infrastructure to the empire When Darius came to the throne he created an extravagant capital at Persepolis The Qanat was also introduced during Darius reign

The Qanat was a system of underground canals that helped move water underground to prevent evaporation The invention of the Qanat made agriculture easier which caused an agricultural surplus population growth and specialization of labor The agricultural surplus was helpful as it created enough food to feed the large Persian military Darius also created the Persian Royal Road The Persian Royal Road ran 1 600 miles from Ephesus to Persepolis Using the road the imperial government created a courier service with over 100 postal stations along the road 

Each station kept a supply of horses and food The couriers traveled day and night, Herodotus, the Greek historian described the couriers as Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds The road connected routes between Mesopotamia and Egypt and also Persia and Northern India This helped to improve both communication and trade between the Persian Empire and other places Persian economy relied on trade so the road helped Russia's economy Not only did the Persian Royal Road help with trade and communication it also helped the Persian military Darius inherited an already large and powerful military from Cyrus the Great However such a large and polyglot military was difficult to rule Darius did not focus on military reforms as much as Cyrus His main concern was administrative techniques However Darius led campaigns into Europe Greece and the Indus Valley Darius helped to expand the Persian Empire both east and west

The Persian Royal Road largely helped the Persian military The road helped facilitate communication throughout the military It also facilitated military travel

 The road allowed for the military to easily travel to different satrapies throughout the empire Darius ruled over a very large and diverse military Such a large military allowed for Persia to become a dominant force Their military easily conquered lands Although Darius did not focus on military primarily he did use the Persian military to his advantage to help create a strong empire Darius I molded the Persian Empire into a dominant force His administrative reforms helped the Achaemenid Empire reach its peak He introduced standardized coinage and a regular form of taxation He divided the empire satrapies to make it easier to rule and led a large and powerful military Darius also introduced key infrastructure He created the Qanat and the Persian Royal Road During Darius s reign he managed to create a dominant empire who influenced many empires later on