<P> In modern Persian the descendant of xšaθrapāvan is shahrbān (شهربان ‎), but the components have undergone semantic shift so the word now means "town keeper" (shahr (شهر ‎) meaning "town" + bān (بان ‎) meaning "keeper"). </P> <P> 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 actually originated during the Median era from at least 648 BCE . </P> <P> 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, and fixed their annual tribute (Behistun inscription). </P> <P> The satrap was in charge of the land that he owned as an administrator, and found himself surrounded by an all - but - royal court; he collected the taxes, controlled the local officials and the subject tribes and cities, and was the supreme judge of the province before whose "chair" (Nehemiah 3: 7) every civil and criminal case could be brought . He was responsible for the safety of the roads (cf . Xenophon), and had to put down brigands and rebels . </P>

Who were the regional governors in the persian empire