纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 026奥克瑟斯战车模型（3）

But what kind of an empire was it? It was more a collection of kingdoms than what we might immediately think of as an empire. Cyrus called himself the Shahanshah - the King of Kings - making clear that this was a confederation of allied states, each with their own ruler but all under firm Persian control. It was a model that allowed a great deal of local autonomy and all sorts of diversity - very different from the later Roman model. Here's historian and writer Tom Holland:

"The Roman approach, of course, was to encourage those they had conquered to identify with their conquerors, so that ultimately everyone within the borders of the Roman Empire came to consider themselves to be Romans. Persians went for a very different approach, in that the method that the Persian kings liked to employ with those they conquered was to encourage the elites, in particular, to collaborate. So as long as you paid your taxes, and you didn't revolt, then you'd pretty much be left alone. That said, however, you do not conquer a vast empire without spilling an immense amount of blood, and there was no question that if you dared to stand up to the Persian kings then you would be obliterated."

And they obliterated troublesome people by sending their armies along those wonderfully straight and fast imperial roads. But bloodshed was generally avoided, thanks to a huge - and hugely effective - administrative machine. The King of Kings, of course, controlled everything, but at local level he was represented by a governor - a satrap - who would keep a close eye on what was going on in these subordinate kingdoms. He would enforce law and order, levy taxes and raise armies.