Editing Satrap (section)

{{Short description|Ruler of a province in ancient Persia}}
{{use dmy dates|date=October 2023}}
[[File:Achaemenid Satrap Asia Minor end of 6th century BCE.jpg|thumb|The [[Herakleia head]], probable portrait of a [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian (Achaemenid) Empire]] Satrap of [[Asia Minor]], end of 6th century BCE, probably under [[Darius I]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cahn |first1=Herbert A. |last2= Gerin |first2= Dominique |title=Themistocles at Magnesia |journal=The Numismatic Chronicle |volume=148 |date=1988 |pages=13–20 |jstor= 42668124 }}</ref>]] 
A '''satrap''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|s|æ|t|r|ə|p}}) was a governor of the [[province]]s of the ancient [[Median kingdom|Median]] and [[Achaemenid Empire|Persian (Achaemenid) Empire]]s and in several of their successors, such as in the [[Sasanian Empire]] and the [[Hellenistic period|Hellenistic]] empires.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/satrap |title=Satrap | work= Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary |publisher= Merriam-Webster |access-date=2012-01-26}}</ref> A '''satrapy''' is the territory governed by a satrap.

A satrap served as a [[viceroy]] to the king, though with considerable autonomy. The word came to suggest tyranny or ostentatious splendour,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia| title= satrap | encyclopedia= [[Oxford English Dictionary]]| date= }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Trollope |first1= Anthony |title=The Eustace Diamonds |date=12 May 2011 |publisher= Oxford University Press| place= Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-162041-6 |page=626 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=cTntq2avq3gC&dq=satrap+came+to+suggest+tyranny,+or+ostentatious+splendour.&pg=PA626 |access-date=28 November 2020 |language=en}}</ref> and its modern usage is a [[pejorative]] and refers to any subordinate or local ruler, usually with unfavourable connotations of corruption.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=satrap |encyclopedia= Fowler's Dictionary of Modern English Usage |editor-last=Butterfield |editor-first= Jeremy |page=724 |date=2015 |edition=4 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-966135-0}}</ref>