Administrative Legacies of the Persian World-State Empire: Implications for Modern Public Administration, Part 1

Abstract

Knowledge about governance and administration is cumulative with strong roots in ancient civilizations. Many of these roots have firm grounding in the ancient Persian Empire whose theory and practice of governance and administration have made immense contributions to world civilizations, their governments, and public administration. By conquering virtually the entire known world of antiquity in a single generation, the Persians changed the world's political and administrative history forever. Their legacies are both widespread and profound. This article discusses some of these legacies whose impacts and implications transcended faraway cultures and administrative systems and are preserved in various forms in the modern systems of public administration and governance around the world. Although the pre-Persian, six thousand years of administrative history of Iran is briefly touched as a background, the main focus of this article is on the Achae-menid World-State Empire (559-330 B.C.). By addressing the theory and practice of public administration and governance of the Persian Empire, the article outlines a number of implications for modern public administration. The article does not address the mighty Persian and Sasanian empires of Persia which, along with Rome, divided and ruled the ancient world for the next millennium.