Daniel 6:1

Princes. Aramaic ’achashdarpan, literally, “satraps” (see on ch. 3:2). The various details of the provincial administration of the Persian Empire prior to Darius I’s reorganization are still obscure. Herodotus (iii. 89) states that Darius I created 20 satrapies as main divisions of the empire. Each satrapy was divided into provinces. The inscriptions of Darius give various totals for the satrapies (21, 23, 29), indicating that the king probably changed the number as well as the size of satrapies during his reign. Some Greek historians use the term “satrap” for lower officials, as Daniel apparently did when he used the term to designate provincial governors. Compare the 127 provinces of Esther 1:1 in the time of Xerxes.