Final answer:
After the Babylonian captivity, the high priests were powerful governors of religious matters. They controlled economic output, taxation, and labor demand by claiming ownership of the cities. After Darius I reorganized the empire, individual governing regions were controlled by satraps.
Step-by-step explanation:
The high priests were powerful governors of religious matters after the Babylonian captivity. In ancient Mesopotamia, political leaders were often drawn from both the priesthoods and the warrior elite, and they worked closely together to govern the cities. The priests had control over economic output, taxation, and the demand for labor, which they justified by claiming ownership of the cities through the patron gods. They also had the duty of begging the gods for mercy to soothe and assuage them. After Darius I reorganized the Persian empire, individual governing regions were controlled by royal governors called satraps. The Persian kings introduced a system of governance that divided the empire into satrapies, which were ruled by officials called satraps. Each satrapy had a satrap who answered directly to the king and had power over the region.