The first major empire in Southwest Asia was the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911-612 BCE). They were the successor to the old and middle Assyrian States of the Second millennium. The Neo-Assyrian State revealed the raw military side of imperial rule which was constant and harsh warfare, brutal exploitation of, and an ideology that glorified imperial masters and justified the subjugation and harsh treatment of subjects. Neo-Assyrian rulers had ambitions beyond governing their own people they also wanted to subordinate people in distant lands and control their resources, trading cities, and trade routes. The Assyrians had several advantages, first their armies of well-trained, disciplined and professional troops led by officers who rose by merit not birth. They perfected the combined deployment
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Its inhabitants were not considered Assyrians; rather, their local rulers held power as subjects of Assyria. Instead of Supplying agricultural goods and manpower, these subordinated states had a great burden of delivering massive amounts of tribute in the form of gold and silver. This wealth went directly to the king, who used it to pay for extravagant court and ever-increasing military costs. The Neo Assyrian Empire put forth an imperial ideology to support and justify its system of expansion. Assyrian inscriptions and art expressed a divinely determined destiny that drove the regime to expand westward towards the Mediterranean Sea. Rulers devised three types of propaganda. They used elaborate architectural cultural complexes to stage ceremonial displays of pomp and power. Secondly they made sure that different types of texts glorified the king and the empire. Third, state officials placed images glorifying the king and the Assyrian army on place walls. Triumphal events were not only evident on palace walls but also in a uniquely Assyrian literary form called annals, which were historical records arranged
Its inhabitants were not considered Assyrians; rather, their local rulers held power as subjects of Assyria. Instead of Supplying agricultural goods and manpower, these subordinated states had a great burden of delivering massive amounts of tribute in the form of gold and silver. This wealth went directly to the king, who used it to pay for extravagant court and ever-increasing military costs. The Neo Assyrian Empire put forth an imperial ideology to support and justify its system of expansion. Assyrian inscriptions and art expressed a divinely determined destiny that drove the regime to expand westward towards the Mediterranean Sea. Rulers devised three types of propaganda. They used elaborate architectural cultural complexes to stage ceremonial displays of pomp and power. Secondly they made sure that different types of texts glorified the king and the empire. Third, state officials placed images glorifying the king and the Assyrian army on place walls. Triumphal events were not only evident on palace walls but also in a uniquely Assyrian literary form called annals, which were historical records arranged