And there was your standard raping and pillaging and torture, all of which was done in the name of Ashur, the great god of the Neo-Assyrians, whose divine regent was the king. Ashur, through the king, kept the world going, and as long as conquest continued, the world would not end. But if conquest ever stopped, the world would end and there would be rivers of blood and weeping and gnashing of teeth. You know how apocalypses go. The Assyrians spread this worldview with propaganda like monumental architecture and readings about how awesome the king was at public festivals, all of which was designed to inspire awe in the empire's subjects. Oh, that reminds me, it's time for the open letter. An open letter to the word awesome.