So if you saw any nomadic invaders coming by, you might just be like, hey, nomadic invaders, come on in, you seem better than the last guy. Well, that was the case until the Assyrians came along anyway. The Assyrians have a deserved reputation for being the brutal bullies of Mesopotamia. But the Assyrians did give us an early example of probably the most important and durable form of political organization in world history, and also Star Wars history, the empire. The biggest problem with empires is that, by definition, they're diverse and multi-ethnic, which makes them hard to unify. So beginning around 911 BCE, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew from its hometowns of Ashur and Nineveh to include the whole of Mesopotamia, the eastern coast of the Mediterranean, and even, by 680 BCE, Egypt. They did this thanks to the most brutal, terrifying, and deficient army the world had ever seen.