Chester G. Starr

Now, I've got a bunch of historians who talk about how difficult the task is to meld all these individualistic different peoples into a single political entity.

Chester Starr writing in the middle 1960s put it this way as he tries to sort of counterbalance this ruthless image the Assyrians have with the job they're trying to do.

And he writes, quote, This ruthless spirit perhaps proves not so much that the Assyrians were inhuman monsters as it shows the sternness required to break and harness the Near East.

The Assyrian period was in reality one of the greatest turning points in the civilized history of the area, and in this fact must be sought the justification for the booty and the tribute of empire, if empire needs justification.