Editing Vassal state (section)

===Neo-Assyrian Empire===
{{main|Neo-Assyrian Empire}}
[[File:Neo-Assyrian map 824-671 BC.png|thumb|Map of [[Neo-Assyrian Empire|Neo-Assyrian]] territories in 824 BC and 671 BC]]
The vassal states of the [[Neo-Assyrian Empire]] (911 BC – 609 BC) had a unique relationship with the empire they became a part of. While vassal states were necessary to the politics of the empire and connected by administrative and economic means, they are not considered to be ‘properly Assyrian’.<ref name="Hunt 2015">{{cite book |last1=Hunt |first1=Alice M.W. |title=Palace Ware across the Neo-Assyrian Imperial Landscape: Social Value and Semiotic Meaning. |date=2015 |publisher=BRILL |pages=22–29 |chapter=Power and Prestige: The Neo-Assyrian Imperial Landscape.}}</ref> Neo-Assyrian imperial ideology placed importance on unified diversity, and as such vassal states maintained a degree of cultural independence.<ref name="Hunt 2015" /> While territorial expansion slowed in the 7th century BC, the amount of vassal states increased in number, suggesting a change in foreign policy.<ref name="Hunt 2015" />

Assyrian kings expressed their hold over vassal states through the collection of flora and fauna from these regions.<ref name="DeGrado 2019">{{cite journal |last1=DeGrado |first1=Jessie |title=King of the Four Quarters: Diversity as a rhetorical strategy of the Neo-Assyrian Empire |journal=Iraq |date=2019 |volume=81 |pages=107–175|doi=10.1017/irq.2019.8 |s2cid=211654399 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The earliest records of this practice date back to [[Tiglath-Pileser I]] (1114 BC – 1076 BC) in the Middle Assyrian Period. It was revived by [[Ashurnasirpal II|Ashurnasirpal]] in the Neo-Assyrian Period by creating a garden with specimens from across the empire.<ref name="DeGrado 2019" /> Later Neo-Assyrian rulers would expand on this practice; [[Sargon II]] created a garden that imitated the forests of Northern Syria, while [[Sennacherib]] created a swamp that reflected the landscape of Southern Babylonia.<ref name="DeGrado 2019" /> In artistic representations, subjects of vassal states are depicted bringing tribute to Assyria.<ref name="DeGrado 2019" /> These representatives are shown bowing or crouching before the king.<ref name="DeGrado 2019" /> The gifts offered range from horses and monkeys to wineskins.<ref name="DeGrado 2019" /> These scenes of tribute and audience with the king express how vassal states participated in the Neo-Assyrian Empire.

By the 8th century BC, the southern vassal states of the empire saw an increase in settlement. In comparison to the northern regions of the empire – which were previously devastated – these kingdoms become denser and the more prosperous parts of the empire.<ref name="Faust 2021">{{cite book |last1=Faust |first1=Avraham |title=The Neo-Assyrian Empire in the Southwest: imperial domination and its consequences |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |chapter=Under the Empire}}</ref> The kingdoms west of the [[Euphrates]] river were considered vassal states until the 7th century BC, when they were incorporated into the proper provincial system of the empire, though they still had various degrees of political control depending on location.<ref name="Faust 2021" /> In [[Kingdom of Judah|Judah]], there was a further increase in settlement in the 7th century that was greater than the 8th.<ref name="Faust 2021" /> It was the same in [[Jordan]], showing that Neo-Assyrian control over the region was a successful period for these kingdoms.<ref name="Faust 2021" />