Since the Assyrian consorts did not rule themselves, the Assyrians did not refer to them as šarratu.[1][6] The difference in terminology does not necessarily mean that foreign queens, who often governed significantly smaller territories than the Neo-Assyrian Empire, were seen as having a higher status than the Assyrian queens. Still, a handful of modern historians, such as Sarah C. Melville, prefer to designate the Assyrian queens simply as "wives" or "consorts".[1] The title of "Woman of the Palace" was a new invention of the Neo-Assyrian period; in the Middle Assyrian Empire, which directly preceded the Neo-Assyrian Empire, queens were designated as aššat šarre ("Wife of the King").[7]