The Persians of the Sassanian kingdom are not equal to those of the time between Cyrus the Great and Darius Codomannus; they have ruder manners, a grosser taste, less capacity for government and organization; they have, in fact, been coarsened by centuries of Tartar rule; they are vigorous, active, energetic, proud, brave; but in civilization and refinement they do not rank much above their Parthian predecessors.

Western Asia gained, perhaps, something, but it did not gain much, from the substitution of the Persians for the Parthians as the dominant power.

The change is the least marked among the revolutions which the East underwent between the accession of Cyrus and the conquests of Timour.

But it is a change, on the whole, for the better.

It is accompanied by a revival of art, by improvements in architecture; it inaugurates a religious revolution which has advantages.