om a small principality in the south of
Persia--a principality which, properly speaking bears the title of the
"kernel of the Persian nation"--occupies a considerable position in
Persian history. Wide imperial aims were united with a plenitude of
solid organisation of government so perfect that it passed into a
proverb among the Arabs. In this last connection the Sasanian tradition
survived for a long time a number of Moslem dynasties. The powerful
influence which Iranian tradition exercised was felt by the Abbaside
Khahlifs and after them by the Turkish Seljuks. But not only the science
of government, a good deal of other matters of cultural and historical
importance in the latter times have their explanation in the Sasanian
epoch. Placed on the confines of the Greco-Roman world on the one hand,
and China and India on the other, Sasanian Persia served during the
course of a long time as a central mart of exchange of a mental as well
as of a material nature. As against the Achaemenides, emulating the high
Semitic culture of the West and the Hellenistic endeavours preceding the
Parthian dynasty, the Sasanians pre-eminently were the promulgators of
the Iranian principles. Alongside of this, however, although in a
subordinate position, the development of the Hellenistic movement and
the ancient Irano-Semitic syncretism continued to proceed.
Simultaneously an ethical amalgamation proceeded especially in Western
Persia where Semiticism was powerful for a lengthened period,
Nevertheless, the Sasanians continued the unification of the Iranian
inhabitants of central and western Persia. The political system of the
Sasanian emperors[1] was based on this fusion. Before it pales the
importance of the other facts regarding the political organisation of
the Sasanians,--centralisation of government in a manner so that the
elements of feudal constitution made themselves felt throughout the
existence of the empire and even after the Arab conquest, when it left
traces in circles representing Iranian traditions.

[Footnote 1: On the constitution of the Sasanian government, see A.
Christensen, _L'empire des Sasanides, le peuple, l'etat, la cour_,
1907.]

The Iranophile tendencies which dominated the Sasanian epoch developed
in intimate cooperation with the State religion (Mazdaism) and the Parsi
priesthood. Among the latter continued the production of literary works.
Besides, the redaction of the sacred books was completed in these times.