ABSTRACT
The Persians have always been an artistic people, and the fine ruins of Persepolis, the great arch of Ctesiphon, and the bas-reliefs of Bisitun and Naksh-i-Rustum testify to their genius for architecture and sculpture during the Achæmenian and Sasanian dynasties. Although the Mohammedan religion forbade presentments of living things as contrary to the Koran, yet the noble mosques and shrines that adorn the principal cities, and not a few of the palaces and houses, prove that the Persians have not lost their sense of beauty.
