Was Shapur I overrated?

Oh, you mean in the OTHER thread? Oh please, don't flatter yourself. 

You contradict yourself. On one hand, you said turks are not the same as they were originally. On other hand, you said assimilation and interbreeding kept them Turkish looking.

Logically, your statement means Turks are still mongoloids. Or I just didn't understand what you meant by the phrase "Turkish looking". And how assimilation of people of Balkans, Middle East and Caucasia could have preserved Turks? That's genetically impossible.

As far as Romans and modern Italians concerned, my personal opinion is simple. Italians are undoubtedly related to Romans. To what degree? I guess nobody really knows it. Nevertheless, Romans didn't disappear from the face of the earth like ETs and UFOs do in the movies. Definitely, they left genetical imprint on modern people living in Italy and around in Mediterrenian.

"The Parthians settled many of their captives in their Eastern territory of Sogdia. In an interesting footnote, Sogdia was later captured by the Han Chinese and so these Romans may have been amongst the first to meet the Chinese - not much of a consolation for living the rest of your life amongst foreigners. "

Thats wrong, it was the xiongnu not the Parthians that occupied Sogdiana, that author's knowledge of primary source is pretty poor.

The Ottomans arent the same as Turks of today? I understand what youre saying by them breeding with other nationalities such as Kurds, Greeks and Armenians... but theyre basically the same people. They still speak Turkish and follow Turkish culture just as the Ottomans did. Ive heard so many people say the Ottomans of the early 20th century are not the Turks of today....thats completely false. Obviously theyre not exactly the same people because theres a new generation, but just because theres a new generation of a culture doesnt mean they dont belong in the same category as the previous generation or their ancestors. Theyre still Turks and so were the Ottomans. When you said you read an article about a man talking about how mixed the Ottoman Empire really was, it might have been misunderstood as there were many minorities within the empire, not that the Turks were assimilated. If anything, the minorities of the empire became assimilated. A lot of cleansing happened towards the end of Ottoman reign though. Youre right about the Turks being mixed, but they were in no way, shape or form assimilated. The minorities they mixed with were assimilated.