201 



more recent, and (at the present time) more interesting labours con- 

 nected with Persepolitan writing. And in order to present an intel- 

 ligible statement of the nature of Ihese labours, and of the additions 

 which have been thereby made to the existing amount of know- 

 ledge upon this curious subject, it will be necessary to take a hur- 

 ried glance at the history of the investigation, and its principal 

 steps. 



The cuneiform writing has been generally reduced to three lead- 

 ing divisions, which have been denominated, respectively, Persian, 

 Median, and Babylonian. Many of the cuneiform inscriptions con- 

 tain all the three kinds of writing; the first being the principal, and 

 apparently the vernacular record, and the other two translations. 

 They are found on rocks, slabs, and pillars, at Persepolis, at 

 Sehistun, at Van, at Murghab, and at Hamadan. These trilingual 

 inscriptions are all, without exception, records of the Achaeme- 

 nian dynasty; the earliest which has been discovered (the inscrip- 

 tion at Murghab, or Pasargadae) relating to Cyrus the Great, and 

 the latest to Artaxerxes Ochus. 



Of the three kinds of writing found in these inscriptions, the 

 first, or Persian, is the simplest, containing the fewest and least com- 

 plicated characters. It is also distinguished from the other two by 

 the divisions between the words, which are separated by an oblique 

 wedge; and this circumstance, of course, greatly facilitates the task 

 of the decipherer. The second Persepolitan writing appears to 

 have been coeval with the first, and to have been employed only in 

 conjunction with it, in the trilingual monuments of the Achaemenian 

 princes ; it is accordingly ascribed by the concurrent voice of phi- 

 lologers to the Medes, the people next in importance to the native 

 Persians under the Achaemenian dynasty. The number of cha- 

 racters in this writing is far greater than in the Persian, its alphabet 

 (or syllabary) containing about 100 letters. The third Persepolitan 

 writing belongs to one of a group of languages (distinguished by 

 Major Rawlinson into the Babylonian, the ^4ssyrian, and the 

 Elymatan) written in a similar character. It is ascribed, with every 

 probability, to the Babylonians, legends in a like character being 

 found on cylinders and bricks excavated from the foundations of 

 the primaeval cities of Shinar. It is unquestionably the most ancient 



