244 Rev. Epwarp Hincks on the three Kinds of Persepolitan Writing. 
values cannot be mistaken ; such are 6, 8, 11, 13, &c. In 10, 36, 40, and some 
others, there is a resemblance traceable, though not very obvious. In other 
cases, where the difference seems very great, a comparison with other characters 
shews that a correspondence in form exists to such a degree as to prove that, if 
one was not copied from the other, both had a common origin. Compare, for 
instance, 2 and 46; 40 and 58; 55 and 60; 20, 43, 53, 66, in all of which 
the cursive character has one-half the wedges in a given direction that the cor- 
responding lapidary character has. In a few cases, such as 30, 35, 39, 71, the 
equivalence of the characters would never have been suspected, if they had not 
been observed to be similarly used. 
The first step im this deciphering was, of course, an analysis of the proper 
names occurring in the Persepolitan inscriptions, and a comparison of them with 
their equivalents in the first and second kinds of writing, and, where possible, in 
Hebrew and Greek. It will be observed that some of the Babylonian names 
correspond much more closely to the Greek forms than either the Persian or 
Median. See, in particular, the names of Cyrus and Darius. This deciphering 
of the proper names determined the values of many characters ; more were deter- 
mined by comparing different modes of writing the same words in the inscrip- 
tions which commence with the same formula, and in phrases of common occur- 
rence found elsewhere. I also observed some Median words transcribed in one 
of the inscriptions, and a few other words that, though altered, appeared to 
be of Persian or Median origin. When the equivalence of the two sets of 
characters, lapidary and cursive, was ascertained, more values were determined 
by comparing the proper names in the great inscription, in their various forms, 
with their representatives in other languages, and by comparing the different 
forms in which words of the great inscription which occur in formulas that are 
frequently met with, are written. 
The following page contains seventy-six Persepolitan cursive characters, with 
the Babylonian lapidary ones which most nearly correspond to them. Before I 
enumerate the other Babylonian lapidary characters which have the same values, 
I will make some general remarks on the mode of reading the characters, fol- 
lowed by observations on a few which I have distinguished by the sign f. 
ar 
