250 Rev. Epwarp Hincks on the third Persepolitan Writing, 
which follow, which are much more correct. In the plate which I now send I 
give no lapidary characters, but instead thereof I give many additional Persepo- 
litan ones; and at the foot of it I give a series of numbers from the rock inscrip- 
tions at Van, exhibiting the mode of expressing numbers in Cuneatic characters, 
from 1 to 100,000. These are so arranged as to require no comment. The 
historic character of these inscriptions, of which I received a copy very recently, 
is obvious. 
An important consequence of the rectifications of the Babylonian alphabet 
which I have now made is this. The name of Parthia is now read Bartz, instead 
of Barsa. This word is written in the old Persian with the letter of disputed 
value, No. 18, where I formerly read s, and now ¢. This reverses an argument on 
which I had relied in my former paper, for the value of this character being z ; 
and combining this transcription with the mode of writing the word wizé, as I for- 
merly read it, in the window-inscription of Darius, where the Babylonian has iz 
bit, “in the house,” I am now satisfied that the value of this character is ¢h, as 
given by Jacquet, Lassen, and Major Rawlinson. There is now, then, I believe, an 
almost perfect agreement between the Major and me as to the first Persepolitan 
alphabet. That used in his transcription of the Bisitun inscription differed from 
that given in my first paper (read on the 9th June last), as to fifteen characters. 
As to three of these, I have adopted his values; as to nine others, he has adopted 
mine, though, as I understand, without any knowledge of my having given them ; 
and as to two more, we have both altered our values, so as to be now in agree- 
ment. We now differ, I believe, as to only one character, No. 12; and it is of 
little consequence whether this properly represented = or zh, as it was the only 
character that could be used to express both these sounds. 
I will now briefly sketch the method by which I was led to these rectifica- 
tions. The key word was the name of Susa, which begins with the characters 
74, 34 of my former alphabet, read Sw.ba. The Persian begins with U.wa, 
which, according to the principles laid down in my first paper, and in agreement 
with the Greek transcription, should be read #%. At first I was inclined to read 
it wwa, making the word a trisyllable, on the authority of the Babylonian; but 
afterwards I felt confident that the two first Babylonian characters must express 
st only. From this I inferred that the same method of expressing % might be 
used in other words, and a corresponding method of expressing 7; and, conse- 
