1921.] Numismatic Supplement No. XXXV. 101 
Aba-l-Faiz, Faizi, has brought out in various admirable writings, 
namely, that by the mysterious connections of letters, which are 
lofty vocables and which—whether separately or in combination 
—display their influences, it appears that the indicatory letters 
Baiyinat-i-hurif of the word aftab (Sun) make the number 223 
and thus correspond to the numerical value of the letters of 
the word Akbar.” (‘ Akbarnamah,’ Beveridge’s Trans. }, 65; 
Text, I, 22.) Elsewhere he informs us that when the value of 
the letters in the name of Allah was found to be equal to the 
number of Mansabs,! “ the deep sighted read in it glad tidings 
for the present illustrious reign and considered it a most 
auspicious omen.” (Blochmann. ‘ Ain,’ Trans. I, 237). 
S. H. Hopiva.a. 
218. BreLioGRAPHY OF SASANIAN NuMISsMATICS. 
The honour of first unveiling the mysteries hidden for many 
centuries in the Sasanian inscriptions on rocks and coins 
belongs to Sylvestre de Sacy, one of the most eminent oriental 
scholars who everlived. His ‘ Mémoires sur diverses antiquités 
de la Perse’ (Paris, 1793) mark a notable epoch in the study of 
the monuments and coins of ancient Persia. The work in 
question contains five memoirs. Dr. Hyde, the celebrated 
author of ‘ Historia religionis veterum Persarum ’ (1700), had 
had read APTAZAPOY as AAEZANAPOY, and consequently 
referred the whole inscription to Alexander (see Ist edition, 
pp. 519-520). DeSacy showed that this reading was incorrect, 
and that the king mentioned in the inscription was Ardashir 
(Artakhshatr), the founder of the Sasanian dynasty. After 
having restored the Greek text in a critical manner, he made 
it the starting point for deciphering one of the two texts in 
oriental characters, as he believed their contents to be identi- 
cal. He was successful beyond expectation in his attempt, 
and thus laid a solid foundation for all future decipherments. 
In his third memoir, he applied the results thus obtained 
(which however explained only a few names and titles) to the 
elucidation of the legends on some of the Sasanian coins, as he 
found the characters and most of the words were identical 
with those at Naksh-i Rustam. He thus obtained the com- 
plete titles of some of the early Sasanian kings. r 
them also correctly the names of Ardashir (Artakhshatr), 
Shapur (Shahpuhr), Bahram (Varahran) and 
( Atharmazdi) ; but his other readings of names were doubtful 
ar erroneous. 
1 The mangabs or gradations of rank were theoretically, 66 in number. 
The numerical value of the letters of al) (1+30+30+5) is 66. 
