1917.] Numismatic Supplement No. XXIX. 173 



Thomas reads salam for the first sign and amach for the 

 second ; but he adds that the right sense remains an enigma. 

 Mordtmann reads zaman afzut " tempus augeatur "; Stickel, 

 sim "argentum auctum " ; Dorn, gadman; and Drouin has 

 decided on gadah g ' majesty ' ' and translates this monogram 



Tin. hv 4i Inner livp his maiestv." He at the 



adds 



■t 



we do not find in this symbolic sign any element o! the- word 

 "gadah." It is certain, nevertheless, that this unknown sign 

 represents a word which must go with afzun, and if it is not the 

 Semitic word gadah, it ought to be something equivalent, 

 which must rather preserve for us the significance of this mono- 

 gram." The Persian dictionary Borhan-i-Kati gives in ex- 

 press terms : "Gadman is an old word which in Zend (Pahlavi) 

 and in Pazend (Farsi) is pronounced gadmin and signifies the 

 spiritual light and splendour. " 



Clearly the savants are far from being in accord as to the 

 reading of this monogram on the coins of Khusrau II and his 

 successors. It cannot be a sign without any meaning; but 

 turn it in any direction whatsoever and no word can be made 

 of it without stretching a point here and there so as to yield 

 the diverse renderings quoted. 



How did the monogram originate ? It first appeared as we 

 have seen by replacing the word afzu, and in such a form that 

 the original word is legible enough. The gradual evolution 

 could be well seen in Dorn (PI. xxvi, figs. 11, 12 and 14 and 

 PI. xxvii, fig. 20). The word afzu could at first be traced, but 

 when we come to Khusrau II, no vestige of the word remains, 

 and that is in my opinion the main reason which induced Drouin 

 to distinguish both monograms. The view of Mordtmann, who 

 takes the hitter to be the degeneration of the former, is 

 reasonable. One very remarkable fact is that while we do not 

 find anv monogram on the coins of Bahrain Chobln, the mono- 

 gram of Khusrau II appears on the coins of Bistam, botn 

 rebels aspiring to the throne. If Dorn (pi. xxvm and follow- 

 mg) be studied, it will be seen that the meaning of the symDoi 

 is lost and the defunct monogram is placed above the word afzitu 

 If there is at all any meaning to be attached to the monog"-" 

 of Khusrau II, I would suggest that it is the degenerate lorL _ 

 the monogram of Hormazd IV which replaced the word afzu. 

 The original significance of the monogram must have been ioi- 

 gotten, for otherwise the employment of two words one a do ve 

 the other, both having the same sense, would be a pleonasm 

 difficult to admit. ., • . ot 



to , Although we do not find any monogram ^on t lie coins u 

 Bahram Chobln, the device occurs on some but by no mean 

 fU the coins struck in the first year of Khusrau II. Ta bar 

 (Zotenberg, t. II, p. 269) relates that Bahrain Chob n had 

 ^ruck at Rai a hundred thousand dirhems in the name 



ram 



