438 Continuation of Remarks on the [Sept. 



Sassanian Coins of Mdnikydla. 

 The characters on the obverse of the Sassanian coin (fig. 8, pi. xxi.) 

 are not sufficiently distinct to enable us to decypher the name, even by 

 placing it in juxtaposition with others of the same kind, which Sir 

 R. Ker Porter states to have been read by himself" on the principles 

 laid down by the Baron De Sacy." 



There is one peculiarity however, which (supposing his reading to be 

 correct) will serve our purpose equally well in identifying it. I allude 

 to the very curious ornament of two wings embracing a crescent and 

 star on the cap of the monarch. The same ornament is visible in a 

 coin depicted by the author just mentioned in fig. 8, plate lviii. of his 

 travels in Georgia and Persia, and the following is the account given 

 of it in page 130, vol. ii. of the same work. 



" This piece of money is more frequently met with than any other 

 of the Sassanian dynasty. It is larger than most of the ancient cur- 

 rency, and on the whole very slightly executed. The diadem of the 

 king has the singularity of being more in the shape of a helmet than 

 a crown ; it is winged, but surmounted by a crescent and star, instead 

 of the customary globular form. The bust is encircled by a triple range 

 of pearls, marked in equidistant divisions by a star and crescent. The 

 letters which compose the legend are very complicated, running into 

 each other like rapid writing, On the face of the medal they produce 

 shapuri mezdezn, &c. and on the reverse, shapuri, with other letters too 

 defaced to decypher. This Shapur must be the second of that name, 

 (the seventh in descent from the first, who was the conqueror of Vale- 

 rian ;) and he also was a great man, being surnamed Zulaktaf, and 

 renowned for his victories over the Roman emperors Julian, Constan- 

 tius, &c." 



It must be remarked however, that the head-dress of the coin differs 

 from that of the sculpture of this monarch at Takht-i-Rustam, where 

 his name and titles are inscribed in legible Pehlevi*. 



Sapor II. came to the throne on the hour of his birth, in A. D. 310, 

 and reigned nearly seventy years, which is itself a strong reason in 

 favor of his coins being more numerous than those of other Sassanian 

 princes, and so far corroborates the appropriation of the winged head- 

 dress to him. He was more than once engaged in repelling the Tartar 

 and Arab invaders of his territories. It was from his clemency to the 

 Arabs that he obtained the surname of Zulaktaf, which Herbelot 



* I was not aware until seeing it in Ker Porter that this character had been 

 satisfactorily decyphered ; unfortunately, the As. Soc. Library does not contain a 

 copy of De Sacy's Memoire sur les divers antiq. de la Perse, which furnished 

 Ker Porter with the key to its alphabet. 



