640 A r w varieties of the [Oct. 



Fig. 2 is misplaced : for the imperfection of the Greek legend on 

 the obverse, ought to condemn it to a lower grade in chronological 

 order. All those legends which have the family name of KANHPKI 

 are clear and better formed than those of OOHPKI to which this coin 

 belongs. The latter, too, have generally the bust of the sovereign 

 substituted for the full length sacrificer. The name on the reverse of 

 Jig. 2, #APO, is new ; nor is it at first very obvious what meaning it 

 may be intended to convey. It cannot well be a corruption of A0PO, 

 because the standing figure faces the opposite way — holds a spear, 

 and wants the flames on his shoulders. Mr. Masson observes on 

 this coin : " Here is another peculiar legend, but evidently signifying 

 the sun as source of light and majestv. Pharos was the term applied 

 to the Alexandrian light house, and Pharoah is the well known Scrip- 

 tural title of the old kings of Egypt. The bust on this coin affords a 

 remarkable contrast to other coins of the family." It is certainly 

 probable that the word has some affinity to the Greek <t>a.os, lumen, 

 dies, solis ortus, but no more than is naturally found between lan- 

 guages of common origin. The word Phraa, or something like it, 

 certainly existed in the ancient language of Persia, as the personifica- 

 tion of light or heat — analogous to Mithra, the sun*. In compounds 

 it is frequently found, as in Phraates, Phraortes, Furnaces, and Phradates; 

 the latter being altogether congenerous with Mithradates, or as the 

 Greeks translated the name, Apollodotos. From the same root are 

 descended the modern Persian verb i*}*^!/*' to inflame, whence ) y j 9 ^ 

 illuminating, so often employed in compounds. Perhaps the uncouth 

 name of Unad-Pherrou, on a numerous class of the deteriorated 

 Bactrian coins, may spring from the same root. 



Vaillant, however, gives a different and, I think, a less satisfactory 

 etymology of the above class of names in his history of the Arsacidse. 

 " Phriapates seu et Phrapates, idem ac Aphra Pates, seu et Papatius ; 

 nam apud Persas idem Aphra est, ac Pa apud Turcas Scythasque, 

 scilicet elevatus, supremus, maximus, qus: nominibus propriis ut et 

 art pra?ponuntur." (Arsac. Imp. 1. 2.) Now if the word aphra be merely 

 an intensitive preposition, like the Sanscrit ^(^ para, the Persian jl 

 her, the Greek irapa, and the Latin prce or per, the word to which it is 

 affixed should be a significant adjectival noun, as xprj VRW- parakramas, the 

 very heroic ;rbA^ j 1 Ardashir (Artaxerxes),thegreatlion, or very valiant, 

 &c. The participial nouns Mithradates (quasi a^'^** the given of 

 Mithra) and Phradates (S<3!o^Jl the given of PhraJ require the first 

 member of the compound to be a noun. 



* Phre in Egyptian has precisely the same meaning as mihr in Persian, 

 ' king, prince.' 



