1835.] used on the Bactrian Coins. 333 



23. •H'. This mark, which wears rather the look of an ornament, is 

 found on the coins having Hercules for the reverse, and only on them. 

 I should not have included it among the letters, had it not so closely 

 resembled the Arabico-Persic form of a, depicted in Lichtenstein's 

 table. He there states it to belong to the Sassanian coins, but I have 

 not remarked it on any that I have examined, either in books or 

 cabinets. 



24. n. This letter may be a variety of A, or it may be a distinct 

 letter. On the cylinders it has a tall stroke in the centre, r/j ; taking 

 the appearance of an inverted trident. I should have been inclined 

 to pronounce it zi or ji, had I not already appropriated A to this 

 syllabic form. 



I need not say that all the above explanations are open to correc- 

 tion ; and I fully expect before the end of the year, that the learned 

 members of the Asiatic Society of Paris, who have now before their 

 eyes the coins whence most of my data have been derived, with all 

 that I had ventured to guess upon them communicated by letter, will 

 have developed the whole alphabet, with an accuracy not to be attain- 

 ed, except through a previous knowledge of the ancient languages of 

 Parthia, and Ariana. 



The only types of the Pehlevi character, with which we can institute 

 a comparison of the above alphabet, are those derived from the imper- 

 fectly decyphered coins of the Sassanian dynasty of Persian monarchs ; 

 and the inscriptions on the sculptures at Nakshi-Rustam, Nukshi- 

 Rajab, and the Takhti-bostdn. These are attributed to the same period, 

 on the certain authority of the names of Babec, his son Ardashir, and 

 grandson Shapur, found not only in the Pehlevi, but also in the Greek 

 version, which fortunately accompanies some of the inscriptions. 

 The Baron de Sacy, to whose Memoir es sur les Antiquites de Perse, the 

 learned world was indebted for the restoration of these valuable monu- 

 ments of antiquity, was only able to deal with one form of the Pehlevi, 

 namely, that situated below the Greek (see Ker Porter, II. 552) : for 

 the inscriptions are generally trilingual ; the version above the Greek 

 being more rude than the other, and having a striking resemblance 

 to the Chaldrdc. Ker Porter transcribes one or two portions of the 

 upper inscriptions in Hebrew ; and informs us, that De Sacy always 

 found this character had the same meaning as the Hebrew, when 

 transcribed letter for letter. This author has given in Plate XV. vol. i. 

 of his Travels, a fine facsimile in the two languages of the Nakshi- 

 Rustam text, which had not been decyphered at the time of the publi- 

 cation of his work. A considerable portion of the members of our 

 alphabet exist precisely in the right hand version of this transcript ; 



