[ 35 + ] 
As therefore the coins in queftion are found In (28), 
and come from, thofe parts of the Eaft ; I would 
willingly flatter myfelf, that what is here advanced 
will meet with the approbation of the learned. 
There is one farther circumftance relative to this 
coin, which mufl: not be omitted here. Over the 
Perfian monarch’s head, at a fmall diftance from it, 
we may eafily difcover a kind of letter (29), not apper- 
taining, as it fhould feem, to the Phoenician alphabet ; 
which, as I apprehend, may be taken for an antient 
Perflc character. It not a little refembles that en- 
dued with the power of the fhort A, deduced from 
the Zend and Pazend, by (30) Dr. Hyde; as alfo 
(28) Peller. ubi fup. 
(29) This coin feems to have been ftruck either at Afcalon, 
Gaza,orAcco; as moft of the fimilar coins hitherto publifhed 
probably firft appeared in one of thofe cities. But the names 
of all thofe places begin with an not an Aleph^ and 
therefore the charadler in quell ion cannot be fuppofed to have 
appertained to any of thofe names. Whereas Ardfhir, Ardfchir, 
or Artaxerxes, the name of the king, in whofe reign the coin 
feems to have been ftruck, has for its firft letter, an Aleph^ not 
an Am ; and therefore the character on this piece may be pre- 
fumed, after what has been faid, to point at that name. And 
this will be rendered ftill more probable by the pofition of the 
Perlian charadter I am here confidering. It is placed over the 
head of the great perfonage in the triumphal car, or rather almoft: 
contiguous to the tiara with which it is covered. This appears 
to me almoft decifive in favour of what is here advanced. If 
any learned man, however, fhould diftent from me in this par- 
ticular, I ftiall not quarrel with him for adhering to his own 
opinion. Baudel. Peller. pafT. Barthel. Schikard. Profap. Perf. 
Proem, et alib, Tubingte, 1628. 
(30) Vid. Lit. in Libr. Zend & Pazend, juxta apographum 
D, Hyde, ufttat. &c. apud D. Hyd. in Hijf. RcUg. Vet. Perf. 
Ed. Oxon. 1760. Memoir de Litterat. Tom. XXXI. p. 358. 
A Paris, 1768. That the Perftans ufed the Aftyrian letters in 
the days of Herodotus, we learn from that celebrated hiftorian. 
But, notwithftanding this, they might likewife have ufed other 
antient alphabetic charadlers, at leaft in feme part of the inter- 
twe 
