[ 409 ] 
the initial letter of gela, the name of a town of 
Sicily, with feveral of whole (34) coins the cabinets 
of the curious are adorned. 
Another of my Punic medals, druck in Sicily, 
prefents to our view the two elements AleJ)h and 
Beth. Thefe plainly point at the abac^na of 
(35) Ptol em y> an antient town of Sicily; many re- 
mains of which, according to Cluverius, were fome 
time fince to be feen. 
One of the Siculo-Punic coins in my fmall col- 
lection has handed down to us two alphabetic cha- 
racters, the powers of which are not yet, perhaps, 
fufficiently known. The fecond of them, however, 
from the great refemblance it bears to the form of 
that element in the Maltefe infcription, we may ven- 
ture to pronounce Tdzade ; and the fil'd, according to 
M. l’Abbe Barthelemy, occupies the place of Aleph. 
I am neverthelefs rather inclined to believe, that it 
ought to be taken for Koph. This fee-ms to appear 
from the draughts of feveral coins, publifhed by 
(36) writers of good authority, as well as from the 
concurring fentiments of thofe writers themfelves. 
If this notion ihould hereafter be adopted by the 
learned, the medal may be fuppofed t,o have been 
emitted from the mint at Catana, as Tzade fometimes 
in power anfwers to the Latin T ; but if M. l’Abbe’s 
opinion fihould be held more confonant to truth, 
( 34 ) P roe l* Parut. Sc Goltz. ubi fup. 
(35) Ptol. Geograph. Lib. III. c. 4. Phil. Cluver. Sid!. Ant. 
p. 386. 
(36) Veron. Illujlrat. Par. Terz. cap. fett. p. 258, 259. In 
Verona, 1732. Ridolfin. Venut. in Saggi di DiJJ'ertaz. decade- 
tnich. pubblicamente lette nella Nvbii. Aceadem. Etrufc. dell' antichijji - 
ma Citta di Cortona, p. 35. In Roma, 1735. Parut. Lalta- 
no L Sec. 
Vox.. LIV. G g g from 
