[ 1 2 * * * * * 9 8 ] 
characters on the medals ( i ) generally afcribed to the 
Saffanian kings. 
5. The pieces under conftderation here have like- 
wife feveral unknown characters upon them, which 
can by no means be deemed the fame with thofe 
preferved on the Perfian coins ftruck by the princes 
of the houfe of Saffian. 
Thefe two medals are of the fize of the fmaller 
middle Roman brafs,or nearly fo. Their workmanfhip, 
as has been juft remarked, is inelegant, or rather 
fomewhat rude. They are fo fimilar to each other, 
that they may be confidered, without any great impro- 
priety, as duplicates of the fame medal. Both of them, 
on the anterior part, feem to have retained the effigies 
of the fame Parthian king ; and, on the reverfe, they 
both exhibit a human head, with the hair formed into 
curls, on which is juft viftble a rude fort of crown. 
Before the face of the latter, the Greek elements 
n,P,0,Z,0,r, or npozor, on both plainly enough 
appear; though one of them only prefents to our 
view, before the face of the Parthian king, a complex 
(1) We meet, however, with a Greek date on a little brafs coin, 
very ill preferved, in my fmall collection, which feems to indicate 
the piece to have been ftruck by one of the princes of the houfe 
of SafTan. That date was undoubtedly formed of the letters 
AO<[>, fo that the firft appearance of the medal muft be allowed 
pofterior to the dift'olution of the Parthian empire, whether we 
adopt F. Coifini’s Parthian /Era, or that followed by Dr, Vaillant. 
The coiffure of the prince’s head is exactly the fame with that 
peculiar to the Safl’anian kings. The globe alfo, above the 
diadem, and the large tuft of hair here, feemingly adorned with 
pearls or other precious ftones, and forming another kind of 
globe, are frequently viftble on the medals appertaining to thofe 
kings. The turrited head, on the reverfe, reprefents the genius of 
the city where the coin was ftruck. Philof. Tranfafl. Vol. LVI. 
Tab. XV. N. 4 . 
4 chara&er, 
