very talented and rising young numismatist W. H. Scott, Esq. of Edinburgh, communicated to Mr. Lindsay his reading of the hitherto unknown characters, and, as it may be some time before a second edition is published, I am anxious that the discovery should be made known, and its merit and ownership secured to Mr. Scott. I have therefore had three drachms engraved, confining the representation on the reverse to the line of "unknown characters." Neither of the coins have the whole line of the inscription perfect, but by combining the first (the inscription commencing from the left of the field, the reader's right) with the second and third coins, which have the conclusion perfect, but want the commencement, we obtain the full reading: קשות This is the drachm of Arsaces 27th (Vologeses 2nd) engraved in Mr. Lindsay's work, Plate 4, Coin No. 87. The barbarous Greek inscription omitted in the engraving is— ΒΑΣΙΛΕ - ΑΡΣΑΚΟΥ · ΕΥΕΡΓΕΤΟΥ· ΔΙΚΑΙΟΥ· ΠΙ+ΑΝΙΟΥ +ΙΛΕΛΛΗ. (Sic.) Of King Arsaces, the beneficent, just, illustrious, lover of the Greeks. On the preceding coin, No. 86, of the same king, we find the two first lines, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ · ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΝ (Of the King of Kings); the first word of which has on No. 87 and subsequent coins been removed to make way for the unknown line. שורון This is the reverse of another drachm of Arsaces 27th, which has the conclusion of the inscription of unknown characters perfect. It is in Mr. Lindsay's cabinet, but was not engraved. The Greek omitted is the same as on No. 87, Plate 4. This is a drachm of Arsaces 29th (Vologeses 4th), Plate 4, Coin 93, in Mr. Lindsay's work. What purports to be Greek and is omitted is perfectly illegible, though the coin is as fine as when struck. The equivalent in Hebrew for the unknown characters Mr. Scott considers would be ולנשימלכא LETTER FROM W. H. SCOTT, ESQ. TO RICHARD SAINTHILL. MY DEAR SIR, Edinburgh, No. 4, Rutland Street, Mr. Lindsay, in his excellent "View of the Coinage of Parthia," has engraved (Plate 4, No. 87) a very singular coin of Arsaces 27th (Vologeses 2nd), bearing, in addition to the ordinary Greek legends, a line in an unknown character, repeated separately in Plate 11. The identity in all essential points of this character with that illustrated by Mr. Thomas, in a most interesting paper, “Oriental Legends on Parthian Coins," in the Numismatic Chronicle, Vol. 12, is, however, easily established, since, indeed, a simple comparison will suffice, bearing in mind that the Parthian artists have in some degree altered the forms, by giving them that peculiar appearance common to the Greek legends on these coins, designated here and on Syrian coins by the term nail-headed. The line of characters on the coin 87 is easily read, supplying in a smaller letter the omitted vowels VOLOGESI. MALKA. King Vologeses. The V is certain; the L is, however, considerably modified from the Chaldæo-Pehlvi, or Sassanian Pehlvi forms, in which it is always curved. Its position in the legend, however, prevents any confusion, as will be seen by the coincidence of all the other letters with the name Vologeses. The G has been, I think, satisfactorily identified by Mr. Thomas, and on one of the later coins, bearing the same legend, which I shall presently mention, it is unequivocal, since the lower limb is absolutely horizontal, so that it can be confounded with no other letter, a thing easily done in its more ordinary position. For instance, although I coincide in reading on the brass coin No. 1, in the paper of Mr. Thomas, Volgasi, I am inclined to suppose that the difference in position which he allows to exist between the G in this word, and in that which he reads Agsak, is only explainable by supposing the latter to be in reality R: thus reading Arsak, or Arshak, for Agshak. This reading is supported equally by the cuneiform Arshaka (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 607), and by the Persian Ashek, since it is much easier to explain the disappearance of the liquid R than of the guttural G. No doubt can exist of the S, or SH, the Hebrew Schin, since it appears in precisely the same form in the Chaldee inscriptions given by Mr. Layard, and translated by Mr. Ellis, independently of the evidence derived from the inscriptions in which it occurs. The I also is similar to that in the alphabet of Mr. Thomas. The word MALKA also is unequivocal. On the coin No. 87 the last letter is off the edge, but it appears on later coins, as on No. 93. The same legend, more or less perfect, recurs on the coins No. 88, (?) 93, 94, and perhaps 96, of Mr. Lindsay's Plate 4. I am at present unable to explain in a satisfactory manner the legends occurring on Nos. 89, 90, and 95, of the same plate. I propose however to examine the subject in a more complete manner hereafter. The coin No. 74 shews the earliest example of this character yet known (behind the bust of the king, on the obverse). It is evident that the two letters are the same as those commencing the name Vologeses, consequently I attribute the coin to the city of Vologesia, or Vologesocerta (city of Vologeses). This, by-the-bye, necessitates a removal of the coin No. 74 from Arsaces 22nd (Vonones 2nd), the predecessor of Vologeses 1st. I should think it probable that it is of this last king. These letters occur also on 94; and on 95, 96, are seen others. I shall not, however, for the present attempt their explanation. I see in the last number of the "Revue Numismatique" a paper by Lagey on a tetradrachm of Vonones 2nd, just like Mr. Lindsay's Plate 6, No. 19, with B T-362. He mentions as existing in the French cabinet similar coins with 362, 363, and 364. which shews that Vonones reigned one year complete, and part of two others. I remain, dear Sir, Yours truly, W. H. SCOTT. |