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reproductions, even if, in the interval, any general change in equipment of the Byzantine legions had been sufficiently obvious to reach Oriental perceptions. So that with the parallel divergences of forms and types, it will be preferable, under all circumstances, to assign this seal to the later epoch. The device of an Assyrian king in the act of slaying a lion was a favourite subject for royal signets in very early times,1 and the same symbol of power entered largely into the figurative sculptures of the Achæmenians at Persepolis; mutatis mutandis, amid the more civilized tendencies of the fourth century A.D., Varahrán reproduces a similar idea, but replaces the lion by the type of the normal national adversary. There is no record, as far as can be ascertained, of Varahrán having personally encountered the Romans after his accession, but it is not impossible that he may have fleshed his maiden sword during the campaigns of his father, Sapor II., against Constantius, Julian, and Jovian, or on later chance occasions; and hence may have adopted this emblematic device on his seal, as Sulla adhered to the gem which depicted his early success against Jugurtha

3

I conclude this résumé of the extant Sassanian inscriptions by a reference to two mural epigraphs at Persepolis, copied by Sir Wm. Ouseley in 1811, which, so far as I am aware, have not been reproduced by any other traveller.5 The original writing does not seem to have afforded a very favourable text, and the coarse and straggling lithographed copy inserted in "Ouseley's Travels," is anything but encouraging

1 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, 154; Ker Porter, ii., pl. 54, etc.; Flandin, iii., pls. 121 bis, 122, 123, etc; G. Rawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, ii. 123; iii. 338. 2 The treaty of peace with Rome was ratified in 384 A.D.

3 Pliny, xxxvii. 4; Plutarch in C. Marius, x; Valerius Maximus, viii. c. xiv. § 4.

4 In the inner chamber of the Hall of Columns at Persepolis, among the various inscriptions in other characters, "we also find two Pahlavi inscriptions, which, though slightly cut, are sufficiently conspicuous; yet no former traveller has, perhaps, taken the trouble of copying them. In plate xlii. both are given; one containing twelve lines, the other eleven. While copying these inscriptions from the marble, I reduced each letter to about half of the original size. They record the names and titles of Sháhpúhr, Auhormizdi, and Varahrán. Among all the ruins at Takht-i-Jemshid, I did not perceive any other specimen of Pahlavi writing."-Vol. ii. p. 238.

5 Flandin adverts to them in general terms, but gives no copies.-Folio, texte, p. 1060.

to the home decipherer. I have given a few broken specimens of the more legible portions, from which it would seem that the one inscription refers to Sapor II. and the other to Sapor III. The style of the associated inscriptions varies considerably, both in words and letters. No. xi. uses the in Sapor's name instead of the 2 r, and introduces a j, "of," between the King's name and his titles. The word occurs once if not twice in those portions of the text in which I have not as yet succeeded in tracing a running context sufficient to justify even a suggestive restoration.

هوي

It will be noticed that the genealogy of Sapor III., as given in No. xii., differs from that recorded at Ták-i-Bustán: here he is represented as the great-grandson of Varahrán, while in the Northern inscriptions (Nos. viii. x.), where his own descent is carried up two generations, and extended in his father's official pedigree to a common ancestor, the great grandfather would appear to have been Narses. But even supposing Sir W. Ouseley has not been hasty in his decipherment of the name of Varahrán, which, however, comes out clearly enough in his facsimile, it would always be preferable to accept the more proximate and immediate declaration of lineage from Narses, and to infer that the Southern annalists of later days were careless about remote descents.

INSCRIPTION No. XI.

SAPOR II. SON OF HORMAZDAS II. (Sir W. Ouseley vol. ii. pl. xlii. B.)

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شهپوهلي زي ملكان ملكا ایران و انیران [منوچتر]

شهپوهلي زي ملکان مملکا ایران و انیران [ منوچتر من]

[ یزدان] شهپوهلي زي ملكان ملكا

شهپولي زي ملكان ملكا

شهيا

10 [ شهپ]وهلي زي ملكان ملكا

INSCRIPTION No. XII. SAPOR III. SON OF SAPOR II. (Sir W. Ouseley, vol ii. pl. xlii. A.)

1

مزدیسن بگي شهپوهر ملکان ملکا ایران

2 و انیران منوچتري من يزدان بري مزدیسن شهيا شهپوهري ملكان

3

4

ملکا ایران

وانيران منوچتري من يزدان بري مزدیسن بگي اوهرمزدي ملكان

ملکا ایران و انیران

منوچتري من يزدان بري شهيا ورهران ملكان ملكا

. شهپوهري ملکان ملکا ایران و انیران 10 ملكان ملكا .

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INSCRIPTION NO. XIII.

In order that I may not be supposed to have neglected any of the materials within reach, for the illustration of my subject, I devote a momentary notice to the seven lines of comparatively modern Pehlvi that have been engraved upon the bas-relief (B) at Firozábád. The subject of this sculpture is one of the many repetitions of the investiture of Ardeshír Babegán by Ormazd, and in itself presents little worthy of comment beyond the greater simplicity of the garments of the persons represented, and the peculiarity that Ormand's baton is exchanged for a pointed saw-edged sword. Of the purport of the inscription, it may be as well to attempt to say nothing, as Flandin's copy is more than usually illegible, a difficulty, perhaps, inherent in the more complicated writing. The letters, where decipherable, present undoubtedly modern forms of the normal types. The epigraph has been cut in the vacant space between the Divinity and the King, and reads upwards, perpendicularly, instead of horizontally, as in the established usage. We may conclude that the inscription has been added at a period considerably later than the first execution of the sculpture, to record for posterity the interpretation put upon the tableau, while Pehlvi still continued the current language of the country.

1 Flandin, plate 44.

The marginal engraving of a Carnelian Seal lately acquired by the British Museum (No. 123) is inserted for the purpose of illustrating the use of the

word (p. 40; Hyde, p. 358, "Bilagh, quorum hoc ultimatum magis peculiariter Flammam notare videtur"). The woodcut has been executed in Germany, but it must be confessed that much of the strange presentation of the device is due to the conventional treatment of the original gem, rather than to the shortcomings of the modern artist.

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The stone, moreover, has suffered from a fracture, which runs entirely across its surface, and is especially damaging to the forehead of the profile. The legend is as follows:

سروس رساد کو سدا سرسر کو نمد

وهود زن شهپوهري زي ايرانان بلک پتي

66

"Attestation of Shahpur, Fire-priest of the Iranians."

The only word in this epigraph which presents any difficulty is the,, which I suppose to be a Pehlvi modification from the Hebrew root, "to return," "to say again and again," hence to testify." But looking to the unusual size of this and of the second seal here noticed, which may be supposed to indicate the exalted position of their owners, it might be possible to interpret the original Pehlvi word by some indication of acceptance, recognition, or confirmation of a compact,

1 The font of Pehlvi here employed has lately been commissioned from Vienna, with a view to render Mr. Austin's Printing Establishment independent of the single case of Pehlvi type in this country, heretofore made use of in this essay, in regard to the loan of which some difficulty has been created. It will be seen how very inadequately the former fulfils the duty of representing the ancient character, which is far more legible and exact in its powers of definition than the modern production which sufficed for the obscured knowledge of the Parsees of Bombay. Immediate steps will be taken for engraving discriminating letters for 2, >, and, and likewise for marking the difference between and 8, which at present are both dependent upon the simple .

or other graduated expression of sanction on the part of an

وهود

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tos,

Oriental superior, and thus to refer the , to a,, "promissum" (from), the Indian “promise, agreement." Though the curtailed = TY a witness," on the Paris gem, No. 1339, seems directly to support the former interpretation. On other occasions we meet with, from, "to give" (Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, 1840, pl. i.). truth," occurs frequently; andy wo is seen on an unpublished gem of General Cunningham's, as well as the more definite term of ,,,,, मुद्रा, “ a seal,' which appears on a signet with the device of a lion couchant and palm tree. On a second gem, with similar emblems, the

,,

opening word seems to be

66

من

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S; (PT), “ truth,

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veracity." Other doubtful readings may be cited in

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, from, "to do" (J.R.A.S. xiii., gem No. 12). 2951-6= (~ manus), (Bibl. Imp., Paris, No. 1336). Igyuf=\aiz? (*\, 775. “redemption, ransom”), etc.1

Before taking leave of the question of seals and their legends, I wish to supply an omission, and to explain why I did not cite the inscription on the Himyaritic Cylinder Seal, described by Sir H. Rawlinson (at p. 234, J.R.A.S. i. N.S.), in confirmation of the parallel antiquity of the Ethiopian writing noticed at pp. 7, 8, of this Essay. My reason may be given in but few words. I am not satisfied that the Himyaritic legend was engraved simultaneously with the rest of the device; indeed the more closely the design is examined the more it becomes evident that the device and the legend are the work of different artists, and unless it may be assumed that they were engraved contemporaneously, it would scarcely be safe to rely upon the device as determining even proximately the date of the writing.

1 See also J.R.A.S. vii. pl. 6, and Sir H. Rawlinson's valuable paper on Bilingual Cuneiform and Phoenician readings, J.R.A.S. vol. i. N.S. p. 212. And likewise, on the general subject of Sassanian Seals, Dr. A. Mordtmann's "Studien über Geschnittene Steine mit Pehlewi-Inschriften," Zeitschrift, 1864.

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