Go to home page Go to home page
Prior Page Page Up

Search for Inscriptions


This database contains all Greek inscriptions on Parthian coins from Sellwood type 1 (Arsaces I) through Sellwood type 49 (Pacorus I). Some inscriptions of kings chronologically following Mithradates III are in the database, but many inscriptions on later coins were poorly engraved and defy reading. Please use feedback to notify me of any errors or missing legends.

Inscription Search

Greek transliteration

To see all legends in the database, click on the search button with nothing entered in the search field.

To find the rulers that may have issued your Parthian coin, enter as much of the inscription as you can identify, using the transliteration characters given above without any spaces. The search engine is not case sensitive -- upper or lower case doesn't matter. Enter the characters from only one inscription (obverse or reverse) at a time. The more letters you can identify the easier it will be to attribute your coin. Substitute "wild card" percent signs ( % ) for groups of characters or an underscore ( _ ) for each single character you can't identify. No beginning or ending wild card is required.

For example, you see the inscription ΒΑΣΙΛ..?..ΑΚΟΥ..?..ΜΕ?ΕΔ on the coin.
Enter BASIL%AKOU%ME_ED, and click on the Search button; when Mithradates I appears in the result form, click on the hyperlink.

Special instructions:
- Enter U (not Y) for all characters that appear on the coin as V or Y
- Enter O for all characters that appear as or o or a dot on the coin
- Enter S for all characters that appear as Σ, Χ or Square C , unless context dictates another
- Enter L for all characters that appear as Λ , unless context dictates another, such as Α or Δ

Words such as mint names that appear in the field or exergue of the coin are placed at the end of the string with no spaces. Often such words are distinctive and may be all that is needed to attribute a coin.

If one or more inscriptions are found that match your input, the rulers' names will be listed on the results form with a link to the web page for that ruler.


This page last updated 23 Feb 2021

Prior Page Page Up
Home Site Index Site Map Feedback New Items Tech Info Search

Online since 28 March 1998
Copyright ©1998-2021 Edward C. D. Hopkins, all rights reserved

Click button to support Parthia.com   Click button to validate this page as HTML 4.01 compliant Click button to validate this page as CSS 3 compliant