No idea whether this has been done before, but it might be fun to make a list of different ancient languages (and their scripts) as we have it on coins in our collection. Let’s define ‘ancients’ here as any coin before 1000 AD. Please show a picture of the coin and tell a bit of the language on it, if you know about it. There were many old languages around, some of which made it on coins. Some even with scripts which are not yet fully deciphered. Let’s start with the old Hebrew script on this Prutah of John Hyrcanus I, who was a Maccabean leader and Jewish high priest in the 2nd century BCE. He reigned Judea from 134 BCE until his death in 104 BCE. The script on this coin says: ‘Yehochanan, the high priest, and council of the Jews’. David Jacobson shows in his book Antioch and Jerusalem – The Seleucids and Maccabees in Coins shows that the script on this prutah resembles the paleo-Hebrew script of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Quite interesting to find it back on coins…
Great topic, and that's a lovely prutah! Sogdian: Sogdian coin legends are still quite mysterious. The alphabet is derived from Aramaic. The legend on this particular "bust / archer" type coin from Samarqand has been given a number of different transliterations: Zeimal: sprwrzh or nprwrnh Alram: gpkw ML' Mitchiner: TaVR'AKa I once had a go at the legend by looking at pieces on Zeno where it was clear. There are a few different versions, some with alternate letterforms, but they do seem closely related: Here's an example with just the legend on the obverse (Zeno #140949, not my coin): Based on the work of Sims-Williams (an expert on ancient Sogdian) my own best guess for a transliteration was this: yzkwkpkWhen I wrote to him, Sims-Williams said that interpreting the coin legends is very difficult because they're so short... there are a number of possibilities. He wouldn't hazard a guess. That's as far as I got. No idea what it means... and nor does anyone else, it seems! Mysteries are fun.
Welcome to CT Ancients, @Dajo OSCAN Campania CAPUA AE 14-5mm 216-211 Second Punic War - revolt from Rome Hera Oscan Grain ear Hannibal's capital of Italia SNG Fr 517 SNG ANS 219 HN Italy 500 Ex: EE Clain Stefanelli Marsic Confederation Denarius 89 BCE Italia Left - Oscan for ITALIA Bovianum- Minted Asernia-Samnia HN Italy 407 Sear 230 SCARCE RASENNA (ETRURIAN) Rasenna, Fufluna (Etruria Populonia) AR 2-1/2 As 3rd C BCE Radiate Female Hd CII (Retrograde in Rasna) Blank EC 104 HN Italy 179 RARE 2 exist Ex: EE Clain Stefanelli
Mongols-Ghazna mnt Khwarezm Genghis Khan 1206-1227 CE AE Jital Islamic R - only The Just Kahn in title Album 1969 Tye 329 SOGDIAN Sogdiana silk road 700-800 CE AE Cash Tamga Samitan R Sogdiana - Hyrcodes 3rd-4th C CE AR Scyphate Obol or Reduced Drachm 12mm 0.56g Bukhara mint Male-Deity BMC Baktria p118
Here's an Iberic coin..I'm pretty sure the first Iberian scripts are dated around the 4th century BC.. Spain, Bolskan (Osca). Circa 150-100 BC. AE Unit (10.35 gm, 24mm). Obverse: Bearded head right; dolphin behind. Reverse: "BOLSKAN" in Celt-Iberian in exergue, rider on horse right, holding spear; star behind. CNH 8; SNG BM Spain 734; SNG Copenhagen 325. VF.
CARTHAGE - Punic / Phoenician Carthage AE 31mm Trishekel 220-215 BCE 2nd Punic War Tanit Horse Palm Punic "th" SNG COP 342
Here's anotherin Brahmi script first seen being used in India around 270BC.. Nagas of Padmavati 335-340AD 1/4 Kakini with quite nice detail for this type of coin and reasonably central. 9mm dia and 0.69gr. Obverse - Humped bull standing left. Reverse- Maharaja sri ga (Ganendra) in Brahmi script.
SKYTHIAN Ancient Indian Script used in Gandahara (Karosthi) INDIA, Indo-Scythian Kings. Azes I. Ca 57-30 BC. AR Drachm, 2.3g, 15mm, 11h. Obv.: BAΣIΛEΩΣ BAΣIΛEΩN MEΓAΛOY / AZOY; Emperor on horseback right, holding whip and raising right hand, bow on his back. Karosthi letter in right field. Rev.: MAHARAJASA RAJARAJASA MAHATASA AYASA; Zeus standing left, holding long scepter and Nike, monograms in right and left fields. Reference: Senior - ,Whitehead - Ex: @John Anthony
Nice idea!I love a Babylonian Confusion of Tongues! I have only this one to add. To be honest, it's not even a proper language. But since it frequently appears on ancient coins I think it has earned its place in the thread. Sorry if I've posted the coin before, but it is my only example of the type. I mean of course the garbled legend. I propose to call it 'Blunder' for the occasion or 'Blunderic', that has a nice Celtic ring to it. 'Garbleric', sounds nice as well. I hope it's acceptable as a language in this thread, even if only as the language of the illiterate. Eastern Europe, Lower Danube, 1st cent.BC. Tetradrachm imitating Thasos. 33 mm. 16,25 gr. Obv: wreathed head of Dionysos Rev: Herakles, club, amphora. Blundered legend/contolmark.
I've been working on a project called Ancient Coin Visual Keyboard for the past couple of years. It's purpose is to type out the characters based on what you see on the coin, copy and paste online like Facebook and any website that accepts Unicode. Also to display in text programs like Notepad and more, also to print pages and attribution cards for coins. Here is what's supported so far. It's best to use on a PC or Laptop. Some fonts are supported by Windows Vista to 10, the others you have to find. The links are there to go directly to the website to download the fonts. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/ancientwhitesheet/font-support-test.html Here is the keyboard page to check out. The first page is the Greek page, the links are at the bottom for other scripts. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/ancientwhitesheet/AC-VK-Greek-Latin.html Last but not least here is a page using the Symbol font to type Greek on images. http://www.forumancientcoins.com/ancientwhitesheet/ascii-pre-unicode-font.html Here are a few images I made for posting on Facebook, showing how to read some coins. I'm going to make a second post with a few more photos. There are five here so far.
Okay... hear me out on this one: Anglo-Saxon: England Athelred II, r. 978-1016 (997-1003) Canterbury Mint, AR Long Cross Penny, 19.65 mm x 1.8 grams Obv.: +ÆÐELRED REX ANGLO[rum]. Bare-headed bust left Rev.: +LEO FRIC MΩO CENT. Voided long cross, each end terminating in three crescents Ref.: North 774, SCBC 1151 Note: Peck marked and holed, likely by the Vikings While the Latin script is predominantly used, there are both Germanic letters contained on this coin (such as Æ and Ð), there is also the manuscript abbreviation for ‘rum’ which is often used on the plural genitive. It looks like this (at the end - sorry it’s small):
Thanks! Nice project and truly a great help. I've been struggling to get Greek fonts on my laptop for awhile now, but for some reason everything I have downloaded so far turns to Roman when I type. This works like a dream. I'm looking forward to exploring the possibilities.
Times New Roman is the font that has Greek for Unicode which is standard now days and is viewable by default. The Symbol font and others default back to Latin letters when the font is switched.
Phagspa (Mongolian script) on a Yuan dynasty coin of Wu Zong (Khaishan) (1308-1311): The reverse of this Ghaznavid coin of Mahmud (998-1030) is in Sanskrit, with (for the first time) semi-positional Aryabhata numerals indicating the date, which is AH 418 = 1027-28.
Nice topic on ancient scripts, @Dajo, and good posts above of various languages! @Gil-galad, the Ancient Coin Visual Keyboard looks like a useful tool! Paleo-Hebrew was featured in the original post, and below are: two additional examples of this script on prutot of John Hyrcanus (Yehohanan), the second one bearing the title of "head of the council of the Jews" along with "High Priest;" one with the Paleo-Hebrew script on a prutah of his oldest son, Judah Aristobulus I (Yehudah); and finally, three examples of "bilingual" coins which feature Paleo-Hebrew on the obverse and Greek on the reverse - two prutot of Alexander Jannaeus (Yehonatan), and one 4-prutot of Mattathias Antigonus (Mattatayah), the last Hasmonean King. John Hyrcanus I (135-104 BC). AE Prutah. 12.6 mm, 2.11 g. Paleo-Hebrew (Yehohanan the High Priest and the Council of the Jews) within wreath. / Double cornucopia adorned with ribbons, pomegranate between horns, border of dots. Hendin 1133 var. John Hyrcanus I (135-104 BC). AE Prutah. 1.49 g. Double cornucopia adorned with ribbons, pomegranate between horns, border of dots. / Paleo-Hebrew (Yehohanan the High Priest and Head of the Council of the Jews) within wreath. Hendin 1141. Judah Aristobulus I (104 BC). AE Prutah. 14.4 mm, 2.14 g. Paleo-Hebrew (Yehudah the High Priest and the Council of the Jews) within wreath. / Double cornucopia adorned with ribbons, pomegranate between horns, border of dots. Hendin 1143. Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BC). AE Prutot. Left coin: 15.6 mm, 1.50 g; right coin 15.4 mm, 3.31 g. Paleo-Hebrew (Yehonatan the King) between the rays of star with eight rays within diadem. / Greek (of King Alexander) around inverted anchor. Hendin 1150. Mattathias Antigonos (40-37 BC). AE 4-Prutot. 6.93 g. Jerusalem. Paleo-Hebrew (Mattatayah the High Priest) around cornucopia tied with ribbons, decorated with vine-leaf and grapes. / Greek (abbreviated - of King Antigonus) in two lines within wreath, border of dots. Hendin 1163.