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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 1642935, member: 42773&quot;]After some preliminary research into the Nabatean version of the Aramaic alphabet, I’ve deciphered how to read the names on this coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>The king’s name is at the top of the reverse, spelled by the letters Mim, Lāmadh, Hē, and Waw, read from the right to the left. As in several Semitic language forms of spelling, many vowels are omitted, leaving a shorthand version of the words, and making it impossible to accurately transliterate the words. One current accepted transliteration of this king’s name is Malhu, but it would perhaps be more accurate to use MLHU.</p><p><br /></p><p>One difficulty I had in deciphering the name arose from the fact that there are two distinct varieties of the spelling: one with the letter Mim open at the bottom, another with the letter closed. The open Mim can look deceptively like variations of the letters Hē, Hēth, and Tau.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have to conclude that the open Mim is in fact a variation of the letter Mim (and not another letter) because in all the coins I examined, the remaining three letters of the king’s name occur without variation. Furthermore, the queen’s name occurs without variation in the letters as well, and the only occurrence of this queen’s name is on the MLHU II series.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is a closed Mim variety…</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s18.postimage.org/6wwufzd89/malichustext2a.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></p> <p style="text-align: center"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>My coin features the open Mim…</p><p><br /></p><p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://postimage.org/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://postimage.org/" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://s11.postimage.org/fur17rer7/malichustext.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></p> <p style="text-align: center"><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>The queen’s name is split between the fields between and under the crossed cornucopiae. It is also read from right to left, and from the top to the bottom. It is written with the letters Shin, Qoph, Yudh, Lāmadh, and Tau. One possible transliteration of the queen’s name might be Shekilat, but it would again be more accurate to simply use ŠKYLT.</p><p><br /></p><p>I find it curious that the queen’s name is split, but what little I’ve studied of Nabatean suggests that the suffix LT may indicate a title of royalty, so perhaps the legend reads ŠKY, LT, or “Sheki, the queen.” This however, is pure conjecture on my part and may not stand up to further investigation.</p><p><br /></p><p>If I’ve made any errors in my assessment, please speak up!</p><p><br /></p><p>Edit: apparently I&#039;m mistaken about the non-existence of ŠKYLT on other Nabatean coins - the wife of Aretas IV was also ŠKYLT, and the name is split on those coins as well.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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