Art. IX.—Sassanian Inscriptions explained by the Pahlavi of the Pârsîs

Mr. Thomas has lately done good service to Pahlavî archæology, by collecting all the best copies of the Sassanian inscriptions, that are known to exist, from the various books of travels and unpublished papers in which they have hitherto remained comparatively hidden and neglected. If his tentative translation of the Hâjîâbâd inscription is likely to be less useful, it is probably owing to his treating the language as an unknown one, and only to be interpreted by a free use of all available lexicons, aided by a variety of hazardous guesses. But there is good reason for believing that the language of these inscriptions is not unknown, as the composition, or rearrangement, of most of the Pahlavî literature of the Parsîs, is traditionally ascribed to the time of the Sassanian rule; if, therefore, this tradition be correct, there ought to be a close resemblance between the language of the inscriptions and that of the Pahlavî books, after allowing for probable alterations made in the books, by successive copyists.