Inscriptional Pahlavi

Inscriptional Pahlavi is the earliest attested form of Pahlavi scripts, and is evident in clay fragments that have been dated to the reign of Mithridates I (r. 171–138 BC). Other early evidence includes the Pahlavi inscriptions of Parthian coins and the rock inscriptions of Sasanian emperors and other notables, such as Kartir the High Priest.

Inscriptional Pahlavi
Inscribed stone block from the Paikuli inscription
Script type	Abjad
Period	2nd century BC — 6th century AD
Direction	Right-to-left script
Languages	Middle Iranian languages
Related scripts
Parent systems	Aramaic alphabet Pahlavi scripts Inscriptional Pahlavi
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Phli (131), ​Inscriptional Pahlavi
Unicode
Unicode alias	Inscriptional Pahlavi
Unicode range	U+10B60–U+10B7F

Letters

Inscriptional Pahlavi used 19 non-joining letters:

Name^[A]	Image	Text	Principal phones (IPA; Middle Persian)	Transliteration^: 129(۱۲۹)-130(۱۳۰)^: xi, xii, xiii
				Iranian	Semitic (Aramaic)
Aleph		𐭠‎	[a], [aː]	ʼ or ʾ	A
Beth		𐭡‎	[b], [w]	b	B
Gimel		𐭢‎	[ɡ], [j]	g	G
Daleth		𐭣‎	[d], [j]	d	D
He		𐭤‎	—		-H, E
Waw-		𐭥‎	[w], [o(ː)], [u(ː)]	w	W
-Ayin-			[∅]		O
-Resh			[r]	r	R
Zayin		𐭦‎	[z]	z	Z
Heth		𐭧‎	[h], [x]	h	Ḥ
Teth		𐭨‎	—		Ṭ
Yodh		𐭩‎	[j], [e(ː)], [i(ː)], [d̠͡ʒ]	y, j-	Y
Kaph		𐭪‎	[k], [ɡ]	k	K
Lamedh		𐭫‎	[l], [r]	l	L
Mem-		𐭬‎	[m]	m	M
-Qoph			—		Q
Nun		𐭭‎	[n]	n	N
Samekh		𐭮‎	[s], [h]	s	S
Pe		𐭯‎	[p], [b], [f]	p	P
Sadhe		𐭰‎	[t̠͡ʃ], [d̠͡ʒ], [z]	ṣ	Ṣ
Shin		𐭱‎	[ʃ]	š	Š
Taw		𐭲‎	[t], [d]	t	T

1. Letter names are based on the corresponding Imperial Aramaic characters

Numbers

Inscriptional Pahlavi had its own numerals:

Value		1	2	3	4	10	20	100	1000
Sign	Image
	Text	𐭸‎	𐭹‎	𐭺‎	𐭻‎	𐭼‎	𐭽‎	𐭾‎	𐭿‎

Numbers are written right-to-left. Numbers without corresponding numerals are additive. For example, 24 is written as 𐭽𐭻‎‎ (20 + 4).

Unicode

Inscriptional Pahlavi script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.

The Unicode block for Inscriptional Pahlavi is U+10B60–U+10B7F:

Inscriptional Pahlavi^[1]^[2] Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

A

B

C

D

E

F

U+10B6x

𐭠

𐭡

𐭢

𐭣

𐭤

𐭥

𐭦

𐭧

𐭨

𐭩

𐭪

𐭫

𐭬

𐭭

𐭮

𐭯

U+10B7x

𐭰

𐭱

𐭲

𐭸

𐭹

𐭺

𐭻

𐭼

𐭽

𐭾

𐭿

Notes 1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0 2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

Gallery

• Sasanian coin of Ardashir I (r. 224–42)
• Kartir's inscription at Naqsh-e Rajab
• One side of the Nasrabad fire altar [fa] dedicated to Shapur I for his 243/4 victory over the Romans
• Inscription of Shapur II at Taq-e Bostan, including some ligatures
• Drachm of Yazdegerd II (struck ca. 439-447)
• A bulla (seal) of Wahrām, an Ērān-spāhbed. It mentions either Husraw I (r. 531–579) or II (591–626)
• 6th/7th century relief with the monogram 𐭠𐭯𐭥‎ ʼpr, which stands for abzūn farr, meaning "May his farr increase!"