Inscriptional Parthian


Inscriptional Parthian is a script used to write Parthian language on coins of Parthia from the time of Arsaces I of Parthia. It was also used for inscriptions of Parthian and later Sassanian periods.
Inscriptional Parthian script is written from right to left and the letters are not joined.

Letters

Inscriptional Parthian uses 22 letters:
NameImageTextIPA
Aleph/a/, /aː/
Beth/b/, /v/
Gimel/g/, /j/
Daleth/d/, /j/
He/h/
Waw/v/, /r/
Zayin/z/
Heth/h/, /x/
Teth/t/
Yodh/j/, /ĕː/, /ĭː/
Kaph/k/
Lamedh/l/
Mem/m/
Nun/n/
Samekh/s/
Ayin/ʔ/
Pe/p/, /b/
Sadhe/s/
Qoph/q/
Resh/r/
Shin/ʃ/, /ʒ/
Taw/t/, /d/

Ligatures

Inscriptional Parthian uses seven standard ligatures:
The letters sadhe and nun have swash tails which typically trail under the following letter. For example:

Numbers

Inscriptional Parthian had its own numerals:
Numbers are written right-to-left. Numbers without corresponding numerals are additive. For example, 158 is written as ‎.

Unicode

Inscriptional Parthian script was added to the Unicode Standard in October, 2009 with the release of version 5.2.
The Unicode block for Inscriptional Parthian is U+10B40–U+10B5F: