Chinese characters have a long and fascinating history. The very earliest examples of a recognizable form are known as the oracle bone script (jiǎgǔwén). This writing system was originally pictographic, derived from proto-writing, but became logographic (a symbol for a word). Another form, the bronzeware script (jīnwén), had character forms that appeared much more like the original pictures (perhaps somewhat similar to the use of picture-like hieroglyphs in inscriptions and the more cursive hieratic script for scribal use in Egypt). Over time, the oracle bone script gave rise to a variety of seal scripts in regional variants, including some interesting forms like the Bird-Worm seal script (niǎochóngwén). Subsequent development and standardization, especially under imperial dynasties, gave rise to later forms. In other regions, Chinese characters gave rise to the scripts of Tangut, Jurchen, Khitan, hiragana, katakana, Sawndip, Bopomofo, and other adaptations of Chinese characters such as kanji.

Chinese characters include a mix of pictographic, ideographic, semantic (meaning), and phonetic elements. Subunits called radicals are used to hint at the pronunciation of a character (a character meaning ‘son’ could have a ‘sun’ radical), provide the meaning (a character meaning ‘horse’ could contain an ‘animal’ radical), or visually represent the meaning (a character for ‘tree’ looks like a tree). Other full characters are combined or modified to represent different concepts. Chinese characters were traditionally written top-to-bottom, right-to-left, but today they are more commonly written left-to-right, top-to-bottom.

Due to a continuous tradition of writing in China, different writing styles are typically seen as one and the same script, even if it is difficult to read the older writing. Today, ancient styles are still used in calligraphy. I will now provide details about different styles of Chinese writing from a long and rich numismatic tradition.

Bronzeware Script (Jīnwén) – One of the earliest forms of Chinese characters, showing up in many forms on bronzeware during the Shang and Zhou. Appears on the Chinese Calligraphy coin series from China and maybe some Chinese commemoratives of the “Bronze Ware” series.

Large Seal Script (Dàzhuàn) – Partially standardized during the Zhou Dynasty, this script still gave rise to many local variants. Different varieties appear on the early money of China, including spade money, knife money, and some round coins issued before the Qin Dynasty (before ca. 200 BC). A knife known as a “Ming knife” is sometimes available under $30.

Small Seal Script (Xiǎozhuàn) – A simpler version of the old seal script standardized ca. 200 BC by Qin Shi Huang of the short-lived but massively important Qin Dynasty. This form is curvy and fills more space than modern characters. This script appears on coins from the Qin onward; it was common as an archaizing element (like the use of Latin inscriptions on modern English coins) on many cash coins through the Song Dynasty, and it is used for seals in China today.

Clerical Script (Lìshū) – Invented during the Qin, this script came into common use during the Han Dynasty but was not widely used on coins until it appeared on some Tang and early Song Dynasty cash. Clerical script appears much more familiar to the modern eye.

Semi-Cursive / Running Script (Xíngshū) – This cursive derivation of clerical script was used on coins, almost exclusively during the Song Dynasty.

Cursive / Grass Script (Cǎoshū) – This fully cursive script appears on only the Northern Song issues of Taizong. The name “grass” results form a mistranslation of Chinese cǎo, meaning ‘rough/draft’ in this context. Cursive Chinese developed into hiragana in Japan.

Slender Gold Script (Shòujīntǐ) – This elegant calligraphy style was invented by Huizong of Song, and it appears on some of his cash coins.

Regular Script (Kǎishū) – Invented during the Han, this modern version of Chinese characters developed from the clerical script and was used after the Tang and into the modern era for coins.

Simplified Chinese (Jiǎntǐzì) – Used today in Mainland China and Singapore, this script is a recent simplification of traditional characters.

A very cool (and cheap) collection of Chinese character styles can be assembled for the above scripts just from cash coins, a modern coin, and one knife. Some collectors may also be interested in China’s set of gold and silver calligraphy commemoratives or the 5 yuan “Harmony” calligraphy coins. Coins can also be collected for Japan, Vietnam (older issues), Korea (older issues), Indonesia/Malaysia (older issues), Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, and probably more.

This post makes heavy use of Wikipedia and this ONS pamphlet.

Phags-pa and the Mongol Empire #

Phags-Pa is a fascinating writing system for many reasons. The script was commissioned by Kublai Khan, emperor of Yuan Dynasty China, to write all the languages under the Yuan’s rule. It was designed by Drogön Chögyal Phagpa, a Tibetan monk, and based primarily on the Tibetan script. It was never extremely popular, but it makes its mark on documents of the time. It may have gone on to influence Korean Hangul.

Although based on Tibetan, an abugida (where consonants receive full letters and vowels are added by modifications/diacritics) written left to right, Phags-Pa is for the most part a full alphabet written top to bottom (influenced by Chinese). Phags-pa extends the old Tibetan alphabet for sounds not found in Tibetan. In a way, it was an experiment similar to the International Phonetic Alphabet in modern times. Multiple graphic forms exist, including the standard forms, the Tibetan forms (especially square), and the seal script (ornate and space-filling).

The Mongol Empire founded by Genghis Khan covered most of Eurasia, but it eventually broke into four successor states. The Yuan Dynasty ruled China, the Chagatai Khanate ruled Central Asia, the Ilkhanate ruled Persia, and the Golden Horde ruled the steppe of what would later become Russia. Each of these states experimented with the use of Phags-Pa on coins. Let’s take a look at the Phags-pa coinage of the Mongol states.

Yuan China – Since Phags-pa was commissioned for use in the Yuan, it makes sense that it saw the most use on the coinage of this state. Multiple coins from multiple emperors display Phags-pa script either as the main legend (on the four sides of the square hole in the place of Chinese characters) or as a single word on the reverse, representing a date or a value. One of the most readily available and my favorite is the Da Yuan Tong Bao 10 cash coin, a giant coin which names its issuing dynasty. This coin was issued by Külüg Khan / Wuzong, the 3rd-great grandson of Genghis Khan through Kublai.

Chagatai Khanate: Phags-pa appears on a silver dinar of Buyan Quli. He was the 5th-great grandson of Genghis Khan through Chagatai.

Ilkhanate: Phags-pa appears on some coins of Ghazan, the 3rd-great grandson of Genghis Khan through Hülegü. These coins are fascinating for their use of three scripts: Arabic, Old Uyghur or Mongolian, and Phags-pa. The silver dirham is the most affordable coin that uses Phags-pa as a functional script.

Golden Horde: Phags-pa appears on a dang of Toqta/Toqtu, the 3rd-great grandson of Genghis Khan through Jochi.

Phags-pa also retained occasional use in Tibet, the homeland of its creator. It appears on a very rare “Suchakra Tangka.” Mongolia also issued a silver 500 Tögrög coin commemorating Marco Polo which bears Phags-pa.

Brahmi #

The Brahmi script is among the most important ancient writing systems. The most likely origin is in the Aramaic script, despite a difference in letter forms and the basic functionality of the script. Brahmi was most likely inspired and partially derived from Aramaic, although not all scholars agree (tensions can be high when discussing the history of India). The style of the Brahmi script changed a lot over the course of its development, and today Brahmi is roughly divided into Early, Middle, and Late varieties. Late Brahmi is also called the Gupta script. The descendants of the Brahmi script often grew organically in a way similar to the way languages change over time, although some of these descendants (such as Phags-Pa) were intentionally designed. These descendants, known as the Brahmic scripts, historically were found in India, Tibet and Central Asia (Tibetan and Tocharian), Southeast Asia, the Philippines, and even China (Phags-pa). The scripts born of Brahmi are too numerous to name. Today, they are mostly restricted in common use to South Asian countries, Indochina, and Tibet.

Brahmi is an abugida, like its older sibling Kharosthi. In abugidas, consonants, written as full letters, have an inherent vowel such as -a. Diacritics or other alterations are added to the base consonant to change the vowel, strip it away, or otherwise modify the syllable. If English were an abugida, a word like “Baton” might be written as “B°TN-“, where B stands for Ba, °T represents To, and N- removes the inherent vowel from N. Brahmi is written left to right.

Early Brahmi is highly geometric and simple. This form appears on some earlier coins of the Indo-Greek Bactrian Kingdom (most later coins only feature Greek and Kharosthi). King Agathocles issued bilingual coins bearing Greek and Early Brahmi. His other coins sometimes contain symbols of Greek polytheism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, and the Kharosthi script.

Middle Brahmi is more curvy and fluid. This form appears on the readily available and absolutely beautiful coins of the Western Kshatrapas, which are attainable at under $20. It is also available on the coins of the Panchala Kingdom and other issuers.

Late Brahmi, or Gupta, is further evolved. Naturally, it can be found on the coins of the Gupta Empire. Interestingly, it is also adopted on the coins of some Hunnic groups (alongside Pahlavi and Bactrian). These coins are issued by Huns, based on Sasanian coinage types, and written in Brahmi script, making them a fascinating example of cultural, political, and monetary overlap (similar to the Demotic coin of Artaxerxes III that I have previously written about).

The Anatolian Alphabets #

The Anatolian scripts are an extinct group of writing systems from Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). This classification is more of a geographical grouping than one of descent, since these scripts descended from either Phoenician or various Greek scripts. They are notable for their often confusing character inventories, indicating a clear Phoenician/Greek influence but often with few recognizable characters. Below are the Anatolian scripts that can be found on coins, to my knowledge.

Carian/Karian – The Carian group of scripts is believed to be descended from an uncertain variant of the Greek alphabet. Many letters look Greek, but they often have very different sound values than expected (see Cherokee, where syllabic characters derived from Latin have nothing to do with the original letter’s sound). This alphabet is written either left to right or right to left. It appears on some coins from Caria. See this article.

Lycian – The Lycian alphabet, written left to right, is a modified version of a Greek alphabet with additional letters. This awesome alphabet is somewhat recognizable to those who can read the Greek script, but there are some big differences. This alphabet appears most prominently on the coins of the Dynasts of Lycia. The coins of Perikles seem most common.

Lydian – Lydian is a Greek-derived alphabet that could be written in either direction. It uses characters from Greek as well as new characters invented locally. It appears on some early coins of Lydia, the birthplace of Western coinage. Some inscriptions found on these coins include WALWEL and FALFAK.

Sidetic – Sidetic is a very interesting right-to-left alphabet found with only a few Greek-derived characters. This mysterious script appears on some coins of Side in Pamphylia.

Pahlavi Scripts #

Pahlavi refers to a group of Aramaic-based writing systems used for Middle Iranian languages that also incorporated some written Aramaic vocabulary. Inscriptional Parthian was used to write Parthian in Parthia (try your best to keep up) and into the time of the Sassanids. Wikipedia says it is attested on coins from ~230 BC, but I am having trouble finding the source of this information. Later, Inscriptional Pahlavi came to be used by the Sassanids. Inscriptional Pahlavi developed into Book Pahlavi and mostly fell out of use by 900 AD. Another variant, Psalter Pahlavi, is less common. The Pahlavi script also developed into the Avestan script, which was used as a sacred writing system of Zoroastrianism.

These writing systems, like Aramaic, were abjads, meaning that consonants were written but vowels usually were not. They were written right to left. Inscriptional Parthian and Pahlavi had unjoined letters, but Book and Psalter Pahlavi were cursive. As the original Aramaic script became increasingly cursivized, many letters merged to become identical, resulting in a lot of ambiguity in written text, especially for Book Pahlavi.

A similar process happened with Arabic writing, where the Kufic Arabic script had to be supplemented with additional dot marks to reduce confusion. Pahlavi writing is characterized also by xenograms, where Aramaic spellings were used for Middle Iranian words. We do this with the & symbol, which is written ‘et’ but pronounced ‘and.’

According to Wikipedia, Inscriptional Parthian appears on some coins of Parthia, including those of Arsaces I. I am having trouble researching this; perhaps an expert can help me clear it up. Inscriptional Pahlavi appears on earlier Sassanid coins, and Book Pahlavi appears on later Sassanid coins, along with imitative types such as Hunnic and early Islamic issues. The coinage of Khusro II is an easy entry into Sassanid coinage.

The Paleohispanic Scripts #

The Paleohispanic scripts are a family of writing systems used in the Iberian peninsula before Latin took over. They were used for the Iberian, Celtiberian, and Tartessian languages. They are not fully understood, but it appears that the Southwest Iberian script was based on Phoenician first (possibly with Greek influence), then the Southeast Iberian script formed from the Southwest script, then the Northeastern and Celtiberian scripts developed. As far as I can tell, the Eastern Celtiberian script and some forms of the Northeastern Iberian script are essentially identical except for the language recorded.

These writing systems are rather uncommon in that they function as a semi-syllabary, where some glyphs (for sounds starting with b/p, d/t, and g/k) are full syllables whereas other glyphs are single sounds. If the Latin alphabet worked this way, the word “kookaburra” might be written as QKБRA, where Q stands for “koo”, K stands for “ka”, Б stands for “bu”, and R and A are each represented by single glyphs. Although this consonant-vowel interaction sounds odd, it shares some similarities with Etruscan, Old Persian cuneiform, and Orkhon runes. The Southwest Iberian script also included the vowel letter after syllabic glyphs, making it redundant. Some Paleohispanic scripts differentiate g/k and d/t (usually with a single stroke) and are referred to as “dual”, whereas others make no distinction. The southern scripts were usually written right to left, whereas the northern scripts were primarily left to right.

Luckily for numismatic writing enthusiasts, there is a great corpus of Paleohispanic writing on pre-Roman coins of the region. I have found examples of a few of these scripts (they are identified as best as I can determine). Moneda Ibérica seems to be a great source on the coins of this region.

The Georgian Scripts #

The Georgian alphabets likely had their beginning in the 400s AD. Their letter order is modeled on the Greek alphabet, but their origin is uncertain other than an association with the Christianization of that region. Some scholars attribute their creation to Mesrop Mashtots, the composer of the Armenian alphabet, but others disagree.

The first Georgian script, Asomtavruli, was first used in the 400s. Nuskhuri, the second script, arose from Asomtavruli in the 800s. It was often used in religious texts alongside Asomtavruli capitals. Mkhedruli, the third script, arose from Nuskhuri in the 900s. It was originally the secular and royal script in Georgia, and today it is the primary writing system used in Georgia. Asomtavruli and Nuskhuri are now used mostly for religious purposes. Mkhedruli is used by Georgian and a few other languages in the region.

The original Georgian alphabet had 38 letters, but now only 33 are used to write Georgian. Some other languages using the alphabet have additional letters. Modern Mkhedruli is mostly unicameral (all letters are “lowercase”), but capitals, known as Mtavruli, are occasionally used for emphasis or decoration.

All three scripts can be found on coins. Asomtavruli appears on many medieval Georgian coins of Queen Tamar and King Giorgi IV of Georgia. Nuskhuri does not appear to show up on any medieval coins other than this possible example. It does, however, show up alongside the other two Georgian scripts on the 5 Lari “Georgian Book” commemorative.

Mkhedruli appears on some medieval Georgian coins, usually as monograms accompanied by Asomtavruli, and on all modern Georgian coins. Many medieval Georgian coins also have Arabic script.

The Ancient/Epichoric Greek Alphabets #

The Greek alphabet as we know it today is the result of millenia of development after the adoption and spread of the Euclidean alphabet around 400 BC. See more on that here. Before a standard developed, the Greek alphabet was really a family of related varieties. The Phoenician script was adopted and adapted by the Greeks around 800 BC.

From there, the new Greek alphabet diversified into an array of local scripts, known as the epichoric scripts. These scripts are classified into a few categories based on their letters. The Green/Southern group was found mostly on Crete; these alphabets are very similar to the Phoenician script and lack additional letters.

The Red/Western group, found in much of modern Greece, had some additional letters, including an ‘X’ pronounced ‘ks.’ The Euboean alphabet from this group would be carried over by Greek colonists into Italy and ultimately develop into the Old Italic scripts and the Latin alphabet.

The Blue/Eastern group, found mainly in Attica and the east (Anatolia) and north of the Aegean Sea, includes as part of its extra letters an ‘X’ pronounced like a ‘kh.’ The ‘Light Blue’ subgroup was used in Athens before they switched to a ‘Dark Blue’ alphabet from Ionia, which soon became the standard Greek alphabet across the Greek world.

This is why X is pronounced differently in the Latin and modern Greek alphabets. In addition to differences in alphabet size, the archaic alphabets also had differences in letterforms. Some look more like their ancestor Phoenician than others. The archaic alphabets inspired or developed into the Old Italic Scripts and the Anatolian Alphabets.

The Greek alphabet was a great innovation, being the first writing system to consistently represent vowels. Previous systems were technically abjads, where vowels were not written (except for some systems where long vowels are written). Arabic is a good example of an abjad in use today; long vowels and consonants are written, but most vowels are written as optional diacritics. When Greek-speakers adopted the Phoenician abjad, they repurposed some unneeded letters to represent vowels instead.

This innovation spread, and today most people use an alphabetic system. The archaic Greek alphabets had 21-28 letters and were typically written left-to-right, although right-to-left writing was common in the earlier stages of the alphabet.

Examples of a few different alphabets are given above with some of their notable features that differ from modern Greek.

The Greek alphabet from ancient Athens to today #

The Greek alphabet as we know it today is the product of over two and a half millennia of development. The earliest forms of the alphabet were quite different from the one in use today, and they varied from locale to locale. I look forward to addressing these local, or epichoric, alphabets in a future post. In 402 or 403 BC, the residents of Athens voted to adopt a new alphabet, a standardized version of the Ionian alphabet that became known as the Euclidean alphabet (no relation to the mathematician Euclid).

This alphabet became dominant across the Greek world over the following century. In addition to the classical capitals, a cursive style developed for daily use. The “uncial” style letters began to develop in the 100s AD and were in common use until around 800 AD. Another letter form, Greek minuscule, took over from there. Today, the Greek alphabet uses a combination of classical letters (capitals) and minuscule (lowercase) in a very similar system to our Latin alphabet. At various stages of its development, the Greek alphabet (post-400 BC) developed into or inspired such scripts as Coptic, Gothic, Bactrian, Georgian, Armenian, Glagolitic, and Cyrillic.

The original Euclidean alphabet (majuscule) is more angular and full-size. Cursive and miniscule letters were smaller and more flowing. Uncial letters were roughly equal in height and width, and they look somewhat intermediate between majuscule and minuscule. Today, capitals and lowercase are used together in a mixed system, which is common in European scripts but uncommon around the world.

The Euclidean alphabet appears on coins from all over the ancient Greek world. Uncial appears on some Byzantine coins; an uncial-style “m” is often seen on coins of Tiberius II. Uncial can also be found on some modern Greek issues. Byzantine coins often mix Greek (including both majuscule and minuscule letters) and Latin letters for a quite weird effect. Greek coinage was reintroduced in 1828, and now the modern alphabet can be found on coins of Greece and Cyprus (fun fact, it can be surprisingly difficult to locate coin types with lowercase letters); I have included an example commemorating Constantine Petrou Kavafis.

Arabic Coins 1: Arabic’s Functional Development #

The Arabic script as we know it today has been around in some form for over 1400 years. In this post, I’ll focus on the additions to the script in this time that improved clarity. In the future, I’ll write on the calligraphic styles of this beautiful script.

The Arabic script developed from the Nabataean script, which was based on Aramaic. Inscriptions in a distinct Arabic script from before Muhammad are incredibly scarce; the script really gained its modern form and literary tradition while intertwined with Islam. The early form of the script was rather vague. Like in the related script Book Pahlavi, Arabic letters had merged as a result of cursive writing. The same character could be a b, t, th, n, or y in certain contexts. The bare-bones form of writing, known as rasm, was used for early Arabic writings.

Especially for copying the supremely important Quran, rasm writing was just too vague. Thus, two systems of diacritics were introduced relatively early in Islamic history to make writing more clear, ijam and tashkil.

Ijam refers to dots that differentiate consonants. The addition of dots above or below the basic characters reintroduced distinctions that had been lost in writing. These diacritics are always used in Arabic writing today (although they weren’t initially mandatory), except for some specialized calligraphic use.

Tashkil refers to diacritics that provide other information on short vowels (harakat), pronunciation, and grammar. Arabic is a right-to-left abjad, where only consonants are written. Long vowels have come to be written using consonant letters (known as matres lectionis. Short vowels are not typically written down, nor is gemination (the lengthening of sounds, like the difference between “both eyes” and “both thighs”). These features can usually be discerned from context by Arabic speakers, so tashkil are left out in most situations. Tashkil are used in transcribing the Quran, where exactness is mandatory, and for other uses such as books for children and language learners.

These innovations followed the Arabic script as it was adopted to many other languages, including Iranian languages, Malay, Turkish, and many languages of South and Central Asia.

From my look at some Arabic-script coins, it appears that most early coinage (Umayyads, Abbasids, Samanids) used rasm style writing (with no diacritics). Coins with ijam (consonant markers) seem to be quite common by the time of the Seljuks, Ayyubids, Mongol Empire and successor states, and Almohads. I was not able to find many examples of tashkil (optional diacritics) on pre-modern coinage, but I found a few examples from the Bengal Sultanate and Delhi Sultanate. Tashkil is more common, but not mandatory, on modern Arabic-script coins.

Arabic Coins 2: Arabic’s Many Styles #

The Arabic script as we know it today has been around in some form for over 1400 years. In last week’s post, I talked about the functional additions to the script that improved clarity. Today, I’ll go over some of the mainstream styles of Arabic calligraphy, especially the ones used in day-to-day life. Many styles have other, more decorative, forms; these beautiful calligraphic styles will be addressed in the future. I am not an expert in this field, so this write-up will be neither exhaustive nor guaranteed correct.

Some of the earliest styles of Arabic writing were Mashq, Hijazi, and Kufic. Out of these styles, Kufic was the one that was primarily used for the first few centuries of Islamic coinage (although some of the earliest coins used a more rounded script reminiscent of Pahlavi, according to Heidemann). Kufic is recognizable by its highly angular letterforms and the frequent stretching (via perfectly straight lines) of text. Kufic has many elaborate forms that I am excited to address in the near future.

Beginning with Samanid coinage, the Naskh script began to supplant Kufic on coins. Although this script existed alongside Kufic for centuries, it was mostly used on paper for administrative and literary purposes. This style is more cursive and round, and it is the basis of modern day-to-day Arabic writing and type, including the typography for languages that typically use other styles of Arabic script, like Farsi and Urdu.

Nastaliq (and a predecessor, Taliq) became a dominant style in Persia and areas that adopted the Arabic script from that region. The “Taliq” part of its name means “hanging”, and this script is characterized by stacked words that hang off the previous word with a diagonal slant.

Another thing worth mentioning is the Hanifi Rohingya script, which uses a functionally and stylistically modified but certainly recognizable Arabic-based script to write a language of Myanmar.

Other styles that appear on coins but which I have left out for the sake of digestibility include (but are not limited to) thuluth, diwani, and maghrebi. There is undoubtedly more to talk about, but I lack the eye and expertise to go much further.

Kufic is to be found on Umayyad, Abbasid, Samanid, and tons of other Islamic coinage. It survives in decorative use to today. Most Islamic coinage from Arabic-speaking regions, when not in Kufic, is in Naskh. Much other Islamic coinage is in this script as well. Nastaliq appears on Persian and Afghan coinage, plus most Islamic coinage of India.

Arabic Coins 3: Arabic Calligraphy #

The Arabic script as we know it today has been around in some form for over 1400 years. Its development and usage has been closely intertwined with Islam for the majority of this time. With the importance of the written text and the common (but not universal) banning of images in Islam, calligraphy became a major expression of Islamic art, and perhaps the most beautiful. Last week I talked about some common styles of calligraphy, especially those used in day-to-day life by Arabic-script writers. Today I want to show off some of my favorite striking, decorative styles.

Square Kufic is one variety of the larger script tradition known as Kufic. In traditional Kufic, letters are highly geometric, with beautiful long, straight lines. Square Kufic takes this style and pixelates it. Often, square Kufic will be fitted into a square grid, where the words are stretched and bent to perfectly balance the filled and empty space. Square Kufic is common in Islamic mosaics, where the tiles used to decorate a wall or building make an excellent medium for square Kufic.

Foliate and floral Kufic add an organic flair to Kufic. These styles add curves, leaves, and blooming flourishes to Kufic letters to create an image of a growing, living piece of text.

Only one more crazy style of Kufic to go! Knotted Kufic is fairly self-explanatory.

Another amazing style of Arabic calligraphy is Jeli Diwani. This style developed under the Ottomans and is space-filling and wonderfully intricate.

Speaking of the Ottomans, no conversation on Arabic calligraphy would be complete without a good tughra. Tughras are a form of seal or monogram, much like the tamga symbols common to the Turkic and Mongol worlds. Tughras, however, are composed of highly elaborate calligraphy.

Square Kufic appears on some coins of the Ilkhanate and Timurid Empire. Many Islamic coins, including some of the Ilkhanate, display a decorative script reminiscent of foliate Kufic. I couldn’t find any examples of knotted Kufic on medieval coinage, but it’s used on some modern coinage, including some coins of Egypt and Algeria. Sadly, I can’t find any jeli diwani on coins (it’s more suited to paper). Many Ottoman coins have beautiful tughras. I may have missed something for knotted Kufic and Jeli Diwani; let me know if you know of any issues bearing these styles!

Arabic Bank Notes 1: Arabic’s Functional Development #

The Arabic script as we know it today has been around in some form for over 1400 years. In this post, I’ll focus on the additions to the script in this time that improved clarity. In the future, I’ll write on the calligraphic styles of this beautiful script.

The Arabic script developed from the Nabataean script, which was based on Aramaic. Inscriptions in a distinct Arabic script from before Muhammad are incredibly scarce; the script really gained its modern form and literary tradition while intertwined with Islam. The early form of the script was rather vague. Like in the related script Book Pahlavi, Arabic letters had merged as a result of cursive writing. The same character could be a b, t, th, n, or y in certain contexts. The bare-bones form of writing, known as rasm, was used for early Arabic writings.

Especially for copying the supremely important Quran, rasm writing was just too vague. Thus, two systems of diacritics were introduced relatively early in Islamic history to make writing more clear, ijam and tashkil.

Ijam refers to dots that differentiate consonants. The addition of dots above or below the basic characters reintroduced distinctions that had been lost in writing. These diacritics are always used in Arabic writing today (although they weren’t initially mandatory), except for some specialized calligraphic use.

Tashkil refers to diacritics that provide other information on short vowels (harakat), pronunciation, and grammar. Arabic is a right-to-left abjad, where only consonants are written. Long vowels have come to be written using consonant letters (known as matres lectionis. Short vowels are not typically written down, nor is gemination (the lengthening of sounds, like the difference between “both eyes” and “both thighs”). These features can usually be discerned from context by Arabic speakers, so tashkil are left out in most situations. Tashkil are used in transcribing the Quran, where exactness is mandatory, and for other uses such as books for children and language learners.

These innovations followed the Arabic script as it was adopted to many other languages, including Iranian languages, Malay, Turkish, and many languages of South and Central Asia.

Iraq banknotes show off rasm-style text (no diacritics), text with ijam (consonant dots) but without tashkil (optional diacritics), and text with both ijam and tashkil. There are likely plenty of others with all three styles.

Arabic Bank Notes 2: Arabic’s Many Styles #

The Arabic script as we know it today has been around in some form for over 1400 years. In last week’s post, I talked about the functional additions to the script that improved clarity. Today, I’ll go over some of the mainstream styles of Arabic calligraphy, especially the ones used in day-to-day life. Many styles have other, more decorative, forms; these beautiful calligraphic styles will be addressed in the future. I am not an expert in this field, so this write-up will be neither exhaustive nor guaranteed correct.

Some of the earliest styles of Arabic writing were Mashq, Hijazi, and Kufic. Out of these styles, Kufic was the one that was primarily used for the first few centuries of Islamic coinage (although some of the earliest coins used a more rounded script reminiscent of Pahlavi, according to Heidemann). Kufic is recognizable by its highly angular letterforms and the frequent stretching (via perfectly straight lines) of text. Kufic has many elaborate forms that I am excited to address in the near future.

Beginning with Samanid coinage, the Naskh script began to supplant Kufic on coins. Although this script existed alongside Kufic for centuries, it was mostly used on paper for administrative and literary purposes. This style is more cursive and round, and it is the basis of modern day-to-day Arabic writing and type, including the typography for languages that typically use other styles of Arabic script, like Farsi and Urdu.

Nastaliq (and a predecessor, Taliq) became a dominant style in Persia and areas that adopted the Arabic script from that region. The “Taliq” part of its name means “hanging”, and this script is characterized by stacked words that hang off the previous word with a diagonal slant.

Another thing worth mentioning is the Hanifi Rohingya script, which uses a functionally and stylistically modified but certainly recognizable Arabic-based script to write a language of Myanmar.

Other styles that appear on banknotes but which I have left out for the sake of digestibility include (but are not limited to) thuluth, diwani, and maghrebi. There is undoubtedly more to talk about, but I lack the eye and expertise to go much further.

Kufic appears on many notes in a decorative sense. Naskh is the basic Arabic script that can be found on many notes. Nastaliq appears on many Iranian, Afghan, and Indian notes (in the language panel).

Arabic Bank Notes 3: Arabic Calligraphy #

The Arabic script as we know it today has been around in some form for over 1400 years. Its development and usage has been closely intertwined with Islam for the majority of this time. With the importance of the written text and the common (but not universal) banning of images in Islam, calligraphy became a major expression of Islamic art, and perhaps the most beautiful. Last week I talked about some common styles of calligraphy, especially those used in day-to-day life by Arabic-script writers. Today I want to show off some of my favorite striking, decorative styles.

Square Kufic is one variety of the larger script tradition known as Kufic. In traditional Kufic, letters are highly geometric, with beautiful long, straight lines. Square Kufic takes this style and pixelates it. Often, square Kufic will be fitted into a square grid, where the words are stretched and bent to perfectly balance the filled and empty space. Square Kufic is common in Islamic mosaics, where the tiles used to decorate a wall or building make an excellent medium for square Kufic.

Foliate and floral Kufic add an organic flair to Kufic. These styles add curves, leaves, and blooming flourishes to Kufic letters to create an image of a growing, living piece of text.

Only one more crazy style of Kufic to go! Knotted Kufic is fairly self-explanatory.

Another amazing style of Arabic calligraphy is Jeli Diwani. This style developed under the Ottomans and is space-filling and wonderfully intricate.

Speaking of the Ottomans, no conversation on Arabic calligraphy would be complete without a good tughra. Tughras are a form of seal or monogram, much like the tamga symbols common to the Turkic and Mongol worlds. Tughras, however, are composed of highly elaborate calligraphy.

Square Kufic appears on some Algerian notes. Foliate/floral Kufic elements appear on the Oman independence 1 rial note. Knotted Kufic appears on this same note and Iraq banknotes. Jeli Diwani appears on some Ottoman and early Iraq notes. Ottoman banknotes also bear tughras.

Old Italic Alphabets #