________________
464
THE ALPHABET
The chief inscription, on a pillar discovered at Xanthos, is still undeciphered. The other inscriptions, including a few short Græco-Lycian bilingual documents are of a funerary nature. The Lycian alphabet (Fig. 204)
18XENONYMININPENPT VODANETO +PEIA+ TEA TEME+ ↓个IPEM个十 PEINTI EIT+E
19A IM VRE DE эхо дарм пора жумаар
otdo
↑NAVAM CVAM VUNUPAA
Fig. 205
1, Lycian inscription. 2-4, Carian inscriptions
is certainly of Greek origin; but some other influences may be admitted (Fig. 207).
Phrygian Alphabet
The Phrygians, who in the eighth century B.C. had the strongest kingdom of Asia Minor, situated to the west of the river Halys, were according to Herodotus and Strabo of Thracian origin. What we know about the Phrygian languageand it is very little supports this Greek tradition.
AVAIALA 6+0000 CONIMAVO 170AA МАСХА 1. чтоп ддолу до валунду з
HYCM oro,"
Fig. 206-Carian inscriptions
Not many Phrygian inscriptions, and those very short, have been discovered. Some of them belonging to the seventh-sixth centuries B.C. are written in an earlier dialect and in an indigenous alphabet of Greek origin (Fig. 204). The neo-Phrygian inscriptions of the Roman period are written in Greek script.
