Anybody able to read Persian alphabet?

erlikhan · 8th January 2005, 12:44 PM

hi. is there anybody able to read Persian alphabet? if so, i will post pictures of a really great shield and helmet. It belongs to Turkish dynasties of Iran.Safevi or Kajar. I want to determine which as is important to determine its age and value. There are many inscriptions.Alphabet is Persian for sure, language can be both Turkish or Persian like similar type shields i have seen before. First i need to convert the writing into Latin alphabet. Anybody could help me please?
regards

nechesh · 8th January 2005, 04:39 PM

Don't know if you feel up to tackling it yourself, but this site might help you

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/9594/farsi.html

Rivkin · 8th January 2005, 05:04 PM

congratulations on your new armor. I'm not really the person to offer an advise, but:

1. Afaik a lot of turkish weaponry is signed in arabic rather than turkish.
2. The easiest thing is to look for the date first. It's should be in hijra, and should be written with arabic numerals - unlike the rest of a text they are usually characters well separated from each other. Good example is here
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/arabic.htm

just look for an aleph | which corresponds to 1000 (if it's past 1000 year of hijra).

Second thing to look for is amal (work by) - it's the same in persian and arabic.
Here is an example:
http://www.oriental-arms.com/photos.php?id=1170

The lower part of the signature is "amal".

Sorry if you alredy knew this.

Kamil · 8th January 2005, 08:46 PM

Erlikhan, post the pictures, I will do my best to help you. I do not understand well Persian language, but I can at least read it and try to identify the language

erlikhan · 8th January 2005, 11:42 PM

Thank you Rivkin and Kamil. The armor is unfortunately not mine. at least not yet. a lot money for me (though it could perhaps deserve more than it). a dealer friend of me owns it. It doesnt have a date as far as I see. Arabic sometimes used in especially prayer parts from Kuran, but i hope to see something more special like name of rulers of the period or some poetry. that would give clue about the age. However my friend didnt want me to expose it on net but i can post at least the inscription parts. i will do it when i prepare the pictures.
regards

Rivkin · 9th January 2005, 06:18 AM

Hm. I wonder if this mysterious shield will also happen to be georgian...

8th January 2005, 12:44 PM	#1
erlikhan Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Istanbul Posts: 452	Anybody able to read Persian alphabet? hi. is there anybody able to read Persian alphabet? if so, i will post pictures of a really great shield and helmet. It belongs to Turkish dynasties of Iran.Safevi or Kajar. I want to determine which as is important to determine its age and value. There are many inscriptions.Alphabet is Persian for sure, language can be both Turkish or Persian like similar type shields i have seen before. First i need to convert the writing into Latin alphabet. Anybody could help me please? regards

8th January 2005, 04:39 PM	#2
nechesh Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Cincinnati, OH Posts: 940	Don't know if you feel up to tackling it yourself, but this site might help you http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/9594/farsi.html

8th January 2005, 05:04 PM	#3
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	congratulations on your new armor. I'm not really the person to offer an advise, but: 1. Afaik a lot of turkish weaponry is signed in arabic rather than turkish. 2. The easiest thing is to look for the date first. It's should be in hijra, and should be written with arabic numerals - unlike the rest of a text they are usually characters well separated from each other. Good example is here http://www.omniglot.com/writing/arabic.htm just look for an aleph \| which corresponds to 1000 (if it's past 1000 year of hijra). Second thing to look for is amal (work by) - it's the same in persian and arabic. Here is an example: http://www.oriental-arms.com/photos.php?id=1170 The lower part of the signature is "amal". Sorry if you alredy knew this.

8th January 2005, 08:46 PM	#4
Kamil Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Poland, Warsaw Posts: 33	Erlikhan, post the pictures, I will do my best to help you. I do not understand well Persian language, but I can at least read it and try to identify the language

8th January 2005, 11:42 PM	#5
erlikhan Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Istanbul Posts: 452	Thank you Rivkin and Kamil. The armor is unfortunately not mine. at least not yet. a lot money for me (though it could perhaps deserve more than it). a dealer friend of me owns it. It doesnt have a date as far as I see. Arabic sometimes used in especially prayer parts from Kuran, but i hope to see something more special like name of rulers of the period or some poetry. that would give clue about the age. However my friend didnt want me to expose it on net but i can post at least the inscription parts. i will do it when i prepare the pictures. regards

9th January 2005, 06:18 AM	#6
Rivkin Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 655	Hm. I wonder if this mysterious shield will also happen to be georgian...