13. Psalter

The Psalter script, or Psalter Pahlavi, is named after a manuscript known as the "Pahlavi Psalter", which dates from the 6th or 7th century AD and was found at Bulayiq near Turpan in the northwest of China. The manuscript contains a translation of a Syriac book of psalms and is the earliest known piece of writing in Pahlavi.

Notable features

• Type of writing system: abjad / consonant alphabet - only some vowels are indicated and the letters used to represent them have multiple pronunciations.
• Direction of writing: right to left in horizontal lines
• Word division is indicated by a dot.

Used to write

Pahlavi, the written form of a number of different Middle Iranian languages.

Links

Information about the Psalter script and Pahlavi
http://www.iranica.com/articles/pahlavi-psalter
http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Languages/pahlavi/pahlavi_psalter.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pahlavi_scripts