ostraca from Shahr-e Qumis in Eastern Iran. The poem Draxt i Asurig Inscription on the coins of Arsacid Kings in the first century AD. The bilingual inscription of Seleucia on the Tigris (150–151 AD). The inscription of Ardavan V found in Susa (215). Some third century documents discovered in Dura-Europos, On the Euphrates. The inscription at Kal-e Jangal, near Birjand in South Khorasan (first half of third century or later). The inscriptions of early Sassanian Kings and priests in Parthian including Ka'ba-ye Zartosht near Shiraz and Paikuli in Iraqi Kurdistan. The vast corpus of Manichaean Parthian which do not contain any ideograms. In North Pakistan, Indo-Parthian culture in Taxila with Gondophares 20 BC–10 BC and Abdagases, Bajaur, Bajaur, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and down in to Sistan, Balochistan. Samples This sample of Parthian literature is taken from a Manichaean text fragment: Differences from Middle Persian Although Parthian was quite similar to Middle Persian in many aspects, we can still observe clear differences in lexical, morphological and phonological forms. In the text above, the following forms can be noticed: ⟨āγad⟩, came, instead of Middle Persian ⟨āyad⟩. ⟨wāxt⟩, said, instead of ⟨gōft⟩. This form for the verb to say can still be found in many contemporary Northwestern Iranian languages, e.g. Mazandarani ⟨vātεn⟩, Zazaki ⟨vatış; vaten⟩ or Sorani (wotin). It is also common in Tati and Talysh, though not in Gilaki and Kurmanji. ⟨až⟩, from, instead of ⟨az⟩. Observe also in ⟨kanīžag⟩, handmaiden, instead of ⟨kanīzag⟩ and even in ⟨društ⟩, healthy, instead of ⟨drust⟩. The rendering of the Persian sound as , or is also very common in Northwestern Iranian languages of today. ⟨ay⟩, you are (Singular), instead of ⟨hē⟩. ⟨zamīg⟩, land, instead of ⟨zamīn⟩. The form ⟨zamīg⟩ can be found in Balochi. The form ⟨zamin⟩ can be found in Persian. ⟨hō⟩, that or the, instead of ⟨(h)ān⟩. The abstractive nominal suffix ⟨-īft⟩ instead of ⟨-īh⟩, as in ⟨šādīft⟩, joy, Middle Persian ⟨šādīh⟩. Other prominent differences, not found in the text above, include the personal pronoun ⟨az⟩, I, instead of ⟨an⟩ and the present tense root of the verb ⟨kardan⟩, to do, ⟨kar-⟩ instead of Middle Persian ⟨kun-⟩. Also, the Middle Persian linking particle and relative pronoun ⟨ī(g)⟩ was not present in Parthian, but the relative pronoun ⟨čē⟩, what, was used in a similar manner. See also Avestan language Old Persian language Middle Persian Persian language and history of Persian language Pahlavi literature References Notes Sources