An inscription from Saqqez written in the Hieroglyphic Hittite script may be in Scythian (text and translation in Harmatta 1990).

 

Olvasata: pa-tì-na-sa-nà tà-pá wa-s₆-na-m₅ XL was-was-ki XXX ár-s-tí-m₅ œ₃-kar-kar (HA) har-s₆-ta₅ LUGAL | par-tì-ta₅-wa₅ ki-œ₃-a₄-á KUR-u-pa-ti QU-wa-a₅ | i₅-pa-œ₂-a-m₂

 

Lefordítva: "Delivered dish. Value: 40 calves 30 silver šiqlu. And it was presented to the king. | King Partitavas, the masters of the land property"

 

King Partitava equates to the Scythian king called Prototyēs in Herodotus (1, 103) and known as Par-ta-tu-a in the Assyrian sources.

 

 

Harmatta János

Herodotus, historian of the Cimmerians and the Scythians

In: Hérodote et les peuples non grecs, Vandœuvres–Genève, 1990, 115–30.

(Entretiens sur l'antiquité classique 35.)