Turks have changed writing systems throughout their history, such as the Arabic, the Ottoman, Latin, etc.However, it is not widely known that they also used the Bactrian alphabet, which is a Greek- based alphabet, made for Central Asia.
Following the conquest of Bactria by Alexander the Great in 323 BCE, for about two centuries Greek was the administrative language of his Hellenistic successors, that is, the Seleucid and the Greco-Bactrian kingdoms.
The Kushan Empire initially retained the Greek language for administrative purposes, and later began to use Bactrian.
The Bactrian alphabet was a lightly modified version of the Greek one, used for the Bactrian language. It seems that this writing system was in use from about 120-900 CE.
The Bactrian alphabet was very similar to Greek, containing 22 Greek-based letters and one additional letter. It was written left to right.
The Bactrian script appears also on some Hunnic coinage. A good example of this is the trilingual coinage of the Turk Shahis, a dynasty of Turkic or Hunnic people that ruled in Central Asia. Two interesting drachms were issued by the rulers Vakhu Deva and Tegin Shah. The drachm of Vakhu Deva has Bactrian around the rim on both sides, with late Brahmi in the obverse fields and Pahlavi in the reverse fields. The drachm of Tegin Shah has Brahmi around the obverse rim, with Bactrian in the obverse fields and Pahlavi in the reverse fields.
Pakistan Coins Collectors Forum
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