Issyk writing

The inscription found on a silver cup.

The inscription found on a Sliver cup, written in Issyk.

Issyk Writing is a common name for several inscriptions found in the Pamir and Tian Shan Mountains.

The most famous instance of the script is probably the horizontal inscription on the outer side of a silver bowl, found in the Issyk Kurgan (Kazakhstan, 50 km from Alma-Ata). The inscription consists of 26 characters, often thought to resemble the Orkhon script. The bowl itself is dated to around the 5th Century BC.

An inscription found in central Afghanistan included text in Issyk, Karosthi script (in the Prakrit language) and the Greek alphabet (in the Bactrian language).

Issyk writing was also found in numerous inscriptions on fragments of pottery and stone from southern Uzbekistan, southern Tajikistan and northern Afghanistan, which date from BC 600 to BC 100.