Carian Letter P

It is a Carian letter conventionally transcribed as Latin p. A letter helps spell a Carian word; alone, 𐊷 does not name a feeling, object, or ritual. An Isis figurine from the seventh century BCE bears Psammeticus I's name in Carian writing. This shows the script was in use by then, but not when 𐊷 took this form.

Surviving Carian texts include personal names, funerary inscriptions, ownership marks, graffiti, and official decrees written in two languages. Many Egyptian inscriptions were left by Carian mercenaries and settlers; longer local records from Caria show regional alphabets. This letter's role comes from the Carian word around it.

Carian P vs P2: which one is 𐊷?

𐊷 is P; 𐊡 is the separate P2 letter. They are different Carian signs, not alternate font drawings of one letter. Some Carian forms resemble Greek letters, but resemblance does not give them Greek sound values. Early readings tried Greek values or treated signs as syllables; inscriptions written in two languages later corrected many of those guesses.

Carian is one of several ancient script traditions used in Anatolia; Lycian and Lydian are others. Its relationship to Greek is debated. Carian texts from the region usually run left to right, while Egyptian Carian usually runs right to left; some inscriptions switch direction by line. In encoded digital text, Carian characters have left-to-right directionality, so stored order may differ from how Egyptian inscriptions were read.