The Use of Siyagh Writing System in Recording Persian Documents

Siyagh is the name of an arcane writing system which was used in the past in Iran and certain other countries to record accounting calculations and court documents. This kind of writing system, devised by Iranian scribes, is not only important linguistically, but also aesthetically. Siyagh is in fact an integration of a writing system and a basic accounting system. Nonetheless, the aesthetic aspect of this writing system has given a Persian visual identity to it. The extent to which Siayagh is visually and aesthetically related to or distinct from other Persian writhing systems is the subject which was addressed in the present study. Methodologically, this is a qualitative research. The data were gathered from library sources and qualified databases and then were analyzed descriptively. The results indicated that in devising Siyagh writing system, in addition to pictorial aspects, aesthetic considerations of Persian calligraphy were taken into account.