Sabaic script Thamudic script

Y ou may have already read the

article about the Nabataean
Script and that it is rather difficult
These were well fired in kilns to
increase sturdiness for rough
transport conditions.
and record a message, which was
an important development for
cross cultural trading.
to determine the exact roots and It was an alphabet without vowels
history of the many inscriptions The Sumerian cuneiform script
carved on rock panels all over the was also imported and used by their and had a long form with 31 letters
neighbors in Akkad and adopted and a short form with 22 and was
Arabian Peninsula. to their Semitic language. Both written from left to right on clay
So this article tries to shed a Sumeric and Akkadian language tablets. This early script already
bit of light onto this interesting was used parallel in the greater had two genders, three nouns and
subject and to give you a better Middle East area for a long time adjectives (nominative, accusative,
understanding of the texts you until they both were replaced by genitive) and three numerical
might see, when traveling through Aramaic in the 1st century BC. descriptions (singular, dual, plural).
the Saudi desert areas. Sumerian was a stand alone The syntax was based on verb-
The Beginning language with no relationship to subject-object.
any other and started to be used It was so popular that other
When and how did this all in Uruk and Eridu around 3,000BC
started? 5,000 years ago the first and died out 1,000 years later. It ancient languages where written
written language was created by survived for another 1,000 years as even in Ugarit cuneiform script. The
the ancient Sumerians in southern a religious language. cuneiform script form was also used

      

By club member Thomas

 
                       

Taymaic script

Mesopotamia. It began with a Nevertheless the Sumerian at the time in all the Mesopotamian
series of pictograms and symbols cuneiform script had a much kingdoms. But even if they look
to record trade quantities on clay longer lifespan as ancient people similar they are unrelated and
tokens attached in small cloth or needed it for cross cultural trade. developed independently. It is not
leather bags to goods. Cuneiform writing quickly spread known yet why the early Arabian
Quickly this developed into a with trade and was adopted Peninsula cultures used the Ugarit
cuneiform writing system based on for various languages such as cuneiform script, but the best
logosyllabic, syllabic and later in Akkadian in North Mesopotamia, guess is that existing long distance
Ugarit into the first alphabetic form. Elamite in Persia, Hittite or Luwian trade at the time was the reason.
in Anatolia, Hurrian the language of Recent research found that trade
The medium used were clay Mitanni in northern Mesopotamia ties and volume flows were much
tablets, cylinders and even cones. and southeast Anatolia, Old Persian more intense and higher, than what
Cuneiform script was recorded and Ugarit a Mediterranean port experts previously thought.
first in vertical columns and later city.
horizontal. Even school tablets But quickly the different economic
were found giving proof of the Ugarit Alphabet and religious centers developed
first early scribe education system different scripts and alphabets with
What might surprise you is the the progress of their own distinct
around 5,000 years ago. discovery that the cultures in the cultures and development of
Arabian Peninsula at first were different religious cults worshipping
And there is another surprise, using the same early cuneiform
imagine that 4,500 years ago the to diverse deities. Over 13 different
script developed 1,000 years earlier languages, named either after the
first mail envelop was developed in Ugarit, today’s Ras Shamra in
for confidential messages. Clay cultures and tribes or the area of
Syria on the Mediterranean coast. their usage, developed over time.
tablets were simply This cuneiform writing was really All of these languages evolved from
sealed into bigger based on an alphabet to express the Semitic language group.
clay envelopes.

Lihyanite script Dedanic script

 Akkadian cuneiform Mari cuneiform
clay tablet

Phoenician Script in byssos [special al silk produced producing the highly thought after
Shortly after Ugarit the well from certain sea mussel secrets]. frankincense. This highly priced
known Phoenician seafarers And I took the Mushkabim strongly resin was transported to the end
developed their first non cuneiform by the hand and they showed me users in Egypt and Rome via the
script in the region. There were their love like the love of a fatherless oasis kingdoms of Dedan, today’s
very few inscriptions found, but one child to its mother. And whoever al ’Ula and “Tym” today’s Tayma.
interesting example survived and of my sons, who will reign in my These three cities were the first
was excavated in the palace of place will change this inscription early trading and religious centers
a small ancient city state called the Mushkabim shall not honor the in the Arabian Peninsula before
Sam’al or Ja’udi / Bit Gabbar today’s Ba’ririm. And who destroys this 750BC.
Zincirli. This remarkable text dated inscription Baal Semed the god of
825BC gives you a fascinating Ancient Arabian Languages
insight into history and day to day Gabbar will destroy his head and
live and therefore is recorded here: Ba’al Hamman the god of BMH and The key languages in the Arabian
Rakib-El the god of the dynasty will Peninsula were Dedanic spoken in
“I am Kilam-muwa son of Hayyar. destroy his head.” the al’Ula region, Hagaric used in
Gabbar was king of Ja’udi but he did the kingdom of Gerrha with it’s
nothing, then there was Bamach Egyptian Hieroglyphs capital Thaj in the Eastern Province
but he also did nothing. And my It seems that far reaching trade and the Old Arab language. This
father Hayyar also did nothing. started in this part of the world, latter was different to the first two
My brother Ŝa’ûl did also nothing. and did not have a script of its own
I Kilam-muwa son of Hayyar did with an explosion of various script and was used by Arab nomads.
something what those before me developments. Some 5,500 years These languages were all specific
never did. ago, hieroglyphs were developed to Saudi Arabia.
and used mainly for religious
The house of my father was Qatabanic and Hadramitic
amongst powerful kings and each languages were particular to the
reached out to fight. But I was in ancient Yemeni kingdoms and its
the hands of the kings like fire, understanding and use important
which was eating their beards for northern buyers of incense. In
and destroying their hands. And contrast Sabaic and Minaic were
the king of Danunaea stood above spoken in Yemen and southern
me, but I rented [ancient term for Saudi Arabia for example at
political pact] against him the the important trading center al
king of Assur. A young women Faw, northwest of Najran. It is
was offered on the market for a interesting that a few tribesmen
sheep, a man for a tunic. today still use certain ancient
I am Kilam-muwa son of languages in Yemen called
Hayyar sat on the throne of my Socotri, Mahrite and Hobyot. And
father. Under the previous kings the same in Oman with the Jibbali,
the Mushkabim lived like dogs. Bathari and Harsûrî.
But I was a father to the one and If we look north at the Levant
a mother to the other and to the purposes in ancient Egypt, but they area, Aramaic was the most
third a brother. And who never had were non alphabetic pictograms important language base with two
seen the face of a sheep I made and not a true script form. Only versions, Imperial Aramaic and
the owner of a whole herd. And over 2,000 years later a cursive Nabataean. They were possibly
who never had seen the face of a form of writing was developed in the most wide spread and used
cow I made the owner of a whole Egypt. languages and scripts at the time.
herd and as well owner of silver The most southern Nabataean
and owner of gold. And who had First Arabian Script inscription was discovered at al Faw.
never seen linen before since his About 3,000 years ago the Two Bedouin languages were also
childhood was covered in my times legendary Kingdom of Saba was used in the Levant being Safaitic
spoken in the al Safa hills area in Syria
and Hismaic used in the Hisma desert area
north of Tabuk and Wadi Ramm in Jordan.
When travelling in the northern part
of Saudi Arabia, most texts you will see
on rock faces are Thamudic inscriptions
created by Thamud tribesmen. These
inscriptions were divided into 5 groups
based on variations.
Today we know that two groups are
actually different languages such as
Taymaic used by the people from the Tayma
Kingdom 3,000 years ago. The other was
found to be actually what we know today as
Hismaic. The following list will give you a
good “big picture” about the development
of ancient languages and scripts in the
Arabian Peninsula and Levant area, which
we will refer to in more detail thereafter.
Dedanic & Hagaric
Dedanic was used from 1,000-100BC by
the Dedanite and later Lihyanite people Egyptian cursive
living in today’s al’Ula in northern Saudi
Arabia. It used only consonants in its
script, 28 of them and no vowels at all. It
existed alongside Sabaic, which used 29
consonants and which was the language
spoken in the ancient Yemini Kingdom of
Saba with its legendary Queen Sheba. The
article changed from han to hal and an
to al, which actually was the basis for our
present day Arabic article. Dedanic did
change over time, but Sabaic did not.
As both languages were used at the same
time and both kingdoms had very close
trading ties, it is not certain if Dedanic
developed from Sabaic, or vice versa. Only
one Dedanic alphabet primer found to
date. Not surprising this had the same
letter order than Sabaic. But again the
letter order was similar to Ugaritic. But
how is this possible when the Ugaritic script
disappeared already 200 years before the
certified use of Dedanic? One theory is the
assumption that Taymaic might have been
the intermediary language, as again it is
close to Dedanic. We know very little about Akkadian lion inscription
Hagaric, which was used in the ancient
Gerrha kingdom and along the western
Gulf coast between 400-100BC. Specific
to Hagaric is, that the han article was only
used for peoples names.
Sabaic
Used in Yemen and across Arabian
Peninsula to the Levant area between
800BC to 400AD, Sabaic was one of the
most ancient and widest used scripts in
the Arabian Peninsula. Sabaic was not a
language, but a script using single letters
or signs of meaning. It is also called
South Arabian and rock inscriptions are
found all over the Arabian Peninsular with
slight variations. We are lucky today that
Sabaic is the best studied and known
script, because of the enormous amount of
inscriptions discovered. Sabaic is related
to Ancient Arabic with similar morphology
and lexicon, but it differs in its phonetics
from Arabic. Sabaic has three sibilants s,
shl and ’s, Arabic has only two s and shl.
The ‘s also existed in other ancient Yemeni Phonenician detail
languages and scripts.
 In addition Sabaic has six numeric symbols for ancient Dedan empire we know, that a large colony
1,000, 100, 50, 10, 5 and a special division between of Minaean traders lived peacefully in this oasis city.
numbers and words. There is also a different place They were even allowed to worship their own gods
and form of a definite article and vertical lines are and built a temple for them. This is interesting proof
used to separate words. that trade was important and different tribes could
live in harmony close together. Nevertheless Minaic
At first Sabaic was written in both directions, left was the first South Arabian script to disappear on
to right and right to left, later right to left became the rock surfaces on the Arabian Peninsula.
norm. When encountering Sabaic rock inscriptions
on your desert trips please remember that long Aramaic
texts are written in the so-called “boustrophedon”
serpentine style changing direction with every line. If we now move back further north into the Levant
Then in 1970 a cursive variant was discovered as area, Aramaic was the dominant language and script
well. for over 1,200 years between 800BC to 400AD. It
was used in Syria, Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia
It is interesting that private texts were written on and it replaced the usage of the Sabaic script in the
wooden sticks with new created words for example northern part of the Arabian Peninsula. In addition
for sesame seeds and lentils, an important change it delivered the basis of the modern Arabic alphabet
for traders who had to deal in these goods. together with its Nabataean sibling. Aramaic was
also the language spoken by Jesus and still is in use
Sabaic influenced very much other cultures today in a few southern Syrian villages.
and their development of an own script - so
other languages used similar composition and Safaitic
phraseology, plus showed parallels in their
iconographic repertoire. The script was also used Safaitic was used by desert nomads in Syria, Jordan
as decorative motif, adding geometric figures and northern Saudi Arabia. Most inscriptions were
and patterns such as dentils, striation and empty found in the volcanic basalt region of northeastern
rectangles. Emblematic animals were added such Jordan. These record grazing activities of camels,
as oryx, ibex, bull, bucrane (bull head and horns), goats and sheep. They include as well migrations
ostrich and hand, crescent, circle symbols. and spring and winter camping areas. Some also
express grief over the death of a clan member.
Other ancient Yemini kingdom scripts used Therefore they are found at grave sites with cairns.
the same Sabaic alphabet such as Qatabanic,
Hadramitic and Himyaric, with only few letters Most of the deities referred to in inscriptions are
being developed into a distinctive local form. Very known Nabataean gods, proof of close trading ties
rarely long rock inscriptions are found. Therefore with this regional power. Safaitic herdsmen in their
the first substantial text in the Arabian Peninsula rock inscriptions were also requesting protection
with over 500 words recounting the victories of from enemies, as well as rich pickings, when on
King Yatha’amar Watar son of Yakrubmalik are a a desert bandit trip. But most important were
treasure trove for archeologists. The use of the inscriptions praying for good grazing. The text
Sabaic script was later pushed back by Qatabanic, also ended frequently with a curse on anyone who
Minaic and Hadramitic. As history offers many defaces this text.
changes, by 100BC Sabaic was adopted by the For this script different alphabet primers were
Himyar kingdom, which was then controlling Najd used, because Safaitic was not taught by scholars
(al Ma’sal), Asir (Murayghan) and Najran. By to official scribes
300AD Sabaic became the only language in Yemen. in cities, but
Minaic by tribal
elders
Minaic was used by five small kingdoms in Yemen around
along the Wadi Madhab in the Jawf region between camp
700-50BC. This included Nashshan, Kaminahu, fires
Haram, Inabba’ and Ma’in. Over 1,000 rock t o
inscriptions dated from the 8th century to the 1st
century BC were discovered. Minaic texts were
also found at Najran, al Faw and even
as north as in al’Ula.
From excavations
in the old
capital
of the

Sabaic script, Bir Hima

fellow tribesmen, who memorized sequence of the Mesopotamia. And again later it was referred to in a
alphabet differently. In this fast area where the Safaitic text of the forth Akkadian King Naram Sin, a grandson
script was used over 20,000 graffiti were recorded and of Sargon I.
give a good picture of the different regional styles. The
over 2,000 inscriptions at the important Al-Isawi site Around 4,000 years ago the ruler of Tayma saw the
are a good example. necessity to build a huge city wall, which demonstrates
the presence of an administrative structures
Hismaic & Thamudic and important public institutions. So we
have evidence of a substantial pre-
Hismaic was previously classified 1st millennium BC settlement and
as Thamudic and experts called it well developed culture with own
the E-style Thamudic, some even language and script in Tayma.
referred to it as Tabukite. This Taymaic was also related to
is a close shot as Hismaic was Dedanic which is situated
spoken in the Hisma desert only some 200km to the
north of Tabuk up to and southwest.
including the Wadi Ramm
area. Again the old Hismaic Regional Scripts
is closely related to Dedanic,
its neighbor further south In southern Oman we have
with which Hisma tribesmen a cluster of four related
traded camels and other tongues, the Hadara group
goods. We can also assume and Shari is the oldest of
that Hisma people worked the four. The local Shahra
closely with Nabataeans their tribe speaks a very unique bird
close neighbors to the north. like chirping singsong language.
Details of the Nabataean script This language has 8 more letters
and language are not recorded here, compared to the Arabic alphabet,
as they were dealt with in a previous because of the added bird like sounds.
Sandladder article. This is the area of the Ad people mentioned
by Prophet Hud.
The name Thamudic comes from nomadic tribe
roaming in the Tabuk region. We can assume that Ad inscriptions are found all over the Dhofar mountain
various tribal clans developed over time different valleys and in caves. Today the ancient Ad area is
ways writing, or better said rock carving their graf- inhabited by Shahra and Mahra tribes, who still speak
fiti. Experts define these as Thamudic B, C or D. The this ancient language. The Shahra tribe still today
A-style was reclassified later as separate a script as consider themselves as ancestors of the people of
Taymaic and E-style as Hismaic. Again Thamudic is Ad. They were according to the Qu’ran the unbelieving
related to Dedanic. inhabitants of Ubar, which disappeared in the sand
and therefore also called “Atlantis of the desert”.
Taymaic 800-500BC
In the late 1990’s Ubar was rediscovered north of
Taymaic is a very interesting case and achieved Salalah today called Shisur, an ancient fort found to
its widest spread around 600BC. Tayma has a very have collapsed into a huge natural underground cave.
colorful history from early beginnings 6,000 years ago. The language is more related to the east Semitic
It was first mentioned in a text of the first Akkadian
King Sargon I who ruled 2,335-2,279BC, recording his Akkadian and Eblaite, than to the neighboring south
clan migration from the eastern Arabian Peninsula to Semitic Himyarite and Sabaic.

Lihyan script Taymaic script Minaean script

 Wusum orthographic, grammatical and phraseological
codification were produced here. Our texts are
Most of us have heard this term before, but few really so-called graffiti and were produced by ordinary
know any details about wusum. They are ancient tribal people reflecting more the spoken language and
signs incised on rock surfaces used by clans to mark were very short and often deviated from the norm.
grazing and watering areas.
The lack of any vowels
Remember over make it further difficult to
3,000 years ago the Non Alphabetic Start Comments
Arabian Peninsula Hieroglyphs 3500 BC Egypt
read pre-historic Arabian
received more rainfall Cuneiform script scripts. Let me give you
3300 BC Iraq, Mesopotamia, Sumer culture
and was able to Ebla script a good example. The
support cattle herds. 2500 BC Syria, Ebla following three letters
Wusum were used for Alphabetic Start Comments “MLK” could be read
thousands of years and Ugarit 1500 BC Syria, Ugarit, cuneiform and interpreted very
nomad herdsmen also Phoenician 1000 BC Syria, east & west Mediterranean ports differently: malaka could
branded or painted Dedanic or Dedanite 1000 BC KSA, al’Ula, later Lihyanite mean “he reigned”, or as
their animals with malik meaning “king”,
their specific wusum to Aramaic 900 BC Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
or as mâlik meaning
state clan ownership. Moabite 900 BC Jordan, Aramaic origin “possessor or he owns”,
Wusum are found Ammonite 900 BC Jordan, Aramaic origin or as malâk it could also
all across the Arabian Sabaic or Sabaean 900 BC Yemen & KSA, Semitic origin mean “angel” and finally
Peninsula and are Minaic or Minaean 800 BC Yemen & KSA, Semitic origin as mulk meaning “reign”.
often mixed with Musnad al Jandal 800 BC Arabian Peninsula Various times I tried
or found next to old
script texts, especially Hismaic 800 BC Jordan & KSA, no script only language to decipher some of the
Thamudic and Sabaic Taymaic 800 BC KSA, Tayma short graffito, I came
graffito. Unfortunately Thamudic 800 BC Arabian Peninsula, Bedouin use
across on desert trips
little is known about Safaitic and I have to admit, I
800 BC Syria, Bedouin use
wusum signs and their always bitterly failed
respective clans - we Nabataean 300 BC Jordan & KSA, Aramaic based even with my script
just have a record of Palmyrian 100 BC Syria, Aramaic origin identification charts at
the different wusum Arabic 300 AD Arabian Peninsula, Nabataean origin hand.
signs. Kufic 700 AD “Official” Qur’an script, from Kufah The only success I
Interestingly those could achieve was to
signs are very similar if
not identical to certain letters of the ancient Thamudic, define the types of script, but this took always some
Sabaic and Safaitic alphabets discussed earlier in this time. Very quickly I realized that local tribesmen
article. The wusum signs developed over time from crossing the desert did not have any alphabet copy
simple signs to complex geometrical pictograms. at hand, as very few alphabet primers have been
found.
Inscription Types
Therefore we have to assume that they have
The rock inscriptions found on the Arabian Peninsula carved their letters from memory and often copied
are only short commemorative and devotional
texts. Differing to Mesopotamia discoveries, on the abnormalities from texts nearby. In this way they
Arabian Peninsula no literary texts were found, if they created local versions and styles to carve certain
ever were produced. No history annuals, religious letters differently and to add new forms.
hymns, founding narratives, edifying tales, collection So imagine that many scripts have not only one
of maxims or even poetry have ever been located. letter for the same, but several, which are sometimes
In addition, no sophisticated texts with used in different contexts.