Quick Facts Type Consonantal Alphabetic Genealogy Proto-Sinaitic Location West Asia > Arabia Peninsula Time 500 BCE to 600 CE Direction Right to Left

The South Arabian alphabet was used primarily in the Sabaean and Minaean kingoms in the Southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula. It is thought to have diverged from the Proto-Sinaitic alphabet as early as 1300 BCE, and a developing form appeared in Babylonia and near Elath of the Gulf of Aqaba around the 8th/7th centuries BCE. The South Arabian proper appears around 500 BCE, and continued to be used until around 600 CE (at which time, of course, the entire Arabian Peninsula was converted to Islam and Arabic became the most important language).

There were also contemporary relatives of this alphabet further to the north to write down the Thamudic, Lihyanite, and Safaitic languages.

This script was transported across the Red Sea to Ethiopia, where it transformed into classical Ethiopic (Ge'ez) and modern-day Amharic.

Related links:

• Written in Stone: Inscriptions from the National Museum of Saudi Arabia has good pictures of various South Arabian scripts, although it makes dubious statements that Aramaic came from the northern variant of South Arabian, and that Thamudic dates back to 1500 BCE.