Old South Arabian Unicode Block

The Unicode block "Old South Arabian," ranging from U+10A60 to U+10A7F, is dedicated to the script used historically in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula. This script, known as Old South Arabian or Ancient South Arabian, was used primarily between the 9th century BCE and the 6th century CE. It is an abjad, which means it primarily represents consonants, with vowels being inferred from context. The script was utilized by several ancient Arabian kingdoms, including Sabaean, Qatabanian, Hadramautic, and Minaean. It consists of 32 characters and is generally written from right to left, which aligns with many other Semitic scripts of the period.

Old South Arabian inscriptions have been found on various materials like stone, metal, and pottery, and they illuminate the economic, cultural, and social aspects of the ancient Arabian civilization. By incorporating this ancient script into the Unicode Standard, linguists, historians, and digital humanities scholars can more effectively study and digitally preserve the rich historical documents and inscriptions that provide insight into early South Arabian life. The digitization extends the accessibility and research potential of these texts, allowing for a broader understanding of early written communication in Arabia and its role in the wider context of Near Eastern history and linguistics.

View a range of fonts that support the Old South Arabian block.

Below you will find all the characters that are in the Old South Arabian unicode block. Currently there are 32 characters in this block.