Unicode Block - Old South Arabian

Old South Arabian is a script used to write the ancient languages of the southern Arabian Peninsula, such as Sabaic and Himyaritic, and it appears in inscriptions dating from roughly the 9th century BCE to the 6th century CE. The characters are primarily consonantal, written from right to left, and include distinct letterforms for sounds like a glottal stop and various sibilants, reflecting a writing system closely related to other ancient Semitic scripts but with its own unique shapes and ordering. This script was employed for monumental carvings on stone, metal, and other durable surfaces, and it is historically significant for documenting the trade, religion, and political life of kingdoms like Saba and Qataban.