The minuscule form was created on perishable surfaces like palm-bark or sticks (examples were only discovered recently from South Arabia[14]).
The designation refers to a wide number of scripts representing many languages which have yet to be properly classified and distinguished.
[15] Sabaic is the best attested language in South Arabian inscriptions, named after the Kingdom of Saba, and is documented over a millennium.
[18] Hadramitic is attested in hundreds of inscriptions over a millennium, and is known from the region of Hadramaut, or modern eastern Yemen.
Inscriptions in this language are found from the Qataban kingdom, principally at its capital Timna and the surrounding necropolis.
Although the primary site of attestation is at the kingdom, Minaic inscriptions have also been discovered in northwestern Arabia and Egypt, and this has been linked to a flourishing Minaean trade.
However, some inscriptions composed in the Ancient South Arabian script also come from southwestern Oman, northern Arabia, Ethiopia, Egypt, and even the Aegean island of Delos, off the coast of Greece.
[28] The South Arabian corpus of inscriptions is more extensive than that of Ugarit or Phoenicia in Punic, Aramaic, and Hebrew.
It is second only in size to Akkadian, but remains behind in the field of Semitic studies due to a lack of accessible tools.
[29] These inscriptions suggest a copious literature once existed in the area, but it has not survived, likely because it was written on perishable materials.
They can be divided into the following categories:[32][33] All South Arabian languages, despite their linguistic differences, used a common monumental, alphabetic script with 29 consonants.
These texts can be extremely long and detailed and lay the foundations for understanding the history of the South Arabian kingdoms: they tell us about the organization of their polities, their economic and legal foundations, they offer an understanding of the social groups in the region, including kings, tribal leaders, functionaries, tribal members, and client associations.
They document the gods worshiped and represent an invaluable source for the history of political events and the topography.
Minuscule scripts were not intended for public display, but instead for rapid notation and archiving, as their content shows.
[35] Summarized by Daum, Abdullah, and Mutahhar ibn al-Iryani:[36]"Six have been published: ZI 11 from Mārib, the Hymn to the Sun from Qāniya (dated by Stein to the late first century AD), a building text from Wadi Šurjān—so pronounced, not Širjān (van Lessen 24 = Jamme 2353), a cursive text from the Munich collection (X. BSB 187—Stein, 2010, p.
"One of the earliest is the Hymn of Qāniya, a first century poem addressed to the goddess Shams that is 27 lines long.
Another poem comes from a Middle Sabaic vote inscription Zaid Inan 11 (ZI 11) from Marib.
A rock inscription VL 24 = Ja 2353 from Wadi Shirjān contains a rhymed poem 10 lines long.