Nabataean script
Script used by the Nabataeans from the second century BC onwards / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Nabataean script is an abjad (consonantal alphabet) that was used to write Nabataean Aramaic and Nabataean Arabic from the second century BC onwards.[2][3] Important inscriptions are found in Petra (now in Jordan), the Sinai Peninsula (now part of Egypt), and other archaeological sites including Abdah (in Israel) and Mada'in Saleh in Saudi Arabia.
| Nabataean script | |
|---|---|
                | |
| Script type | |
Time period | 2nd century BC to 4th century AD |
| Direction | right-to-left script  |
| Languages | Nabataean Aramaic Nabataean Arabic |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
Child systems | Arabic script |
| ISO 15924 | |
| ISO 15924 | Nbat (159), Nabataean |
| Unicode | |
Unicode alias | Nabataean |
| U+10880–U+108AF Final Accepted Script Proposal | |
|
Egyptian hieroglyphs 32nd c. BCE
Hangul 1443 CE Thaana c. 18 CE (derived from Eastern Arabic numerals and Brahmi numerals) |
Nabataean is only known through inscriptions and, more recently, a small number of papyri.[4] It was first deciphered in 1840 by Eduard Friedrich Ferdinand Beer.[4] 6,000 – 7,000 Nabataean inscriptions have been published, of which more than 95% are extremely short inscriptions or graffiti, and the vast majority are undated, post-Nabataean or from outside the core Nabataean territory.[4] A majority of inscriptions considered Nabataean were found in Sinai,[4] and another 4,000 – 7,000 such Sinaitic inscriptions remain unpublished.[5] Prior to the publication of Nabataean papyri, the only substantial corpus of detailed Nabataean text were the 38 funerary inscriptions from Hegra (Mada'in Salih), published by Julius Euting in 1885.[4]
