Die altsüdarabischen Minuskelinschriften auf Holzstäbchen aus der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek in München

The existence of letter correspondence and other everyday writing in ancient southern Arabia was completely unknown for a long time. Only a few decades ago have written documents come to light in Yemen that contain not only letters but also economic accounts and legal documents, oracle notices, and writing exercises. In terms of form and lexis as well as writing material and style, these documents differ significantly from the inscriptions previously known from the region. In contrast to these so-called monumental inscriptions, which are mostly carved in stone, the everyday documents are carved in wooden sticks – the simplest writing material imaginable and always available in the irrigated oases of southern Arabia. This method of writing is without precedent not only in the context of Semitic epigraphy, but also beyond it in the entire ancient world.
The vast majority of the several thousand inscribed wooden sticks known so far come from a single site in northern Yemen. The texts thus provide a unique insight into the public and private life of a southern Arabian city in pre-Islamic times (10th century BC – 6th century AD).
The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich is in possession of about 400 such inscriptions. This collection offers a representative cross-section of the material, not only in terms of content, but also chronologically. Half of this collection is published here for the first time in pictorial documentation, transcription, translation and detailed commentary. These are Sabaean texts from the 4th century B.C. to the early 6th century A.D. (the second half with the older texts will follow in the foreseeable future). Expanded by an introduction on the history of research and realia, and made accessible by extensive indexes, this volume represents by far the most comprehensive treatise on ancient South Arabian everyday documents on wooden sticks.