CSAI
Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions
The ASA (Ancient South Arabian) corpus is one of the most interesting collections of inscribed documents of the Semitic world, first and foremost for its vastness. With its over 18,000 texts, it is the first-hand, written documentation of the culture that flourished in South Arabia from the late second millennium BCE to the sixth century CE. CSAI provides access to corpora of inscriptions in the main ASA languages (Sabaic, Minaic, Qatabanic, and Ḥaḍramitic), as well as to collections of ASA epigraphic and non-epigraphic objects hosted in a number of museums worldwide. At present, CSAI contains a collection of over 9,000 texts. Its enrichment is in progress.
Learn more »Most of the inscriptions in the non-Sabaic languages have been digitised in CSAI. Within these corpora, certain groups of inscriptions have been identified that are characteristic of the specific geographic region they come from, or that are marginal to the documentation from the centres of the kingdoms. These include Marginal Qatabanic, namely the Qatabanic inscriptions from the high plateau, and Awsanite inscriptions, referrable to the kingdom of Awsan. The Marginal Minaic inscriptions are those originating beyond the borders of the Minaean kingdom, such as in the North Arabian settlement of Dadan and beyond. As for the Sabaic inscriptions, given the very long time span of this corpus and its wide spatial distribution, the material has been divided in accordance with the labelling traditionally adopted by specialists of ASA languages.
Corpora by writing typology
A corpus of minuscule inscriptions has been created to highlight the specificity of this writing typology with respect to the monumental texts. It mainly corresponds to a manuscript tradition on wooden sticks, although a few specimina of minuscule texts on hard materials are attested as well. This sub-corpus in CSAI contains by now only a few texts, as manuscript documents were not part of the initial cataloguing project within DASI.
Collections by deposit
The CSAI also contains collections of epigraphic and an-epigraphic objects according to their deposit, based on agreements between DASI and a number of museum institutions: those housed in European museums, mainly catalogued during the MENCAWAR and MEDINA projects; those from the Yemeni museums, digitized during the CASIS project; those from some USA museums, catalogued within the DASI project.
CSAI-related digital resources
CSAI's bibliography can be also consulted as a public Zotero library and a PDF (currently reflecting references compiled in CSAI until 2023). Selected CSAI Sites are also described in the Gazetteer of Ancient Arabia, which imports from CSAI the names of the geographic entities pertaining to Southern Arabia encoded in the digitised texts of the inscriptions, and the records related to archaeological sites and monuments.
Corpora by Language
Corpus of Ḥaḍramitic Inscriptions
This corpus gathers inscriptions in the Ḥaḍramitic language, dating from between the 7th century BCE and the end of the 3rd century CE. After an early period of formation characterised by a strong Sabaean cultural and linguistic influence, around the 5th-4th century Ḥaḍramawt became a kingdom with its own political importance.
Corpus of Minaic Inscriptions
This corpus comprises texts in the Minaic language, also called Madhabic, coming from the Jawf valley in northern Yemen (Central Minaic) but also from outside southern Arabia (Marginal Minaic), and dating from the 8th to the 1st century BCE.
Corpus of Qatabanic Inscriptions
The Corpus of Qatabanic inscriptions comprises three linguistic varieties: beside the inscriptions of the Central Qatabanic, the two small corpora of Marginal Qatabanic and Awsanite inscriptions have been created, because these documentations show several linguistic and cultural features that distinguish them from the Qatabanic language of the mainland.
Corpus of Sabaic Inscriptions
The Corpus of Sabaic inscriptions is the largest linguistic corpus of South Arabian texts. Its digitisation within DASI is a work-in-progress, with approximately 3,800 Sabaic inscriptions included to date. This corpus is divided into three major historical linguistic periods: early, middle and late. We have also identified a number of regional varieties such as the Corpus of Early Sabaic inscriptions from Ethiopia (that is being compiled) and - in the Middle phase - the Central, Northern and Southern Sabaic corpora.
Corpus of Undefined Ancient South Arabian Language inscriptions
This corpus collects all the Ancient South Arabian texts which cannot be assigned to any specific language, because they convey no information about their linguistic provenance, nor on their geographic or chronological setting. The majority of them are fragmentary or simply onomastic texts.
Corpora by Script typology
Corpus of Ancient South Arabian minuscule texts
This corpus in CSAI comprises about 40 minuscule texts out of some hundreds that have been published to date. The “minuscule” register of ASA writing derives from the "monumental" writing. It features more cursive shapes of the letters – though these are never linked by ligatures – facilitated by the practice of handwriting on soft materials, mainly wooden sticks. A few minuscule texts on waxed tablets, rock or stone are known as well.
Collections by Deposit
Collection of the objects from the European museums
Since the beginning of the nineteenth century, the political presence and scientific expeditions of Europeans in the Arabian Peninsula inaugurated the establishment of European private and public collections of ancient South Arabian material, which constantly increased during the following decades.
Collection of the objects from the USA museums
The Collection of the objects from the USA museums in DASI gathers the South Arabian antiquities housed in USA museums and private collections.
Collection of the objects from the Yemeni museums
The digital cataloguing of the South Arabian inscriptions and artefacts housed in the Yemeni museums is one of the activities of the project CASIS, funded by the Italian Ministry for the University and Research for the years 2007-2010.