Lihyan

The ancient Lihyan Empire of the Lihyanites was located in today's oasis of Al-'Ula , about 150 km southwest of Tayma in northwestern Saudi Arabia and was on the Frankincense Route . There are inscriptions from the 6th to 4th centuries BC.

The main place was Dedan, known from the Bible . The Lihyan language is considered a dialect of North Arabic . Other dialects that have also been displaced today were Safaitic , Thamudic from the area around Tayma and Hasaitic from Al-Hasa . The term Dedanitic is often used for the early variant of Lihyanic. After the establishment of the caliphate, these dialects were replaced by standard Arabic , which is also a North Arabic dialect.

literature

• Werner Caskel , Lihyan and Lihyanisch , 1953.
• Frederick V. Winnett, A Study of the Lihyanite and Thamudic Inscriptions , University of Toronto Oriental Series 3. Toronto 1937.

Web links

• Lihyan examples from the Smithsonian Institute.