Writing systems of pre-Islamic Arabia

The writing systems of pre-Islamic Arabia comprise a diverse group of scripts used across the Arabian Peninsula and adjacent regions prior to the rise of Islam in the 7th century AD. These scripts reflect the position of Arabia as a crossroads between the Mediterranean, Mesopotamian, Iranian, and African cultural spheres, and they were employed for a range of functions including monumental inscriptions, religious dedications, administrative records, graffiti, and personal names. Most of the known writing systems belong to the South Semitic branch of the Semitic script family, though others derive from Aramaic and Greek models.

The study of these writing systems relies primarily on epigraphy, as literary manuscripts from pre-Islamic Arabia have not survived. Inscriptions are attested from at least the early 1st millennium BC until the early Islamic period, with significant regional variation in script, language, and orthographic practices.