Glossary

Epigraphy is the study of inscriptions engraved on non-perishable materials (stone, metal, clay, etc.). It yields information about the political, religious or socio-economic aspects of a society. Compared to archaeological sources, they represent direct testimonies of an event and gives us names, dates, locations, where artefacts and monuments sometimes remain difficult to interpret.

Kingdom of Lihyân, whose capital was Dadan (al-Khuraybah), near AlUla, from the fourth to the second century BC.

The Minaean kingdom (also called Ma'in) was one of the main kingdoms of South Arabia (now Yemen) and South-West Arabia in the first millennium BC.

Nomads of Arab origin who became caravan traders and engaged, since the end of the fourth century B.C, in the trade of myrrh, incense, and other aromatics which were transported from present-day Yemen. The Nabataean kingdom lasted until 106 AD., when it was annexed by Emperor Trajan and became the Roman province of Arabia.

Along with drawing, photographing and plaster casting, copying by squeezes is one of the methods, still used by epigraphists, to achieve an accurate reproduction of an inscription incised in stone, metal, wood or clay. The squeezes reproduce in negative and in the exact dimensions the original inscription. Resistant and easily transportable, they represent faithful copies of the inscription and are often better protected than the original inscriptions.