ABSTRACT
This chapter is divided into two parts. The first is concerned with the Syriac and Nabataean traditions of calligraphy. The second part is specifically concerned with the emergence of the Arabic script and develops further some of the published remarks of other scholars. The connection between the two topics is closer than might at first appear. The development of the Nabataean script in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries A.D. is usually seen as a progression from forms derived from earlier Aramaic towards forms out of which the early Arabic script developed, though the people should note the view of J. Starcky, based partly on the observation that the Nabataean script, unlike the Syriac and Arabic scripts, is essentially suspended from an upper line, that the origin of the Arabic script is to be sought in a Lahmid form of the Syriac script. Diacritics begin to appear in the Palmyrene-Syriac-North Mesopotamian tradition at an early date.
