Remarks on some processes of assimilation and innovation in the language and culture of Hadramawt during its ancient history

Until recently, Hadramitic was the least known and least studied among the Ancient South Arabian languages. A further difficulty concerning the study of Hadramitic inscriptions is the fragmented nature of the corpus in terms of both its chronology and its geography. The paper offers some reflections on the history and unique traits of the language and culture of pre-Islamic Hadramawt, taking into account some of the most topical issues in Ancient South Arabian studies. The paper shows how the kingdom of Hadramawt, while bearing certain traits that were shared by all of the south Arabian kingdoms, was able to re-elaborate and assimilate them at a precocious stage. During its mature period, owing to the presence of a variety of cultural poles in the country, Hadramawt was able to maintain and expand its unique set of linguistic traits, often passing its stylistic models on to the other south Arabian kingdoms