Following upon the Minæan dynasty, of which, as before stated, thirty-two kings are known by name, is that of the Sabæans: yet the nature of the inscriptions shows that a very considerable period of time must have elapsed between the two; for whereas, in the earlier specimens of writing, full grammatical forms are found, the latter is not nearly so complete. Yet the Sabæan dynasty can be traced back with certainty to the time of Solomon, one thousand years B.C., and there is every reason to believe that they had been in power at that time for a very considerable period. How very remote, then, must be the antiquity of the preceding dynasty, which we know to have been separated from the latter by a sufficient lapse of years to have allowed of radical changes in the formation and grammar of their written language! Besides which, although comparatively few inscriptions have been discovered of this period, we have a list of no less than thirty-two Minæan sovereigns. Professor Sayce, in an able article upon this subject, states that he believes that it is quite possible that inscriptions may be discovered which will prove Southern Arabia to have been in a state of civilisation in the days of Sargon I., or even of Menes, who is supposed to have lived some five thousand years B.C.: nay more, he expresses his opinion, which many traditions tend to prove, that all civilisation may have sprung from the Yemen and its adjacent provinces.[12] Apart from the great interest attending this alone, another point must at once attract our attention—namely, the existence of an alphabet earlier than that of the oldest discovered Phœnician inscriptions. Until these researches into the writings of the Yemen, it was believed that the Phœnician formation of letters was an abridgment of the hieroglyphics of Egypt; but there seems now to be reason to suppose that this still more ancient writing of Southern Arabia may prove to be not only the source from which the Phœnicians derived their alphabet, but also the origin of those of all modern nations, including Greece and Rome. What may be said almost to prove this theory, says Professor Sayce, is the fact that while the Phœnician letters, described by name as animals and things, have but little resemblance to the object from which the name is taken, this still older form of Semitic writing bears a decided resemblance to the objects described in the names of the Phœnician letters.