Origin from 300 BCE
An abjad used to write the Meroitic language of the Kingdom of Kush in what is now Sudan, developed around the third century BCE in two parallel forms: a hieroglyphic version modeled visually on Egyptian hieroglyphs and used mainly for monumental inscriptions, and a cursive form used for everyday writing. Both forms were deciphered phonetically in 1911 by Francis Llewellyn Griffith, who established the sound values of its roughly twenty-three signs, but the Meroitic language itself remains only partially understood, so many Meroitic texts can be read aloud without being fully translated. It is one of the earliest scripts native to sub-Saharan Africa.
Facts
Directionalityright-to-left (cursive form); hieroglyphic form direction varies 1 In Use Since (Year) Meroitic Script
Filter Results1 entry
Connections
Descends From
Source Wikipedia: Meroitic Script
Script Of
The Meroitic script consists of two alphasyllabic scripts, Meroitic Cursive and Meroitic Hieroglyphic, both developed specifically to write the Meroitic language, the language of the Kingdom of Kush centered at Meroe.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Meroitic Script
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