Meroitic script

The Meroitic script was made to write the Meroitic language around the beginning of the Meroitic period (300 BC). It was used in the kingdom of Meroe, in modern-day Sudan.

Meroitic script is made up of two types of scripts: Meroitic cursive and Meroitic hieroglyphics. Meroitic cursive was the most commonly used form. Around 90% of inscriptions (writings) of the Meroitic language used it.Claude Rilly (2011). Recent Research on Meroitic, the ancient language of Sudan. http://www.ityopis.org/Issues-1_files/ITYOPIS-I-Rilly.pdf, p. 13. Where Rilly states, "...For  all  the  other  purposes,  including  royal  chronicles  and even  some  royal  funerary  texts,  the  cursive  script  is  used,  so  that  90%  of  the current corpus is made of cursive inscriptions." The earliest known use of Meroitic cursive was at least a century before the earliest known use of Meroitic hieroglyphics.Claude Rilly. Arnekhamani's sistrum. New Insights on the Appearance of the Meroitic script. 12th Conference for Meroitic Studies, Sep 2016, Prague, Czech Republic. http://www.nm.cz/m/Naprstek-Museum/Events-NpM/12th-International-Conference-for-Meroitic-Studies.html?xSET=lang&xLANG=2 . <halshs-01482759>. Where Rilly states, "...For these reasons, some very early inscriptions in Meroitic cursive with signs that are more primitive than the sistrum's and that were tentatively dated to the early 2nd century must be placed now in the first half of the 3rd century BC. It means that the appearance of the Meroitic script is probably linked with the rise of the Meroitic dynasty." The last known Meroitic inscription also uses Meroitic cursive, and is said to have been written around AD 410/450.Claude Rilly (2011). Recent Research on Meroitic, the Ancient Language of Sudan. http://www.ityopis.org/Issues-1_files/ITYOPIS-I-Rilly.pdf, p. 12. Where Rilly states, "The script actually outlived the fall of Meroe (ca. AD 350), for the latest known text is the inscription of King Kharamadoye from a column in the Kalabsha temple (REM 0094), which has recently been re-dated to AD 410/450 (Eide et al. 1998: 1103-1107)."

References

Category:Writing systems
Category:History of Sudan