Meroitic script

E135735

The Meroitic script is an ancient writing system used in the Kingdom of Kush to record the now largely undeciphered Meroitic language of Nubia.

All labels observed (13)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf African script ⓘ
ancient script ⓘ
writing system ⓘ
associatedWith Kushite civilization ⓘ
linked to: Kingdom of Kush

Meroë ⓘ
culturalContext ancient Nubian civilization ⓘ
deciphermentContributor Francis Llewellyn Griffith ⓘ
deciphermentDifficultyReason lack of bilingual inscriptions ⓘ
limited corpus ⓘ
deciphermentStatus phonetic values partly known ⓘ
derivedFrom Egyptian hieroglyphs ⓘ
firstAttested 3rd century BCE ⓘ
hasFeature inherent vowel in consonant signs ⓘ
separate vowel sign for /a/ ⓘ
word divider mark ⓘ
hasResearchField Meroitic studies ⓘ
hasUnicodeBlock Meroitic Cursive ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script

Meroitic Hieroglyphs ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
hasVariant Meroitic cursive ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script

Meroitic hieroglyphic ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
ISO15924Code Mero ⓘ
linked to: Meroë
languageStatusOfTarget Meroitic language largely undeciphered ⓘ
lastAttested 5th century CE ⓘ
numberOfSignsApproximate about 23 consonant signs ⓘ
relatedTo Demotic script ⓘ
Egyptian hieratic ⓘ
linked to: Hieratic script
replacedBy Coptic script (in neighboring Egypt) ⓘ
linked to: Coptic script
scriptFamily Egyptian-derived scripts ⓘ
scriptType alphasyllabary ⓘ
timePeriodUsed circa 3rd century BCE to 5th century CE ⓘ
UnicodeRange U+10980–U+1099F (Meroitic Hieroglyphs) ⓘ
U+109A0–U+109FF (Meroitic Cursive) ⓘ
usedBy Kushite elites ⓘ
usedFor administrative documents ⓘ
funerary inscriptions ⓘ
religious texts ⓘ
royal inscriptions ⓘ
usedIn Kingdom of Kush ⓘ
usedInModernCountry Egypt ⓘ
Sudan ⓘ
usedInRegion Nubia ⓘ
usedOn ostraca ⓘ
papyri ⓘ
stone monuments ⓘ
wooden tablets ⓘ
writingDirection right-to-left ⓘ
top-to-bottom (for some inscriptions) ⓘ
writingSystemFor Meroitic language ⓘ
writingSystemScope primarily monumental and administrative ⓘ
writingSystemStatus partially deciphered ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (31)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Nubia → hasWritingSystem → Meroitic script ⓘ
Kingdom of Meroë → knownFor → Meroitic script ⓘ
Kingdom of Meroë → language → Meroitic language ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Kingdom of Meroë → writingSystem → Meroitic script ⓘ
Old Nubian script → influencedBy → Meroitic script ⓘ
Supplementary Multilingual Plane → contains → Meroitic Hieroglyphs block ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Supplementary Multilingual Plane → contains → Meroitic Cursive block ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Meroitic script → hasVariant → Meroitic hieroglyphic ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Meroitic script → hasVariant → Meroitic cursive ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Meroitic script → hasUnicodeBlock → Meroitic Hieroglyphs ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Meroitic script → hasUnicodeBlock → Meroitic Cursive ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Adikhalamani → languageUsed → Meroitic ⓘ
subject linked to: Adikhalamani (Tabriqo)
linked to: Meroitic script
Meroitic art → usedScript → Meroitic script ⓘ
Naqa → hasWritingSystem → Meroitic script ⓘ
Queen Amanishakheto → usedScript → Meroitic script ⓘ
Kingdom of Kush → languageUsed → Meroitic language ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Kingdom of Kush → writingSystem → Meroitic script ⓘ
Meroë → usedWritingSystem → Meroitic script ⓘ
Kushite queens → language → Meroitic language ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Unicode 6.1 → addsScript → Meroitic Cursive ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Unicode 6.1 → addsScript → Meroitic Hieroglyphs ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Unicode 6.1 → addsBlock → Meroitic Cursive (U+109A0–U+109FF) ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Francis Llewellyn Griffith → notableWork → Meroitic Inscriptions ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
King of Meroë → usedWritingSystem → Meroitic script ⓘ
Meroitic period → hasWritingSystem → Meroitic script ⓘ
Meroitic period → hasWritingSystem → Meroitic hieroglyphic script ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Meroitic period → hasWritingSystem → Meroitic cursive script ⓘ
linked to: Meroitic script
Amanishakheto → usesScript → Meroitic script ⓘ
Apedemak temple → hasInscriptionsIn → Meroitic script ⓘ
Meroitic religion → usesScript → Meroitic script ⓘ
Kushite pantheon → hasScriptUsedInCult → Meroitic script ⓘ