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Writing Systems Technical Resources

Meroitic Hieroglyphs

Sample of Meroitic Hieroglyphs (see Use & History)

Script details

See all script details: code, region, status and more
Code Mero
Script type alphabet
Region Middle Eastern
Status Historical
Direction vertical (RTL)
Baseline bottom
Case no
White space unspecified
Complex behaviors
OpenType code mero
ISO 15924 Numeric Code / Key 100 (right-to-left alphabetic)

Explanation of script details

Script description

The Meroitic (also Meroïtic) script was used between the 3rd century BC and the 6th century AD in the Kingdom of Kush, in what is now Sudan.

Read the full description…After the introduction of Christianity to the area, Meroitic writing was replaced by Coptic. The Meroitic language was written using two writing systems, a cursive form and a hieroglyphic form.

Meroitic hieroglyphs were derived from Egyptian hieroglyphs, apparently borne of a desire for a monumental version of cursive writing. It is also thought that the creation of a hieroglyphic form was due to a desire to access the magical powers associated with Egyptian hieroglyphs.

There is no one-to-one relationship between the cursive and hieroglyphic Meroitic scripts. The number of symbols in the hieroglyphic set is greater than that in the cursive set, with some being homophonous, that is, representing the same sound.

Languages that use this script

There are no known languages that use this script.

Unicode status

In The Unicode Standard, Meroitic Hieroglyphs implementation is discussed in Chapter 11 Cuneiform and Hieroglyphs.

Resources