________________
190
The Scripts
The Meroitic inscriptions (Fig. 97, 3 and 4) were discovered in the Nile valley between the first cataract in the north and Soba, on the Blue Nile in the south. They belong mainly to the second to fourth centuries A.D., but
Meroitic
Hierogl
3
B
Cursive
52
n
4
1
1 4
94
121
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吃ㄕ及人
ޑ
W
Phonetic
(a)
e
&
i
y
B
y
Fr
P
21
THE ALPHABET
11
0? Hierogl.
25
#A
Tagy
Meroitic
A 4
1F
1
2
Cursive
Phonetic
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4
angta
4
Ch
M
廴
13 4
B 5 t
14- te
← tê
1
JI S
10
34
21 2
Egyptian hieroglyphs
ALLAGA
R
B
21
S
t
rw, 1
*
S'
wd'
eth
3114
bh
m", sw
ih, iw
2
Merottic hieroglyphs
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i5, U11433
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NIEWI
B
173
11
te
tê
U
10
Fig. 97
1, The Meroitic scripts. 2, Comparison of Meroitic hieroglyphic letters with Egyptian hieroglyphs. 3-4, Meroitic inscriptions
may in part be attributed to the first or even to the second century B.C. The script had two types (Fig. 97, 1); (a) the monumental, hieroglyphic form of writing, and (b) the cursive, demotic type. Both are descended from
