About Nubian

Nubian refers to a group of Nilo-Saharan languages spoken in southern Egypt and northern Sudan along the Nile River valley. The Nubian languages have an ancient history, with Old Nubian texts dating back to the 8th century, making it one of the oldest written African languages. Approximately one million people speak various Nubian languages today.

Modern Nubian languages are primarily written in the Latin script, though historically Old Nubian used a modified Coptic alphabet. The languages are spoken by communities in the Nile Valley, many of whom were displaced by the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s. An interesting fact is that the ancient Nubian kingdom of Meroe developed its own script, Meroitic, which remains only partially deciphered to this day.