Addis Herald
  • Home
  • History
  • Africa
  • Travel
  • Music
  • Culture
  • Art

Culture

  • Or. 607The Ethiopian Emperor’s Manuscripts
  • 36540E1A-A477-4FDD-A4E7-2DD01514F57DEthiopian Manuscripts and Painting from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century
  • 184D8D78-8168-43A0-8F33-95AAC1CE81B2The Top Ten Ethiopia’s Endemic Wild Animals
  • 68B656DE-B1F3-47D4-9F6A-198C6FA6FCA3The New Face of Addis
  • 20-must-read-poems-ethiopian-poets20 Of The Best Poets And Poems of Ethiopia (Qene included)

Business

  • China-Ethiopia-forumEthiopia’s Export to China Grows Amid Booming FDI from Chinese Companies to the Country
  • 32AAAC40-C7CF-4A10-8C4A-D63F30DC6D07As Telebirr Increases it’s Subscribers to 18 mln, It’s Mother company Ethio Telecom launches 5G network
  • 57BD9DF7-CDDD-4722-AD63-F5A0C41A11B1Recovery Period: Inside Ethiopian Airlines’ 4-Pillar Growth Strategy
  • DC89FC8D-FC0B-4547-B6E6-7D8A4540717E12 investment opportunities in Ethiopia’s packaging industry
  • 3D2D6F24-5BB6-4943-AD60-DA8E222749C2Ethiopian Airlines leases two Dash 8-400 aircraft from TrueNoord

Africa

  • 2B04558D-E562-4F0C-B0F8-36082FF2C299As Gas hold the key to Africa’s energy future , it also may Rescue Europe’s energy crisis
  • C1480A4F-9399-4DEC-8DE9-6CD659342646African entrepreneurs need to be taken seriously
  • United-States-of-AfricaUnited States of Africa: A dream that got Gaddafi killed at the hands of a desperate US
  • 3B1B58E3-5D40-4ADA-8835-29B316116181Africa Isn’t an Opinion or an Opiate: An Ode to the Ever Defiant Motherland
  • E0A49956-D481-44EF-9A41-0B34EF9BDFAEAfrica: The Mother of all Civilization
An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity
December 3, 2018

The Coinage

By Stuart Munro-Hay

1. The Origins

Aksum was the only African state in ancient times, outside the Roman dependencies, to issue its own national coinage (for references on coinage questions see Anzani: 1926, 1928, 1941; Munro-Hay, loc. var: Hahn 1983; much of the following chapter is based on Munro-Hay 1984iv). The Aksumite coinage lasted from about 270AD, or a little later, into the early seventh century, and seems to have been used in both external trade and internal market transactions. How far the whole kingdom was able to employ a monetarized economy is still a matter for conjecture, but so far coin-finds have been reported from all excavated Aksumite sites.

Gold coin, c. 270-300 C.E., gold, Aksumite, Obverse showing head and shoulders bust of King Endubis facing right, wearing headcloth with rays at the forehead and triangular ribbon behind, framed by two wheat-stalks. Disc and crescent at the top.

By the time of Aksum’s first recorded military ventures to Yemen, the coinage of the South Arabian kingdoms would seem to have been nearing the end of its use, if it was not already discontinued. This coinage, chiefly of silver in Saba and Himyar, and bronze in Hadhramawt, only very rarely seems to have included electrum or gold pieces. It is much more likely that the immediate origins of the coinage of Aksum were influenced by Roman trading in the Red Sea, though perhaps the awareness of Kushana and Persian coinages also inspired the Aksumites to emulation. The Aksumite coinage followed the Roman/Byzantine weight system, and this and certain other factors add probability to the suggestion that Rome was the primary region to which Aksum looked when the issue of a coinage was planned. At any rate, the adoption of a coinage would have an immensely facilitated exchange of products and all other public and private business in which it was employed and must have given considerable impetus to the economy.

Whilst there is no actual proof, except for the tentative identification of a pottery object from the excavations as a coin-mould (Wilding in Munro-Hay 1989), it would seem very likely that it was at Aksum itself that the coins were minted. No other African state south of the Sahara issued coins until the sultanate of Kilwa began coinage-production possibly in the mid-tenth century.

 

  • Introduction
  • Archaeological Discovery
    • Ancient Aksum
    • The Rediscovery of Aksum
  • The City and the State
    • Origins and Expansion of the Kingdom
    • The Development of Aksum
    • Cities, Towns and Villages
    • The Inhabitants
    • Foreign Relations
  • Aksumite History
    • Early Aksum
    • Gadarat to Endubis
    • Endubis to Ezana
    • Ezana to Kaleb
    • The End of the Coinage
    • The Post-Aksumite Period
  • The Civil Administration
    • Officials of the Government
    • Aksum, the Capital City
    • The Town Plan
    • Portuguese Records of Aksum
    • Domestic Architecture
    • The Funerary Architecture
    • The Stelae
  • The Monarchy
    • The Regalia
    • Dual Kingship
    • Succession
    • The Royal Titles
    • The Coronation
  • The Economy
    • Agriculture and Animal husbandry
    • Metal Resources
    • Trade
    • Local Industries
    • Food
  • The Coinage
    • Introduction of the Coinage
    • Internal Aspects of the Coinage
    • The Mottoes
    • The End of the Coinage
    • Modern Study of the Coinage
  • Religion
    • The Conversion to Christianity
    • Abreha and Atsbeha
    • Ecclesiastical Development
    • Churches
  • Warfare
    • The Military Structure
    • Weapons
    • The Fleet
    • The Inscriptions
  • Archaeological Records
    • Glassware
    • Stone Bowls
    • Metalwork
    • Aksumite Materials
  • Language
    • Literature
    • The Art
    • Saint Yared
  • Society and Death
    • Funerary Practice
  • The Decline of the Empire
    • The Arrival of Islam in Ethiopia
    • The decline of Aksum
    • External and Internal Troubles
    • The Hatsani Daniel of Aksum
  • Excavations at Aksum

Ethiopian History

  • Lucy
  • The Æthyopians
    • Ethiopia in Biblical Greek “Αιθιοπια”
    • Herodotus’s Ethiopia
    • The Legendary Queen of Sheba
    • The Horn Of Africa
    • Enoch ‘The black prophet’
    • The Ethiopic Book of Enoch
    • ETHIOPIANISM
    • Ethiopia Mystery and antiquity
  • Wonderful Ethiopians
  • Unknown Kings of Ethiopia
    • The Great Pyramids part 1
    • The Construction of the Pyramids part 2
    • Who Built the Giza Pyramids? Part 3
  • Kebra Nagast
  • Aksumite Empire
  • The Zagwe Dynasty
  • The Gadaa System
  • The Battle of Adwa
    • The Victory of Adwa: A Fresh Perspective
    • Mussolini’s atrocity
  • Profiling Africa
  • National Parks
  • Pages
  • Pages
Introduction of the Coinage Warfare

Related Posts

An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity

Aksumite Empire

Preface

600px-Pergamon-Museum_-_Wandmalerei_3

Aksumite Empire

Excavations at Aksum

The Hatsani Daniel

Aksumite Empire

The Hatsani Daniel of Aksum

What It’s Like To Be A Billionaire In Ethiopia

https://youtu.be/UsczEq9RtqI
https://youtu.be/oT1LO-6OC-I

Travel

  • Ethiopia has Over 10,000 Megalithic Monuments dating Back to the 1st CenturyEthiopia has Over 10,000 Megalithic Monuments Dating Back to the 1st Century
  • ethiopia_ethiopian_wolf_35Brilliant Ethiopia: The Unique Wonder
  • F6BD7E94-BC77-4B3E-B905-7B140F12F5FDKenya Had an Elephant ‘Baby Boom’ — and Now You Can Adopt One
  • Addis_herald_omo_3910 Main Tourist Attractions Places in Africa
  • Homage to Entoto Park How the Old “Town in the Forest” is turning into a newly flowering tourist hubHomage to Entoto Park How the Old “Town in the Forest” is turning into a newly flowering tourist hub

Africa

  • 2B04558D-E562-4F0C-B0F8-36082FF2C299As Gas hold the key to Africa’s energy future , it also may Rescue Europe’s energy crisis
  • C1480A4F-9399-4DEC-8DE9-6CD659342646African entrepreneurs need to be taken seriously
  • United-States-of-AfricaUnited States of Africa: A dream that got Gaddafi killed at the hands of a desperate US
  • 3B1B58E3-5D40-4ADA-8835-29B316116181Africa Isn’t an Opinion or an Opiate: An Ode to the Ever Defiant Motherland
  • E0A49956-D481-44EF-9A41-0B34EF9BDFAEAfrica: The Mother of all Civilization

Culture

  • Or. 607The Ethiopian Emperor’s Manuscripts
  • 36540E1A-A477-4FDD-A4E7-2DD01514F57DEthiopian Manuscripts and Painting from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century
  • 184D8D78-8168-43A0-8F33-95AAC1CE81B2The Top Ten Ethiopia’s Endemic Wild Animals
  • 68B656DE-B1F3-47D4-9F6A-198C6FA6FCA3The New Face of Addis
  • 20-must-read-poems-ethiopian-poets20 Of The Best Poets And Poems of Ethiopia (Qene included)

Business

  • China-Ethiopia-forumEthiopia’s Export to China Grows Amid Booming FDI from Chinese Companies to the Country
  • 32AAAC40-C7CF-4A10-8C4A-D63F30DC6D07As Telebirr Increases it’s Subscribers to 18 mln, It’s Mother company Ethio Telecom launches 5G network
  • 57BD9DF7-CDDD-4722-AD63-F5A0C41A11B1Recovery Period: Inside Ethiopian Airlines’ 4-Pillar Growth Strategy
  • DC89FC8D-FC0B-4547-B6E6-7D8A4540717E12 investment opportunities in Ethiopia’s packaging industry
  • 3D2D6F24-5BB6-4943-AD60-DA8E222749C2Ethiopian Airlines leases two Dash 8-400 aircraft from TrueNoord

RSS Allfrica.com News feed

  • Africa: Sparking Change for African Women Leaders Through the Power of Data
  • Africa: AFROPAC Promises to Strengthen Public Finance Oversight During Pandemic Recovery
  • Africa: The Russia - Ukraine Conflict and Its Impact On the Infrastructure and Built Environment Industry in Africa
  • Africa: Liberia Hosts AFROPAC Virtual Conference
  • Africa: Ghana Enterprise Agency Partners With Ie University's Africa Center to Promote Women Entrepreneurship
  • West Africa: President Weah Receives Letters of Credence From Ambassadors of South Africa, Gambia, Czech Republic And Ecowas
  • Africa: Guterres in Senegal - 'Triple Crisis' in Africa Aggravated By War in Ukraine
  • Africa: 60 Start-Ups Across Africa to Get $4m Google Fund
  • Africa: Over 11.6 Million Confirmed Cases of Covid-19 Across Continent
  • Africa: ILO - Child Labor Rising Around the World
  • Abijitta-Shalla National Park
  • Alatish Ethiopian National Park
  • Awash National Park
  • Babille Elephant Sanctuary
  • Bahir Dar Blue Nile Millennium Park
  • Bale National Park; Ethiopia’s lesser-known Treasure
  • Bale Mountains National Park
  • Borena-Sayint National Park
  • Chebera Churchura National Park
  • Dati Wolel National park
  • Gambella National Park
  • Gambella National Park 2
  • Kafta-Sheraro National Park
  • Mago National Park
  • Maze National Park
  • Nechisar National Park, Ethiopia
  • Omo National Park 
  • The Semien Mountains
  • Yabello National Park
  • Yangudi Rassa National Park
© Addis Herald 2022
  • Contact us
en English
af Afrikaansam Amharicar Arabiczh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanel Greekhi Hindiit Italianja Japaneseko Koreanla Latinru Russianes Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilisv Swedish