Axum's King Endubis and the First African Coinage

Long before Axum rivaled Rome, a king named Endubis minted the first indigenous coins in sub-Saharan Africa. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how Endubis used gold and silver not just for trade, but to project power and declare his kingdom's sovereignty. They discuss the blend of Ge'ez inscriptions with Greek and South Arabian motifs, the discovery of his coins in early 20th-century excavations, and what these tiny artifacts reveal about Axum's place in the ancient world economy. From the weight standards borrowed from Rome to the iconography of the bucranium and the crescent-and-disc, they trace how a single coin could signal wealth, religion, and ambition. They also touch on the challenge of dating Endubis's reign—debated between the 3rd and 4th centuries AD—and why his coinage marks a turning point in African history. No prior knowledge of numismatics needed, just curiosity about how empires advertise themselves. #Axum #Endubis #Coinage #Numismatics #Ge'ez #Adulis #RedSea #AncientEconomy #Bucranium #CrescentAndDisc #GoldCoin #SilverCoin #RomanEmpire #Sassanid #Meroe #EthiopianHistory #History #FexingoHistory Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo