Axum's King Wazeba and the First Inscribed Gold Coin

This episode of Fexingo History turns to a lesser-known but pivotal figure in Axumite history: King Wazeba. While earlier episodes focused on military campaigns and trade networks, we explore Wazeba's reign in the early 4th century AD, a time when Axum was transitioning from a regional power to a major player in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade. Wazeba is best known for issuing the first Axumite gold coins inscribed with his name, a move that signaled Axum's economic ambitions and its desire to be seen as a peer to the Roman and Sassanid empires. We discuss the coinage itself—its design, weight, and the symbols it carried, including the crescent and disc of the god Mahrem. We also examine Wazeba's likely campaigns in the highlands of what is now Ethiopia and Eritrea, as recorded in the Monumentum Adulitanum. The episode touches on the challenges of dating Axumite kings and the debates among historians about Wazeba's place in the king list. A fresh angle that digs into numismatics, religious symbolism, and the art of ancient propaganda. #Axum #Wazeba #AksumiteCoinage #Numismatics #Mahrem #MonumentumAdulitanum #GoldCoin #RedSeaTrade #EthiopianHistory #EritreanHistory #4thCenturyAD #Meroe #Ge'ez #Basileus #Stater #FexingoHistory #AncientAfrica #History Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo