Kaleb's Aksumite Coinage: Propaganda in Gold and Silver

In this episode of The Kingdom of Axum, Lucas and Luna explore how King Kaleb used coinage as a tool of political and religious propaganda during the 6th century CE. Kaleb's gold, silver, and bronze coins—minted at the height of his conflict with Himyar—featured inscriptions in Ge'ez and Greek, Christian crosses alongside traditional crescent-and-disk symbols, and titles like 'Basileus' and 'Negus.' The hosts discuss the iconography of the bucranium, the introduction of the cross on Aksumite currency, and what these coins reveal about Kaleb's diplomacy with Byzantium and his rivalry with Sassanid Persia. They also examine the economic implications of controlling the Red Sea trade in frankincense, myrrh, and ivory, and how coin hoards from sites like Adulis and Aksum help historians reconstruct the empire's late prosperity. A hoard found in Yemen is linked to Kaleb's Himyar campaign, and the episode closes on the question of whether his coinage was a final golden age before Axum's long decline. #Kaleb #AksumiteCoinage #HimyarWar #Adulis #Ge'ez #Basileus #Negus #bucranium #ChristianCross #Byzantium #SassanidPersia #RedSeaTrade #frankincense #ivory #Propaganda #Numismatics #FexingoHistory #EastAfrica Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo