The Aksumite Currency: Coins of an Ancient Superpower

Before Ethiopia's rock-hewn churches and medieval castles, the Kingdom of Aksum minted some of the most remarkable coins of the ancient world. This episode explores how Aksumite gold, silver, and bronze coins — inscribed in Ge'ez and Greek — projected imperial power, facilitated Red Sea trade, and revealed the empire's religious transformation. Lucas and Luna examine the iconography of kings like Endubis, Aphilas, and Ezana, whose coin portraits evolved from crescent-and-disk symbols to the cross after Christianity became the state religion. They discuss the mysterious 'bucranium' motif, the coins' role in dating Aksumite history, and how these tiny artifacts challenge Eurocentric narratives of ancient economic systems. The episode also touches on the recent discovery of Aksumite coins in India and the Arabian Peninsula, proving the empire's reach from the Levant to Sri Lanka. With no written chronicles surviving from Aksum itself, these coins are a primary source for understanding one of Africa's greatest civilizations — its kings, its gods, and its place in the global economy of late antiquity. #Aksum #AksumiteCurrency #AncientCoins #Numismatics #GeEz #Ezana #Endubis #Aphilas #RedSeaTrade #AncientEconomy #Christianity #AfricanHistory #EthiopianHistory #LateAntiquity #Archaeology #History #FexingoHistory #AncientAfrica #AksumiteEmpire #Lalibela Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo