210917 - Kingdom of Aksum or Axum – Brass coin of ANONYMUS (ca. 440-470 A.D.).
Kingdom of Aksum
Aksumite Period. anonymous (ca. 440-470 A.D.)
size are 12 mm
Obverse: Crowned bust right, holding cruciform scepter..
Reverse: Greek cross within circle
References; Hahn, AKSUMITE 36.2 - Munro-Hay type 76 - BMX Axum 316.
Condition see the photo's.
Aksumite Kingdom - ANONYMOUS
(Fourth - fifth century AD)
Axum Axum or was the capital of a kingdom located in northern Ethiopia in the present province of Tigray. The royal dynasty claimed descent from the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. The Axumite played an important role in the trade of the Red Sea and were early contact with the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Under the reign of Ezana (c. 320-356), the kingdom was evangelized by Frumentius, a Syrian merchant who was consecrated the first bishop of the United Athanasius of Alexandria. After a brilliant period, United entered into decline during the Arab conquests of the seventh century.
The Kingdom of Aksum (also known as the Kingdom of Axum, or the Aksumite Empire) was an ancient kingdom in what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Ruled by the Aksumites, it existed from approximately 100 AD to 940 AD. The polity was centered in the city of Axum and grew from the proto-Aksumite Iron Age period around the 4th century BC to achieve prominence by the 1st century AD. It became a major player on the commercial route between the Roman Empire and Ancient India. The Aksumite rulers facilitated trade by minting their own Aksumite currency, with the state establishing its hegemony over the declining Kingdom of Kush. It also regularly entered the politics of the kingdoms on the Arabian Peninsula and eventually extended its rule over the region with the conquest of the Himyarite Kingdom. The Manichaei prophet Mani (died 274 AD) regarded Axum as one of the four great powers of his time, the others being Persia, Rome, and China.
The Aksumites erected a number of monumental stelae, which served a religious purpose in pre-Christian times. One of these granite columns is the largest such structure in the world, at 90 feet. Under Ezana (fl. 320-360) Aksum adopted Christianity. In the 7th century, early Muslims from Mecca sought refuge from Quraysh persecution by travelling to the kingdom, a journey known in Islamic history as the First Hijra.
The kingdom's ancient capital, also called Axum, was in northern Ethiopia. The Kingdom used the name "Ethiopia" as early as the 4th century. Tradition claims Axum as the alleged resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the purported home of the Queen of Sheba.