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Aksumite Currency
Aksumite currency was coinage produced and used within the Kingdom of Aksum (or Axum) centered in present-day Ethiopia and Eritrea. Its mintages were issued and circulated from the reign of King Endubis around AD 270 until it began its decline in the first half of the 7th century where they started using Dinar along with most parts of the Middle East. During the succeeding medieval period, Mogadishu currency, minted by the Sultanate of Mogadishu, was the most widely circulated currency in the eastern and southern parts of the Horn of Africa from the start of the 12th century. Aksum's currency serves as an indicator of the kingdom's contemporary cultural influences and religious climate (first polytheistic and later Oriental Christianity). It also facilitated the Red Sea trade on which it thrived.Stuart Munro-Hay, ''Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity'' (Edinburgh: University Press, 1991), p. 155. The coinage has also proved invaluable in providing a reliable ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
AXUM
Axum, also spelled Aksum (), is a town in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia with a population of 66,900 residents (as of 2015). It is the site of the historic capital of the Aksumite Empire. Axum is located in the Central Zone of the Tigray Region, near the base of the Adwa mountains. It has an elevation of and is surrounded by La'ilay Maychew, a separately administered woreda of the Tigray region. In 1980, UNESCO added Axum's archaeological sites to its list of World Heritage Sites due to their historic value. Prior to the beginning of the Tigray War in 2020, Axum was a leading tourist destination for foreign visitors. History Ancient Little information is available regarding the early centuries of Aksum's presumed evolution from a humble regional hub to a dominant power. Archeological findings at Gobadra (Gobo Dara) and the Anqar Baahti rock-shelters suggest Stone Age remnants in close proximity. R. Fattovich's excavations at amba 'Beta Giyorgis above Aksum validate the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kushana
The Kushan Empire (– CE) was a syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan, Eastern Iran, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Kushan territory in India went at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath, now near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great. The Kushans were most probably one of five branches of the Yuezhi confederation, an Indo-European nomadic people of possible Tocharian origin, who migrated from northwestern China (Xinjiang and Gansu) and settled in ancient Bactria. The founder of the dynasty, Kujula Kadphises, followed Iranian and Greek cultural ideas and iconography after the Greco-Bactrian tradition and was a follower of the Shaivite sect of Hinduism. Two later Kushan kings, Vima Kadphises and Vasudeva II, were also patrons of Hinduism. The Kushans in general were also gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ennarea
Ennarea, also known as E(n)narya or In(n)arya ( Gonga: Hinnario), was a kingdom in the Gibe region in what is now western Ethiopia. It became independent from the kingdom of Damot in the 14th century and would be the most powerful kingdom in the region until its decline in the 17th century. Being located on the southwestern periphery of the Ethiopian Empire, Ennarea was its tributary throughout much of its history, supplying the emperor with gold and slaves. The culmination of this relationship was the Christianization of the Ennarean elite in the late 1580s. From the late 16th century the kingdom came under increasing pressure by the Oromo, who finally reconquered Ennarea in around 1610. What is known about Ennarea comes mostly from oral traditions as well as a few foreign written sources; it had no indigenous literacy tradition. History Early period According to oral traditions the royal Ennarean clan, the ''Hinnare Bushasho'', originated in northern Ethiopia before settlin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sudan
Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the southeast, and South Sudan to the south. Sudan has a population of 50 million people as of 2024 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres (728,215 square miles), making it Africa's List of African countries by area, third-largest country by area and the third-largest by area in the Arab League. It was the largest country by area in Africa and the Arab League until the 2011 South Sudanese independence referendum, secession of South Sudan in 2011; since then both titles have been held by Algeria. Sudan's capital and most populous city is Khartoum. The area that is now Sudan witnessed the Khormusan ( 40000–16000 BC), Halfan culture ( 20500–17000 BC), Sebilian ( 13000–10000 BC), Qadan culture ( 15000–5000 BC), the war of Jebel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the Golden Race of humanity ( ''chrýseon génos'') lived. After the end of the first age was the Silver age, Silver, then the Bronze Age (mythology), Bronze, after this the Greek Heroic Age, Heroic age, with the fifth and current age being Iron Age (mythology), Iron. By extension, "Golden Age" denotes a period of primordial peace, harmony, ecological stability, stability, and prosperity. During this age, peace and harmony prevailed in that people did not have to work to feed themselves for the earth provided food in abundance. They lived to a very old age with a youthful appearance, eventually dying peacefully, with spirits living on as "guardians". Plato in ''Cratylus (dialogue), Cratylus'' (397 e) recounts the golden race of humans ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hadhramaut
Hadhramaut ( ; ) is a geographic region in the southern part of the Arabian Peninsula which includes the Yemeni governorates of Hadhramaut, Shabwah and Mahrah, Dhofar in southwestern Oman, and Sharurah in the Najran Province of Saudi Arabia, and sometimes the Aden, Abyan and Lahij governorates of Yemen at a more stretched historical definition. The region's people are known as the '' Hadharem''. They formerly spoke Hadramautic, an old South Arabian language, but they now predominantly speak the Hadhrami dialect of Arabic. Though the origins of the name are unknown, the name Hadhramaut is traditionally explained as a compound word meaning "death has come" or "court of death," derived either from the Arabic ("he came") plus ("death"), a folk nickname for Amer bin Qahtan, the region's legendary first settler, or from the Biblical Hebrew ("court" or "dwelling") plus ("death") as seen in Hazarmaveth. The name is of ancient origin and is reflected in the name of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bronze
Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloids (such as arsenic or silicon). These additions produce a range of alloys some of which are harder than copper alone or have other useful properties, such as strength, ductility, or machinability. The archaeological period during which bronze was the hardest metal in widespread use is known as the Bronze Age. The beginning of the Bronze Age in western Eurasia is conventionally dated to the mid-4th millennium BCE (~3500 BCE), and to the early 2nd millennium BCE in China; elsewhere it gradually spread across regions. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age, which started about 1300 BCE and reaching most of Eurasia by about 500 BCE, although bronze continued to be much more widely used than it is in modern times. Because historica ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sabaeans
Sheba, or Saba, was an ancient South Arabian kingdom that existed in Yemen from to . Its inhabitants were the Sabaeans, who, as a people, were indissociable from the kingdom itself for much of the 1st millennium BCE. Modern historians agree that the heartland of the Sabaean civilization was located in the region around Marib and Sirwah. In some periods, they expanded to much of modern Yemen and even parts of the Horn of Africa, particularly Eritrea and Ethiopia. The kingdom's native language was Sabaic, which was a variety of Old South Arabian. Stuart Munro-Hay, ''Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity'', 1991. Among South Arabians and Abyssinians, Sheba's name carried prestige, as it was widely considered to be the birthplace of South Arabian civilization as a whole. The first Sabaean kingdom lasted from the 8th century BCE to the 1st century BCE: this kingdom can be divided into the " mukarrib" period, where it reigned supreme over all of South Arabia; and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silver Coin
Silver coins are one of the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–330 BC. Before 1797, British pennies were made of silver. As with all collectible coins, many factors determine the value of a silver coin, such as its rarity, demand, condition and the number originally minted. Ancient silver coins coveted by collectors include the Denarius and Miliarense, while more recent collectible silver coins include the Morgan Dollar and the Spanish Milled Dollar. Other than collector's silver coins, silver bullion coins are popular among people who desire a " hedge" against currency inflation or store of value. Silver has an international currency symbol of XAG under ISO 4217. Origins and early development of silver coins The earliest coins in the world were minted in the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor aro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gold Coin
A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22fineness#Karat, karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia (coin), Britannia, Canadian Gold Maple Leaf, Canadian Maple Leaf, and American Buffalo (coin), American Buffalo. Alloyed gold coins, like the American Gold Eagle and South African Krugerrand, are typically 91.7% gold by weight, with the remainder being silver and copper. Until about the 1930s, gold coins were Circulation (currency), circulation coins, including Exonumia, coin-like bracteates and Gold dinar, dinars. Since then, gold coins have mainly been produced as bullion coins for Gold as an investment, investors and as commemorative coins for Coin collecting, collectors. While modern gold coins are still legal tender, they are not used in everyday financial transactions, as the metal value invariably exceeds the Real versus nominal value (economics), nominal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Electrum
Electrum is a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver, with trace amounts of copper and other metals. Its color ranges from pale to bright yellow, depending on the proportions of gold and silver. It has been produced artificially and is also known as "Colored gold#Green gold, green gold".Emsley, John (2003Nature's building blocks: an A–Z guide to the elements Oxford University Press. p. 168. . Electrum was used as early as the third millennium BC in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, sometimes as an exterior coating to the pyramidion, pyramidia atop ancient Egyptian pyramids and obelisks. It was also used in the making of ancient Beaker (archaeology) , drinking vessels. The first known metal coins made were of electrum, dating back to the end of the 7th century or the beginning of the 6th century BC. Etymology The name ''electrum'' is the Latinized form of the Greek language, Greek word ἤλεκτρον (''ḗlektron''), mentioned in the ''Odyssey'', referring to a metallic s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GDRT
GDRT (also GDR, vocalized by historians as Gadarat) was a king of the Kingdom of Aksum (c. 200), known for being the first king to involve Aksum in South Arabian affairs. He is known primarily from inscriptions in South Arabia that mention him and his son BYGT (also vocalized as "Beyga" or "Beygat"). GDRT has been equated with the anonymous king of the Monumentum Adulitanum located off the coast of Zula in the ancient settlement of Adulis located in modern day Eritrea, which would date his reign c. 200 – c. 230. However, the two rulers are sometimes thought to be distinct. Further, the French scholar Christian Robin, studying the inscriptions at al-Mis`al in Yemen, has shown that GDRT and his successor `DBH lived in the earlier half of the 3rd century. GDRT is also thought to be the same person as GDR, the name inscribed on a bronze wand or sceptre that was found in an area near Atsbi and Dar'a/Addi-Galamo in northern Ethiopia. Aksumite inscription The inscriptions of GD ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
