Gersem (c. 600) was a

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

of the

Kingdom of Aksum The Kingdom of Aksum, or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom in East Africa and South Arabia from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, based in what is now northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, and spanning present-day Djibouti and Sudan. Emerging ...

Northeast Africa Northeast Africa, or Northeastern Africa, or Northern East Africa as it was known in the past, encompasses the countries of Africa situated in and around the Red Sea. The region is intermediate between North Africa and East Africa, and encompasses ...

. He is primarily known through the

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 ...

that was minted during his reign.

Stuart Munro-Hay Stuart Christopher Munro-Hay (21 April 1947 – 14 October 2004) was a British archaeologist, numismatist and Ethiopianist. He studied the culture and history of ancient Ethiopia, the Horn of Africa region and South Arabia, particularly their his ...

suggests that either Gersem or

Armah Armah (late 6th/early 7th century AD) was a king of the Aksum. He is primarily known through the coins that were minted during his reign. While some scholars have suggested as long ago as 1895 that he was identical to Najashi, the king of Axum wh ...

were the last Aksumite Kings to issue coins. However, no gold coins belonging to Armah have been found, and the Gersem mint is assumed to be the last coin in gold. Egyptologist

E. A. Wallis Budge Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (27 July 185723 November 1934) was an English Egyptology, Egyptologist, Orientalism, Orientalist, and Philology, philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient ...

theorised that this king's named was influenced by the Biblical name

Gershom According to the Bible, Gershom ( ''Gēršōm'', "a sojourner there"; ) was the firstborn son of Moses and Zipporah. The name means "a stranger there" in Hebrew, ( ''ger sham''), which the text argues was a reference to Moses' flight from Egypt. ...

Place in Aksumite king list

The official king list of the Ethiopian monarchy from 1922 lists a similarly named king called "Germa Asfar" who reigned from 631 to 645 (

Ethiopian Calendar The Ethiopian calendar (; ; ), or Geʽez calendar (Geʽez: ; Tigrinya: , ) is the official state civil calendar of Ethiopia and serves as an unofficial customary cultural calendar in Eritrea, and among Ethiopians and Eritreans in the dia ...

). This could be the same king as Gersem based on dating, but the list names a different predecessor and successor for him, with Akala Wedem being the previous king and Zergaz being the next king. A manuscript held in the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

also states that a king named "Germa Safar" succeeded Akala Wedem and was succeeded by Zergaz. This list claims he was the 13th king to reign after Abreha and Atsbeha. A king list recorded by Egyptologist Henry Salt in 1814 also records a similar line of succession, although the king is called "Grim Sofar" instead of Germa or Gersem and is the 10th king to reign after Abreha and Atsbeha. Neither of these king lists provide reign dates.

Carlo Conti Rossini Carlo Conti Rossini (1872–1949) was an Italian orientalist. He was director of the State Treasury from 1917 to 1925, a member of the Accademia dei Lincei in 1921 and Royal Academy of Italy from 1939. He wrote various works on the historical g ...

recorded a different king list in 1903 that stated that king "Germa Sor" was the 15th king after Abreha and Atsbeha and was preceded by Degzan and succeeded by Akala Wedem.

Coinage

Several types of coins have been dated to Gersem's reign, minted in gold, silver and copper. There are two gold types: one has the king's bust wearing a crown on the obverse holding a hand-cross in his right hand with a single stalk of wheat on his left, while the reverse shows a profile of the king wearing a head-cloth between two barley stalks; the second also has the bust of the king on the obverse between two stalks of barley, while the reverse bears a rudimentary bust of the king between two barley stalks apparently holding one of the stalks in his right hand. Only one type of the silver is known, with the profile of the king holding a hand-cross on both sides, with the image on the obverse crowned while the image on the reverse wears a head-cloth. Two types of the copper issue have been identified: one, like the gold issue, with a crowned bust of the king on the obverse, but with crosses on his shoulders, while the reverse bears a cross surrounded by a circle of dots with the inscription "He conquers through Christ"; the second shows the profile of the king on both sides, but has little other identifiable details.Stuart Munro-Hay, ''The Coinage of Aksum'' (Manohar, 1984), pp. 152-156

References

{{reflist Kings of Axum 7th-century monarchs in Africa 6th-century monarchs in Africa