Aksum was the only African state in ancient times, outside the Roman
dependencies, to issue its own national coinage (for references on coinage
questions see Anzani: 1926, 1928, 1941; Munro-Hay, loc. var: Hahn 1983;
much of the following chapter is based on Munro-Hay 1984iv). The
Aksumite coinage lasted from about 270 AD, or a little later, into the early
seventh century, and seems to have been used in both external trade and
internal market transactions. How far the whole kingdom was able to employ
a monetarised economy is still a matter for conjecture, but so far coin-finds
have been reported from all excavated Aksumite sites.

By the time of Aksum's first recorded military ventures to the Yemen, the
coinage of the South Arabian kingdoms would seem to have been nearing the
end of its use, if it was not already discontinued. This coinage, chiefly of silver
in Saba and Himyar, and bronze in Hadhramawt, only very rarely seems to
have included electrum or gold pieces. It is much more likely that the
immediate origins of the coinage of Aksum were influenced by Roman
trading in the Red Sea, though perhaps the awareness of Kushana and
Persian coinages also inspired the Aksumites to emulation. The Aksumite
coinage followed the Roman/Byzantine weight system, and this and certain
other factors add probability to the suggestion that Rome was the primary
region to which Aksum looked when the issue of a coinage was planned. At
any rate, adoption of a coinage would have immensely facilitated exchange
of products and all other public and private business in which it was
employed, and must have given considerable impetus to the economy.

Whilst there is no actual proof, except for the tentative identification of a
pottery object from the excavations as a coin-mould (Wilding in Munro-Hay
1989), it would seem very likely that it was at Aksum itself that the coins were
minted. No other African state south of the Sahara issued coins until the sul-
tanate of Kilwa began coinage-production possibly in the mid-tenth century.

Few African societies possessed a market or exchange system so evolved as
to require a universally accepted form of currency; the need for such a

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