Nezool

Last updated
Nezool
Nezool.jpg
King of Aksum
ReignLate 5th Century-c.500 C.E.
Predecessor Ebana
Successor Ousas

Nezool (fl. later 5th century) was a king of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is primarily known from the coins minted during his reign, where his name also appears as Nezana.

Stuart Munro-Hay reports a theory that Nezool and Nezana were actually the names of a pair of kings who shared in a dual reign. [1] However, the consensus is that Nezool is the Ge'ez version of his name transliterated into Greek, while Nezana is a more Greek-looking form. [2]

Coinage

A number of gold and silver coins bearing either the name Nezool or Nezana have been recovered and can be found in modern collections. Three types of gold coins bearing the name Nezana and one bearing the name Nezool have been identified. All three bear his right-facing profile on both the obverse and reverse, with an arm emerging from his robe holding a stick or a fly-whisk, and framed by stalks of wheat. The only difference is in the inscriptions in Greek on the coins: one reads "King Nezana" on both sides; two have his title on one side, the other a legend acknowledging his kingship is due to God ("Thanks be to God"), and the fourth bears a variation on the enigmatic inscription found on other Aksumite coins, "+CΛX+ΛCΛ+CΛC+CΛN". [3] The one issue in silver bears the profile of Nezana wearing a headcloth on the obverse, with a monogram that has been interpreted as derived from the Ge'ez characters for Nezool, while the reverse bears a double-lined cross, with the central boss tilted; the four arms of the cross divides the legend into four groups of two letters each: "ΘΕ ΟΥ ΧΛ ΡΙ" which is interpreted as abbreviated Greek for "By the Grace of God". [4]

A number of anonymous copper coins are believed to have been minted during his reign. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezana of Axum</span> 320–360 ruler of the Kingdom of Aksum

Ezana, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Aksum. One of the best-documented rulers of Aksum, Ezana is important as he is the country's first king to embrace Christianity and make it the official religion. Tradition states that Ezana succeeded his father Ella Amida (Ousanas) as king while still a child but his mother, Sofya then served as regent until he came of age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaleb of Axum</span> King of Aksum from 514 to 542

Kaleb, also known as Saint Elesbaan, was King of Aksum, which was situated in modern-day Ethiopia and Eritrea

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ousanas</span> King of Aksum

Ousanas was a King of Axum. Stuart Munro-Hay believes that it is "very likely" that Ousanas is the king to whom Aedesius and Frumentius were brought. In Eritrean and Ethiopian tradition, this king is called Ella Allada or Ella Amida. Ella Amida would then be his throne name, although Ousanas is the name that appears on his coins. If this identification is correct, then it was during his reign that Christianity was introduced to Axum and the surrounding territories.

GDRT was a King of the Kingdom of Aksum, 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. GDRT is 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sembrouthes</span> King of Aksum

Sembrouthes was a King of the Kingdom of Aksum who most likely reigned sometime in the 3rd century. He is known only from a single inscription in Ancient Greek that was found at Dekemhare, Hamasien in modern-day Eritrea, which is dated to his 24th regnal year. Sembrouthes was the first known ruler in the lands later ruled by the Emperor of Ethiopia to adopt the title "King of Kings". He is a probable candidate for the king who erected the Monumentum Adulitanum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Endubis</span> Late-3rd-century Aksumite king

Endubis or Endybis was a late-3rd-century sovereign of the Kingdom of Aksum in East Africa. He was among the earliest rulers in the Africa to mint his own coins; according to Stuart C. Munro-Hay, "No other sub-Saharan African state issued its own independent coinage in ancient times -- indeed no other African state at all, since those in North Africa fell under Roman dominion." The Aksumite currency of his reign was issued in gold, silver, and bronze or copper denominations and bore inscriptions in Koine Greek.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aphilas</span> King of Aksum

Aphilas bisi Dimele was a King of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is known only from the coins he minted, which are characterized by a number of experiments in imagery on the obverse, and being issued in fractions of weight that none of his successors copied.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wazeba of Axum</span> King of Aksum

Wazeba, vocalized by historians as Wazeba, or WZB was a Negus of the Kingdom of Aksum, centered in the highlands of modern Ethiopia and Eritrea. He succeeded Aphilas. Wazeba is known only from the coins that he minted during his reign. He was the first Aksumite ruler to engrave the legends of his coins in Ge'ez, and the only King of Aksum to use that language on his gold currency. Stuart Munro-Hay suggests that the scarcity of Wazeba's coins may hint at a short reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MHDYS</span> King of Aksum

MHDYS was a ruler of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is primarily known through the coins that were minted during his reign, although a contemporary poet, Nonnus of Panopolis, may have alluded to him in his epic Dionysiaca.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ouazebas</span> King of Aksum

Ouazebas was a King of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is primarily known through the coins that were minted during his reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eon of Axum</span> King of Aksum

Eon was a King of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is primarily known through the coins minted during his reign, where his name is written in Greek as "Eon Bisi Anaaph". Only his coins issued in gold are known; many new examples were identified in the al-Madhariba hoard found in Yemen.

Alla Amidas was a king of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is primarily known from the coins minted during his reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wazena of Axum</span> King of Aksum

Wazena was a King of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is primarily known through the Aksumite currency that was minted during his reign. Without any clear discussion, Stuart Munro-Hay identifies him with a king Alla Amidas, who is also known only through the coins he issued.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ioel</span> King of Aksum

Ioel, or Joel, was a king of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is primarily known through the coins that were minted during his reign. He is one of several Aksumite kings with a Biblical name, the others include Israel, Kaleb, and likely Gersem and Noe; Ioel is named for the Biblical prophet, Joel, author of the Book of Joel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hataz</span> King of Aksum

Hataz was a king of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is primarily known through the coins that were minted during his reign, some of which call him Iathlia. His gold coin calls him Hethasas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Israel of Axum</span> King of Aksum

Israel was a king of Axum. He is primarily known through the coins minted during his reign. He is one of several Aksumite kings with a Biblical name, the others include Ioel, Kaleb, Gersem, and likely Noe; Richard Pankhurst mentions the name of this king as an early example of Judaic influence in Ethiopian culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gersem of Axum</span> King of Aksum

Gersem was a King of the Kingdom of Aksum in Northeast Africa. He is primarily known through the Aksumite currency that was minted during his reign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aksumite currency</span> Coinage produced and used in the Kingdom of Aksum

Aksumite currency was coinage produced and used within the Kingdom of Aksum centered in present-day Eritrea and Ethiopia. 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 eastern and souther part Horn of Africa from the start of the 12th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Aksum</span> Ancient state spanning from South Arabia to East Africa (400BC–960AD)

The Kingdom of Aksum (Ge'ez: አኵስም ʾÄkʷəsəm; Sabaic: 𐩱𐩫𐩪𐩣ʾKS1M; Ancient Greek: Ἀξωμίτης Axōmítēs), also known as the Kingdom of Axum, 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, it extended at its height into much of Southern Arabia during the reign of Kaleb, King of Axum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armah</span> King of Aksum

Armah 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 who gave shelter to Muslim emigrants around 615-6, more recently Wolfgang Hahn has suggested Armah might have been the name of one of the sons of Kaleb, Alla Amidas.

References

  1. Munro-Hay, Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity (Edinburgh: University Press, 1991), pp. 156f.
  2. 1 2 Wolfgang Hahn & Vincent West, Syllogue of Aksumite Coins in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2016), p. 13 ISBN   978-1-910807-10-1
  3. Hahn & West, Syllogue, pp. 98-103
  4. Stuart Munro-Hay, The Coinage of Aksum (New Delhi: Manohar, 1984), p. 111