Ouazebas

Last updated
Ouazebas
Ouazebas.jpg
King of Aksum
ReignMid 4th Century-Late 4th Century
Predecessor MHDYS
Successor Eon

Ouazebas (late 4th century) was a King of the Kingdom of Aksum. He is primarily known through the coins that were minted during his reign.

Ouazebas' coins were found beneath the remains of the largest stela in the city of Axum. This suggests that the stele had fallen as early as his reign. Stuart Munro-Hay suggests that this particular stela was the last one erected, and that "possibly they went out of favor as Christianity spread, bringing with it new ideas about burial. [1]

Coinage

Ouazebas reintroduced on the obverse of his bronze coins a motto from the time of Ezana: TOYTOAPECHTHXWPA, meaning "May this please the people". Munro-Hay comments that this motto is "a rather attractive peculiarity of Aksumite coinage, giving a feeling of royal concern and responsibility towards the people's wishes and contentment". [2]

The reverse of the bronze coins have a new feature: a halo of gold around the king's head, as was done for the silver coins of Aphilas and Ousanas. Munro-Hay regretfully notes that "because of the conditions in which many of these coins have been buried, the prevalence of bronze disease means that it is quite rare to come across specimens in good condition". [3]

Notes

  1. Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity (Edinburgh: University Press, 1991), p. 82.
  2. Munro-Hay, Aksum, p. 192.
  3. Munro-Hay, "Aksumite Coinage" in African Zion: the Sacred Art of Ethiopia, ed. Marilyn Heldman (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993), p. 109

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">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">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.

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

Ebana was a 5th-century King of the Kingdom of Axum. He is primarily known from the series of coins that were minted during his reign. His gold coins "are easily the commonest of Aksumite gold issues".

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

Nezool 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.

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.