MHDYS (vocalized by historians as Mehadeyis) was a King of the
Kingdom of Aksum
The Kingdom of Aksum ( gez, መንግሥተ አክሱም, ), also known as the Kingdom of Axum or the Aksumite Empire, was a kingdom centered in Northeast Africa and South Arabia from Classical antiquity to the Middle Ages. Based primarily in wh ...
(c. 360). He is primarily known through the
coins
A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to ...
that were minted during his reign.
MHDYS re-established
Ge'ez as the language used on all his coins. Munro-Hay notes that the legend upon MHDYS's bronze coins, ''bzmsql tmw'' ("By this cross you will conquer"), was a loose translation of the famous motto of Emperor
Constantine the Great
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...
, ''In hoc signo vinces'' ("By this sign you will conquer").
[Munro-Hay, Stuart. ''Aksum: An African Civilization of Late Antiquity'' (Edinburgh: University Press, 1991), p. 81.]
See also
*
Aksumite currency
Aksumite currency was coinage produced and used within the Kingdom of Aksum (or Axum) 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 ...
*
Ge'ez language
References
Kings of Axum
4th-century monarchs in Africa
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