Endubis or Endybis (Greek: Ενδυβις) was a late-3rd-century sovereign 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 ...

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

(modern-day

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

and

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

). He was among the earliest rulers in the Africa to mint his own coins; according to

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 ...

, "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 (Libya and Mauritania) fell under Roman dominion." 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 ...

of his reign was issued in

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

, and bronze or copper denominations and bore inscriptions in

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

Coinage

The coins of Endubis are dated to c. 295 to c. 310 and are "undoubtedly ..the oldest Aksumite coins". The weight of the gold coins issued in his reign are equivalent to "the weight of the half-

aureus The ''aureus'' ( ''aurei'', 'golden') was the main gold coin of ancient Rome from the 1st century BC to the early 4th century AD, when it was replaced by the ''solidus (coin), solidus''. This type of coin was sporadically issued during the Roman ...

or quinarius of the last half of the 3rd century AD." More precise clues can be seen in the currency reforms during the reign of

Diocletian Diocletian ( ; ; ; 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed Jovius, was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Diocles to a family of low status in the Roman province of Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia. As with other Illyri ...

, who reorganised the issuing of

gold coin A gold coin is a coin that is made mostly or entirely of gold. Most gold coins minted since 1800 are 90–92% gold (22fineness#Karat, karat), while most of today's gold bullion coins are pure gold, such as the Britannia (coin), Britannia, Canad ...

s in 286 and

silver coin Silver coins are one of the oldest mass-produced form of coinage. Silver has been used as a coinage metal since the times of the Greeks; their silver drachmas were popular trade coins. The ancient Persians used silver coins between 612–330 B ...

s in 294, the latter after having been suspended for several decades. As such, it is likely that the coins of Endubis, which were minted in gold, silver and copper, do not date to before c. 295. The coins of Endubis set the design that his successors followed for the most part. Both obverse and reverse are characterized by a profile bust of the rule facing to the right, with a stalk of two-row barley on either side between the bust and the inscription. Endubis and his pagan successors include in the legend at the top of the coin a "crescent representing perhaps the Moon-god

Sin In religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law or a law of the deities. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered ...

and the disc representing Shams, the Sun-goddess."Munro-Hay, ''Coinage'', p. 45 Two mottos in

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

characterize the coins of Endubis: * "ENΔYBIC BACIΛEYC" – "King Endybis" * "AξωMITω BICIΔAXY" – "of the Aksumites, man of Daku", or "bisi Dakhu". This is the first appearance of the title "bisi", which Stuart Munro-Hay believed is related to the Ge'ez word ''be'esya'' ("man of"). On some coins Endubis described himself as "ΑΞΩΜΙΤΩ ΒΑϹΙΛΕΥϹ", "king of Axum".

Gallery

File:Endubis1.jpg, Gold coin of Endubis. File:Triens d’or du Royaume Axoumite.jpg, Gold coin of Endubis.

References

External links

Page with coin struck under Endubis
{{s-end Kings of Axum 3rd-century monarchs in Africa