1/2 Siliqua - Ioel

Aksumite silver coinage of this period is exceptionally rare — the kingdom's monetary economy was already contracting sharply as Red Sea trade routes destabilized under pressure from the Sasanian Persian advance into Yemen in the 570s, which effectively severed Aksum's commercial reach into Arabia. By the reign of Ioel, silver issues had become so infrequent that numismatists debate whether they functioned as prestige objects rather than circulating currency.