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Æ16 - Ioel Large cross
| Issuer | Aksumite Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 590-615 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
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| Composition | Bronze |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | (Translation: `King`.) |
| Reverse description | A large bold cross dominates the entire reverse field, its four arms extending nearly to the coin's edge and dividing the field into four quadrants. Ge'ez characters, forming the royal name 'Ioel', are placed between the arms of the cross. The design is characteristic of late Aksumite religious coinage, reflecting the kingdom's Christian iconography, and is struck in the irregular flan typical of the period. |
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| Additional information |
Ioel remains one of the least-documented rulers in the Aksumite sequence — no contemporary written sources name him, and his place in the regnal order is reconstructed almost entirely from coin typology and die linkage studies. The large cross type to which this piece belongs marks a period when Aksum's Red Sea trade networks were contracting under pressure from Sasanian Persian expansion into Yemen, which severed the kingdom's most profitable commercial routes sometime around 570 AD and permanently altered its economic reach.
The BMC Aksum reference places this type late in the series, consistent with declining flan quality and the kingdom's gradual withdrawal from international commerce.