UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Ancient Civilizations of Africa
settled in Adulis, Aksum and different Ethiopian towns, and brought in
quantities of imported goods. It is among these groups that wine and
olive-oil found a ready sale. Excavated objects such as the balance and
weights, the seal, Roman and Kushana coins were obviously traces left by
Roman-Byzantine and Indian merchants who had lived in Adulis and
Aksum. The Periplus states plainly that denarii were brought to Adulis
for foreigners living there, that is to say, neither African nor Roman
subjects. As is well known, the drain of Roman currency to southern Arabia,
India, Ceylon and other eastern lands assumed catastrophic proportions.
The foreigners who brought in denarii may have been merchants from
India, Ceylon and Arabia. Among those who traded with the Aksum
kingdom, Arab tradition recalls the Banu-Kuraish from Mecca, Cosmas
Indicopleustes speaks of islanders from Socotra, and 'Pseudo-Calisthenes'
mentions Indians. The relative importance of overseas cities and countries
for Ethiopian trade in the early sixth century may be judged by the
number of ships that entered the Ethiopian harbour of Gabaza in the
summer of 525. This list is to be found in the 'Martyrdom of Aretha', 33
and a detailed analysis of it has been made by N. V. Pigulevskaya. 34 Nine
ships are described as Indian - a term that admits of various interpretations.
Seven vessels arrived from the isle of al-Farasan al-Kabir, inhabited by the
Farasan, a southern Arabian Christian tribe who played a leading part in
Red Sea commerce. Fifteen ships arrived from Palestinian Elat, the chief
port of the Syrian-Palestinian region. Twenty-two vessels came from
Egyptian ports - twenty from Clysme, and only two from Berenice. Another
seven came from the island of Iotaba (Thiran). All the Roman citizens
whose journeys to Adulis or Aksum are authentically known were born
in either Egypt or Syria.
The leading contractors who dealt with foreign merchants were Aksumite
monarchs and vassals of separate domains in the kingdom of Aksum,
particularly Adulis and southern Arabia. These were the men who had at
their disposal sufficient goods for export. In this kingdom, as in neighbouring
southern Arabia and also in Byzantium, trade monopolies may have
existed at that time. Elephant-hunting and the sale of ivory and gold could
easily have been largely the monopoly of the ruler. Only the king and the
archontes of Aksum possessed sufficient wealth to purchase foreign goods.
The rulers owned vast herds. In Ezana's inscriptions, mention is made
of spoils obtained in two Aksumite campaigns in Afan and Nubia, which
altogether comprised over 32 500 head of cattle and more than 51000 sheep,
as well as many hundreds of pack animals. It is not quite clear whether
these were the spoils of the entire army or only the king's share, but the
latter seems the more likely supposition. In the inscriptions concerning
the resettlement of four Bega ethnic groups, Ezana declared that he en-
33. Martyrium sancti Arethae, p. 747.
34. N. V. Pigulevskaya, 1951, pp. 300-1.
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