UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Aksum: political system, economics and culture, first to fourth century
dowed them with 25000 head of cattle, 35 a figure which enables us to
judge the extent of the herds concentrated on the king's own farms. It
is noteworthy that every number recorded in these inscriptions is written
first in words, then in figures - just as in modern times. It was possibly
during the Aksumite period that a court appointment known as a cattleclerk
(sahafeham) was created and remained an honourable title for
governors of certain provinces until the fourteenth century.
In Aksum, as in other African kingdoms of antiquity, herds constituted
wealth but it was extremely difficult to transform them into saleable
merchandise. The systematic export of herds by sea was out of the question
although the Aksumites contrived to send some animals singly, even some
elephants belonging to the army of Abraha. Cattle could, of course, be
driven into the African interior for sale to the people there - Cosmas
Indicopleustes mentions that caravans of Aksumites drove cattle into Sasu -
but a considerable proportion of these animals must inevitably have been
needed for victualling the caravan itself.
One kind of merchandise for which the demand never slackened throughout
the centuries was that of slaves. There are references in the Ezana
inscriptions and sources connected with Aksumite—Himyarite wars to
prisoners taken in warfare who were regarded as desirable merchandise
by foreign slave-traders. Gold and silver seized as spoils of war, or as
tribute sent from Nubia, from the Beja, Agaw, Himyar and other countries
were brought by caravans from Sasu and minted as coin which went to
pay for the foreign goods required by the king and his nobles.
Although industry in Aksum did not result in any important volume of
saleable commodities, the abundance of agricultural and animal products
permitted the Aksumites to load trading vessels and caravans. Thus they
provided their own food and commodities for home consumption and also
for some trade with other countries.
Some idea of how they organized their commerce is given by Cosmas
Indicopleustes in his account of how Sasu supplied gold to Aksum from its
many goldfields. 'From year to year (or perhaps they should read once in
two years?) the Aksumite king sends, through the archon of Agaw, people
to bring back gold. Many travel with these people for the same purpose,
so that altogether there might be more than five hundred.' Cosmas further
points out that all the members of the caravan were armed and endeavoured
to reach their destinations before the big rains. He gives the exact period
when these rains were to be expected. The gold conveyed from Sasu was
in nuggets the size of the wolf-beans known as tankaras. 36
It seems that the nucleus of a caravan consisted of the king's agents,
accompanied by some other people, who might be noblemen's agents and
rich Aksumites, but not foreigners. At that time, Ethiopian rulers were no
35. DAE 10: 17-22; DAE n: 43-4; DAE 4: 13-15; DAE 6: 7-8; DAE 7: 9-10.
36. E. O. Winstedt, pp. 70-1.
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