Last weekend (yes I’m still catching up) brought news of Roman artefacts being found in 2000 year old graves in Aksum, in Ethiopia, suggesting a healthy trade between Aksum and Roman Egypt, if not directly evidence for the presence of Roman merchants themselves.

Intriguingly, there are old twentieth century reports of Roman coins being found out of area in what is now Kenya and Uganda, along with one from the Congo.

One could perhaps argue that these coins had come via merchants at Aksum and have been traded on, or carried as keepsakes, like East India company Rupees among the hill tribes of Myanmar, Thailand and Laos, they may have simply been valued for the good quality of the metal, rather than the monetary value per se …