The Aksumite kings, powerful rulers of a kingdom in northern Ethiopia from the 2nd to the 9th century AD, and Christian from the 4th century, issued small gold coins, with a little bronze and very rare silver, from the 3rd century onward; the initially Greek inscriptions were replaced ultimately by Amharic. Indigenous coinage lapsed in the 10th century, the country becoming dependent on imported currencies, of which the silver Maria Theresa thalers of Austria were conspicuous from the 18th century onward.

National coinage was resumed by King Menilek II, emperor of Ethiopia ( 1889–1913 ) with silver coins called talaris and their fractions and subsidiary copper, showing the Lion of Judah reverse an allusion to the tradition that Menilek I had been the son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Some gold came later, to be continued by Emperor Haile Selassie ( 1930 - 36 ), who coined also in nickel and bronze until the Italian occupation and after his restoration in 1941. A national coinage continued after he was deposed in 1974.