QUICK Facts | Twin Emperor’s Abreha and Atsbeha.
Emperor Ezana (Abraha) – First Christian Emperor Ezana was the son of Emperor Ella Amida of Ethiopia. Fermentius converted Emperor Ezana to Christianity, and when the Emperor came of age, he replaced his coins that bore an emblem of the sun and moon along with his image, with new coins that bore the Holy Cross. They are the first coins in the world to bear the Christian emblem.
The term Ethiopian, which means “burned faces”, originated with Greek traders and was first used by Ezana in inscriptions that appeared on stone tablets between 333 and 340.