By the time coins were first minted in Aksum, there was widespread trade with Romans on the Red Sea; Kushana or Persian influence also cannot be ruled out.
The famous Panjtar stone inscription, now in (Pakistan), written in the year 122 of Saka ara, referse to one “ Lala, the protector of the Kushana dynasty of Maharaja Kanishka”.
His rule is recorded as far south as Sanchi, where several inscriptions in his name have been found, dated to the year 22 (The Sanchi inscription of "Vaskushana"-i.e. Vasishka Kushana) and year 28 (The Sanchi inscription of Vasaska-i.e. Vasishka) of a Kushan era (widely thought to be the second century of the Kanishka era).