The Great Benin Kingdom "The Bedrock of Civilization"

“Edo” is the name that the people of the Benin Kingdom give to themselves, their language, and their capital city and kingdom. Renowned for their art, brass and Ivory and for their complex political organization, the Edo Kingdom of Benin is one of the best known for their pre-colonial kingdoms on the Guinea Coast of West Africa. From the fifteenth century, the Benin Empire held varying degrees of authority over neighboring people, including the western Igbo, northeastern Yoruba, and various related Edo speaking groups. In 1897 British-Colonial forces conquered the Kingdom and made it part of the Niger protectorate.

Edo belongs to the Edoid cluster of languages that is part of klua super-family. Edo speaking people include not only the Edo people but also the Ishan, the Etsako, the Ivbioskon, the Akoko-Edo, the Ineme, the Urhobo, and the Isoko.

    Edo have undoubted lived in the same area for many centuries. Connah’s archaeological investigation (1975) at a site in what is today Benin city suggest that large population with a degree of political organization may have existed as early as the eleventh century but was in place by the end of the fifteenth century. Oral traditions include reference to an early dynasty of kings called Ogiso (a term that can apply to individual rulers within that dynasty), which ruled, it is suggested, until the twelfth century or the thirteen century, when Oranmiyan dynasty, of Yoruba origin, took over. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries were an age of conquest and cultural flowering. Many of the sculptures for which Benin is famous were created for the monarchs Ewuare, Ozolua, Esigie, Orhogbua, and Ehengbuda. Under the rule of these kings, the empire imposed varying degrees of domination over neighboring Yoruba, Igbo, and Edo speaking populations and even extended its influence to Badagry and Ovidah ( now in the Republic of Benin, which was called Dahomey until 1976). This expansion was in process when the Portuguese explorers arrived in the third quarter of the fifteenth century. They were interested in spreading Christianity and developing commerce, which there had little success planting churches.

   A dynastic crisis in the seventeenth century led to a civil war lasting from 1690 to 1720, which disrupted the political and economic life of the kingdom, but peace was restored by Kings Akenzua and Eresoyen in the mid-eighteenth century. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Benin came into conflict with the British, who viewed the Kingdom as an obstacle to their economic and political expansion in the area. In 1897 a British consular official insisted on visiting the city in spite of king’s request to delay until the completion of important religious ceremonies. The consul and his party were ambushed, and most of them killed. The British immediately assembled retaliatory force, which attacked and captured Benin City in February of 1897, the reigning king, Ovonramwen was sent to exile, were he died, and the Benin Kingdom was incorporated into the Southern protectorates into the new country Nigeria.

Religious Belief: In the traditional Edo view, the universe is divided into two planes of existence; the visible, tangle world of everyday life (agbon) and the invisible spirit world (erinmwin) created by Osanobua and inhabited by him, other deities, ancestors, spirits, and supernatural powers. These are two parallel, coexisting realms, their boundaries, however are not inviolable, as gods and spirits daily intervene in the lives of humans, and powerful humans draw upon the forces of the spirit world to transform daily experience. The creator god, Osanobua, is rather remote; worship is more frequently directed towards other deities, who are his children.

    According to Benin notions of seniority Olukon, his oldest son. Olokun, the ruler of the global waters and the provider of wealth and fertility, is the most venerated deity in Benin, most especially among women who join local congregations to pray and make sacrifices for Olokun to give them children. Ogun, the god of iron, is the concern of all those who deal with metals. Other deities include Osun, the power inherent in leaves and herbs, is the concern of herbalists; Ogiuwn, the god of death; and Obienmwen, the goddess of safe delivery. Yoruba deities such as Eshu, the trickster; Shango, the god of thunder; and Orunmila the deity of divination, have been incorporated into Edo religion.

    There are two main categories of religious specialists; priest (ohen) and diviner/herbalist (obo). A priest (male) or priestess (female), under goes series of initiation rites before specializing in performing a wide variety of ceremonies and communicating directly or through trance, with his or her patron deity.

Ceremonies : In precolonial times there was a royal circle of ceremonies, one for each of the thirteen lunar months. Some were of private nature, such as the sacrifices the king made to his head or his hand.Oba (king) Eweka II reduced many of the private ceremonies in the palace, his son, Oba Akenzua II, reduced and limited the public ceremonies. The most important of these are the Ugie Erha Oba, which honors the king’s ancestors, and Igue, which strengthens his mystical powers.

Death and After-life: Death is seen by the Edo as part of a circle in which an individual moves between the spirits world and the everyday world in a series of fourteen reincarnations. Each circle begins with an appearance before the creator God, at which time a person announces his or her life or destiny plan. The person’s spiritual counterpart (ehi) is present and there after monitors the person’s adherence plan. After death, the person and his or her ehi must give an account to the creator God. If the account is acceptable, the person joins the ancestors in the spirit world until the time when he will be born again.

     In the spirit world the ancestors live in villages and quarters similar to those in the world of the living. From there, they watch over the behavior of their relations in the land of the living (everyday world), punishing transgressions. Their descendants perform weekly and annual rituals to implore the ancestors to bring benefit of health and fertility.