everyone knows the benin ife oduduwa tales but when we took a deep look we found out that the history was purely fabricated and was brought to life during early Colonial era, by the edos and yoruba for political benefit which
didn't last in a long run, due to tribalism by the yoruba towards the edo people. in as much as edos wanted political unity with the yorubas they also wanted their cultural distinction which the yorubas at a time forced the edos to yorubanise....which inturn led to a break out from western region although both royal heads knows the truth but they still promote this false history for personal interest.... everything we have to know about benin kingdom was heavily documented by the European and as such this researched article would be referencing European text about the benin people, from the European document about thd benin kingdom we also notice the benin, ife, oyo relationship was never mentioned in their documentations how could they have missed such great relationships if truly the oduduwa tales where true in benin history , this is another reason not to believe on the oduduwa tales in the benin kingdom lets evaluate some point carefully.....


1) first of all the ogiemen history was sn history involving only the benin people and it never concerned ife or oduduwa, Benins in the past had many Civil war and went through several constitutional changes likewise it made several treaties like that of the popular esan gbe do treaty, the ogiemien( worshippers of sea) and not ogiemien( meaning it's only ogie they see in benin and not oba') the later was a revisionism made by oba erediawa when he wrote the benin history to make it completely align as truth against the yoruba false history on edo people....


2) there was nothing like ogiso the first mention of ogiso appeared in a European document in 17 century, as a matter of fact it was a myth told by the benin to Europeans the benin knowing about Christianity told other coming Europeans to the city who wanted to know about their religion that the ogiso(sky kings) made humans and that the ogiso existed before the creation of the moon as noted in a European document in 1600AD, the benin tradition as we all know was based on pure ancestral worship although there were also idols being worshiped in the kingdom, they believe life existed on earth and they thought little or nothing existed in the heavens they belive the gods that caused rain and sun where distinct God's and they existed on earth and also believed the Oba of Benin was the ultimate Gods and only worship is own ancestors for powers and guidance
and the other gods were smaller gods including the god of the sea olokun and they also believed the spirit of the deceased remained on earth to protect their loved ones so an alter were built to encourage communication between the deceased and the living.... now we can see the benin tradition revolved around the earth and not the heavens not until the Europeans arrival but in today Benin history the ogiso myth has been used to make the dynasty look older....which is not really true....the Benins could have reference to a God king (ogiso) out of inferiority complex from their religion or the situation at then but whatever reasons it maybe the History of ogiso holds no sway in Benin tradition as kings but rather myths


3) the name Benin wasn't coined by oduduwa or oromiyan the name was formerly called ogodomigo which was later changed by ewaure to Edo reference a servant of a chief that was killed when he was escaping death by his
younger brother due to the throne struggles between both of them, the name Benin was coined from ile binu which the itsekiri describe the Benin as a warning to the Portuguese against entering Benin without proper notification, and was later mispronounced by the Portuguese as Benin to describe the ile binu people


4) the artworks of both Benin and ife has been evaluated thoroughly by a European researcher's in a bid to find the origin of both artworks in their research they found no similarity at all, they found the material they use in making the artworks between the Benin and ife arts where distinct likewise the pattern and also a had a distinct cultural identity, it was also noted by olowo of owo that in the ancient times they purchased their artwork's from art merchant's before the arrival of the Benin dynasty in the owo kingdom, it is noteworthy that both the ife and owo terracotta artworks are of same pattern and both were used and buried for religious purpose this further means that the ife artworks also purchased from merchant and they were neve where made in ife, you could easily tell it wasn't made in ife by the cultural attributes on the artworks were different from that of an ife person, such as the clothing, the tribal marks...and the artwork's shouldn't be used to draw a conclusion between Benin and ife relationship as it doesn't hold Waters

4) orun oba ado, is a place identified by the ooni of ife as the burial spot of the oba of Benin heads, which the oba of Benin has denied severally that non of their kings were buried in Yoruba Land or ife but the tribal war would keep distorting History
in the early 1900 a European did an escavation in that particular burial spot to the find out the truth in what the ooni of ife said and they found no skull's or Bones on the site but the Yorubas still lay false claims to it's authenticity maybe for tribal bashing, another point to note is when the oduduwa history took place in Benin according to both versions of thr Benin and ife story the name of Benin then was known as ogodomigo and not Edo which was reference as Ado in the orun oba ado burial spot




5) the name called Oba has always been a centre of debate between both tribe let's do a review to the authenticity of the ownership of the name, the name ogie meaning royalty, kingship, king ,duke which is similar to the context of emir in an Islamic Nation and Oba which is the overall ruler could mean sultan in the Islamic context ,the Benin's with no denier staged military campigns on Yoruba territory especially controlling Yoruba areas and according to a french document in early 1800 he noted the oba of Benin was feared by the entire Yoruba nation and was much respected by them and his influence stretched all over southern Nigeria except for the northern region which they were journeying to at the time of this documention and they called the Benin soldiers for an asistence and it was said if they felt threatened crossing the northern region they will have to rely on their own guns....

I wish to end it here for now not to bore us up with a lengthy write-up to be continued...

So according to your write up, some Yoruba and Edo/Benin Obas colluded to revise their ethnic histories for the reasons that you have stated here.

However, the Yorubas were bad according to you and the Benin’s had to resort to self help, and were great at it, all these while the Yorubas became the main liars. This your account of events of the past is the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, right? And you know this because…?

You really tried!

[center][/center]

9gerian:
So according to your write up, some Yoruba and Edo/Benin Obas colluded to revise their ethnic histories for the reasons that you have stated here.

However, the Yorubas were bad according to you and the Benin’s had to resort to self help, and were great at it, all these while the Yorubas became the main liars. This your account of events of the past is the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, right? And you know this because…?

You really tried!

..

Looking for relevance and attention as usual.

UGBE634

.