Title: Benin Kingdom people, Nigeria, mask (Stanley:572)
Group: Benin Kingdom
Number: 572
Country: Nigeria
Type: mask
Material: brass
Size: h 7.25"
Artist Region: Edo
Traditional Name: uhunmwun
Function: governance
Function Detail: royal regalia
Style: Guinea Coast
Substyle: Eastern Guinea Coast

Museum credit: The Stanley Collection of African Art at The University of Iowa Museum of Art
Photo credit: photo by Ecco Hart

What Nigeria could learn is that more autonomy and decentralization is needed. It may be the case that not enough currently exists, but I wouldn't support autonomy down to the city level.

A political prostitute who switched from PDP to ACN and back to PDP out of political convenience, who only has a diploma in hygiene and a job as a former customs officer, who somehow amassed millions of dollars, and is suspected of laundering very large amounts of money very recently.

Akhenaten:

Are we competing my brother? I am glad to see the showcase of cultures though. It is time for us to show the beauty of Nigeria's different cultures.

I was going to create a thread concerning the Benin Bronzes, but it would seem that you beat me to the punch. You must be a descendant of that illustrious kingdom.

Lol,  , No we're not competing, I had meant to make a thread like this for a while and have a few hundred pictures on this particular subject, but your post spurred me to get off my butt and actually do something. And yeah, I am a Bini. There are many other art threads that you could tackle though, Ife bronzes, Igbo-Ukwu bronzes, Jebba bronzes, Nok terracottas (incidentally, I found an AMAZING website, with a lot of great Nok pictures most people may not have seen:  http://memoiredafrique.com/en/nok/galerie-amis.php), Akwa Ibom or Cross river monoliths, and more, and of course you should definitely contribute to this thread.

Benin bronze hip mask of a leopard face
18th Century
The Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco
Leon A. Salinger Bequest Fund, 76.8

A Benin hip mask of a human face thinly cast, and modelled in high relief, the face encircled by a
beard composed of numerous stylized mudfish and a row of loops for suspension, the face with
full protruding lips, a wide nose and prominent eyes inset with metal, and wearing a reticulated
headdress composed of numerous cast coral beads; fine varied aged patina. height 7 1/4 in.
Published:
Museum of African Art, The Language of African Art, 24 May-7 September 1970
Exhibited:
Washington, D. C., The Language of African Art, Museum of African Art, 1970: number 293

Benin hip mask cast in the form of a ram's head, with four loops on the reverse for attachment, the
snout encircled by a fan composed of ridges terminating in nine stylized pendant mudfish, and the
head with wideset oval eyes framing the snout inset with a strip of copper beneath ornately cast
horns and lanceolate ears, a row of bells pendant below; fine aged patina. height 8 1/2 in.

Provenance:
Julius Carlebach, New York
Jack Passer, New York

Exhibited:
Washington, D. C., The Language of African Art, Museum for African Art guest exhibtion at the
Smithsonian Institution, 24 May-7 September 1970

Published:
Museum for African Art, The Language of African, Washington, D.C., 1970: number 292

[img]http://1.bp..com/_ytgJBaeUgnk/SSBYNuX8HlI/AAAAAAAAAD8/L9uNqOUS6Zw/s1600/Igbinedion%2Bat%2Bhome%2Bthrones%2B1994.jpg[/img]


http://iyare-penn..com/2008/11/glamour-in-benin.html

How do they look Yoruba?


You mean that they look like blacks?

The body tatoos were eventually transferred to the new clothing that was adopted:

[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8790.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8791.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8792.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8793.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8788.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8784.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8795.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8796.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8797.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8798.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8799.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8805.JPG[/img]


[img]http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/assets/images/IMG_8782.JPG[/img]

[img]http://4.bp..com/_ytgJBaeUgnk/SSLYo4oMgJI/AAAAAAAAAE8/1uK-v9Zjm3U/s400/chief+and+dancers.jpg[/img]

The traditional upper body scars and tatoos in Benin:

"Iwu, depicted on many brass and ivory figural works (Figs. 9-11), are of considerable antiquity. The practice survived until the 1940s. They can still be seen on very old people but are disappearing as the senior generation dies out. Dierick Ruyters, the Dutch chronicler who sojourned in Benin City early in the seventeenth century, gave us our first description: "[The Bini] cut their body from the armpits to about the groin, or in the middle, with three long cuts on both sides, each one finger broad, and consider this a great virtue conducive to their salvation" (1602, in Talbot 1926, vol. 2:399). The merchant David Nyandael later commented on the gender variation of the tattoos: "The females are more adorned with these ornaments than the males, and each at the pleasure of their parents. You may easily guess that this mangling of the bodies of these tender creatures may be very painful; but since it is the fashion here and is thought very ornamental, it is practiced by everybody" (1705, in Talbot, p. 399). In 1889 the Englishman C. Punch described the operation: "All girls had to undergo it. The child was laid down and held by the mother, and the expert proceeded to scrape the skin at the place required, with a sharp glass, very lightly, as one erases a blot of ink on a book. I was not told that anything was rubbed into the skin . . . but the child's suffering was acute" (in Talbot, p. 399). A quarter century earlier, Sir Richard Burton had described the tattoos as "three broad stripes of scar, like the effects of burning, down the front of the body from the chest to the lower stomach," and also mentioned the forehead iwu: "vertical lines of similar marks above the eyebrows" (in Talbot, p. 399).

While these commentaries testify to the antiquity and continuity of iwu, they are silent about its origins. Here one has to rely on oral histories. In one version collected by Ekhaguosa Aisien from Unionmwan Orokhorho (pers. com., 1985), a traditional surgeon, the tattoos originated during the reign of Oba Ehengbuda in the late sixteenth century. Ehengbuda married the daughter of the Yoruba ruler of Akure, but she refused to consummate the marriage because he did not have "Akure tribal marks." The enraged Ehengbuda abused his wife, word of which reached the Alakure. When Ehengbuda visited Akure, his father-in-law attacked him with a cutlass, and Ehengbuda's body thereafter bore the scars of this assault. So as not to embarrass their king, his subjects imitated them. Jacob Egharevba, however, offered a different account (1968:15): iwu originated with Oba Ewuare (ca. 1440). Ewuare, distraught over the death of two of his sons on the same day, punished his subjects, who then fled the city in panic. To stem this exodus and ensure that deserting subjects could be easily identified, Ewuare ordered everyone tattooed.

Both narratives point to an essential purpose of iwu: to mark citizenship and birthright. Visible and indelible, the tattoos acknowledged one's right as ovien-oba, "slave of the king." For every freeborn citizen of Benin, "I am a slave of the king" remains a declaration of ethnic pride. The ancient Roman boast that one was a citizen of Rome is quite similar.

Although Nyandael and Burton stated that tattooing took place during infancy and youth, the information we have is that it occurred when "a young man came of age" and "during spinsterhood" for young women, that is, between puberty and marriage. Although the tattoos were marks of ethnic affiliation, they also expressed a social commitment to marriage. Indeed, marriage made them mandatory--no man would marry a woman without them (see Punch's comment). The community called a mother's children omo iwu ("children of the tattoo" when necessary to distinguish them from more distant blood relations such as a grandchild. The tattoos were thus transformative, signaling a change in jural status (unmarried/ married, youth/adult). "



from "The clothing of political identity: Costume and scarification in the Benin Kingdom" by Ekhaguosa Aisien and Joseph Nevadomsky

[img]http://2.bp..com/_ytgJBaeUgnk/STqLaB_1BtI/AAAAAAAAAGk/8kL2QXEVeVo/s1600/moon%2Bon%2Bhat.jpg[/img]


A modern picture.

Not sure who this is exactly.

Hmmmm, interesting perspective there.

http://academic.csuohio.edu/curnowk/curnowk/html/aisien.html


^^^^^^^^^^^

Traditional Benin tatoos and the origin of some modern Benin attire

Kudos to Akhenaten/EzeUche/Ochi-Agha/Omenani/Rousseau for the cultural initiative, hopefully we'll see threads with pictures of traditions of Hausa, Yoruba, Efik/Ibibio/Annang, and other cultures.

So far I only know of a thread with general present day Northern pictures.


I'll be starting another thread on Benin art and architecture if there isn't already one.

I'll start with a few from simple online searches and move onto pictures uploaded from articles.





OBA EWEKA II (OBA OF BENIN - 1914 to 1933)






OBA AKENZUA II (OBA OF BENIN -1933 to 1978)






OBA EREDIAUWA (OBA OF BENIN - 1978 to date)






CORAL BEADS AND CLOTH REGALIA FOR OBA






Aftermath of the Punitive Expedition






OBA OVONRNRANMWEN - Guarded before exile.

[OBA OVONRANMWEN (OBA OF BENIN - 1888 to 1914) ]

Andre Uweh:

^^^Probably, Ileke Idi will not be bold enough to insult them on facebook. One hell of a bigoted tribalist who gets unbanned within 24 hours of ban. Yet Baskmouth, Mekus and so on like her are banned forever.

ROFL

Yes, but does she create 4 or 5 usernames to spew her tribalism and hide behind another supposedly non-tribalist username?

I think people like the OP, are confusing a system indicative of an earlier stage of development meant not for states but for village communities for the classical Athenian representative democracy of the Athens city-state. At some point every group in Nigeria, every group in Africa, and possibly even every group in the world had what the op is calling "Traditional Igbo Democracy" when living only in village communities but moved past that when powerful individuals in large cities gained a monopoly on power and embarked on ambitious state building. Pre-state organization across all societies would look like what is being called "Traditional Igbo Democracy." The organization of many stateless Native American groups in North America could be called "traditional democracy" and Benjamin Franklin commended them for their democracy, but the reality is that as communities reach sizes and engage in defensive (military) activity and political decisions for which direct democracy is ineffective, centralized government of some kind, whether absolute monarchy, limited monarchy, nominal monarchy, representative democracy, or a fusion of these of some sort must supersede traditional democracy.

The Benin people for example were originally a "confederation" of traditional democracy practicing towns, until the largest town became a center of authority- Igodomigodo, which later became known as Benin - after which the zoning of power among different elders stopped and it become a real state.



from A. Ikechukwu Okpoko, "ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF EARLY URBAN CENTRES IN NIGERIA"


EARLY URBAN CENTRES—A HISTORICAL SURVEY

In the north Kanem-Bornu, as the name implies, was a two phased empire of the
Kanem and Bornu. The Kanem phase had its foundation in the first millenium A.D.
when the Magumi nomads are said to have united the sedentary Zagawa and Kanuri
people living in the northeast of present Lake Chad into a kingdom of Kanem with
its capital at Njimi. Njimi was abandoned by about the 14th century for another
well-fortified capital at Ngazargamu, west of Lake Chad. This capital thrived during
the reign of Mai Idris Aloma (1571-1603).
Kano was powerful enough to embark on military expansion from about 11th cen-
tury A.D., and built city walls between the 11th and 12th centuries.
From 14th and 15th centuries onwards Hausaland began to be absorbed into the
trans-Saharan trade system. As time went by each Hausa city saw the benefits of
such trade and tried to capture strong trading centres. Zaria, for instance, was strong
enough by the 15th century, under the legendary Queen Amina (said to have been
the first real Hausa empire builder) to embark on military exploits and build city
walls in various areas she conquered. Also by the 15th century Katsina had devel-
oped as a terminus of the trans-Saharan route and a commercial centre for the whole
of Hausaland.
In the first half of the 16th century, Kebbi became an imperial power while in the
second half of the same century Kwararafa rose as a strong force. Also by the 16th
century, Zamfara (an agricultural city hemmed in by other powerful cities, such as
Kebbi, Ahir, Gobir, Katsina and Kano) became powerful enough to extend her influ-
ence and to fight wars to the River Niger. Rivalries and conflicts between the lead-
ing cities prevented any of them from forming a virile empire. However, each of the
Hausa cities performed specific functions connected with the growth and security of
the various cities. Thus, for instance, Gobir, located at the fringes of the desert
“served as the northern outpost of Hausaland.” It guarded the whole of Hausaland
against attackers, especially the Tuaregs, from the desert. “Zaria to the south was the
procurer of slaves while Kano and Katsina were trading cities; Rano was an indus-
trial centre while Daura remained the spiritual home of the Hausa” (Mabogunje,
1968: 105).
By 1517 the Igala kingdom with its capital at Idah was strong enough to engage
in a major war with the Benin kingdom. Boston (1968: 7- dated the beginnings of
the present Igala kingship at Idah between the 13th and 16th centuries.
The Yoruba in southwestern part of Nigeria and in some parts of the Republics of
Benin and Togo organised themselves into many kingdoms. The most prominent
among these were Oyo, Ekiti, Ondo, Ife, Egba, Ijebu, Igbomina and Awori king-
doms (Oguntomisin, 1988: 227). The Yoruba oral tradition points to Ile-Ife as the
most ancient city in Yorubaland.
The Old Oyo empire was one of the largest and most powerful Yoruba kingdoms.
The expansionist Oyo was resisted from the 14th century onwards by Borgu and
Nupe because they feared their being absorbed into Oyo. Borgu and Nupe also
feared that Oyo might take a strategic position in the trans-Saharan trade to the dis-
advantage of both kingdoms. The capital of Oyo was eventually sacked and the peo-
ple moved to Igboho, but after a period, the rulers of Oyo returned to their former
capital and improved on their military technique and administrative machinery.
According to Mabogunje (1968: 78) the Yoruba towns grew basically as adminis-
trative centres “and over the centuries had evolved elaborate power structure and
hierarchial system of administration both at the city level and the level of a king-
dom.” For instance, Old Oyo empire was divided into four provinces.
The size of the Benin kingdom with its capital at Benin-city varied according to
different periods as a result of conquests, dynastic connections, trade contacts and
sentimental ties (Igbafe, 1977: 16).
Omoregie (1982: 7-9) identified the different independent communities as areas
and streets in present day Benin City. He further claimed that the Odionwere system
(the rule of the oldest man in a given community) underlay the political practice of
these communities. The Odionwere held his position by age and was the supreme
authority in his village — holding the spiritual, political and judicial powers. He
ruled with a council of village elders, Iko Edievbo. The closely juxtaposed villages
formed a common council, Iko Edionwere (plural of Odionwere), for the purpose of
solving inter-village problems. As the Edionwere in the village communities formed
Iko Edionwere, they established a medium for unifying all the thirty-one village
communities of Ubini (Benin). It was a council of equals. The measures and direc-
tives were not usually very effective in all the individual communities, but such
measures and directives at least laid the foundation for administering villages
through councils. The oldest of them all known as Oka Edionwere was the head of
the council. Assisting him was another Odionwere known as Okaiko. Oka
Edionwere was usually very old and senile, so Okaiko took charge. When this
opportunity came to Igodo—a prominent Odionwere—a leader in a community
called Idunmwunvbioto, he transformed this leadership into the Benin monarchy.
Igodo began the Ogiso monarchy in pre-colonial Benin. Under him, the Benin
monarchy embodying various communities was called Igodomigodo, meaning town
of towns, as well as the land of Igodo. It is said that he removed political authority
from the Edionwere and retained the system as a sub-ordinate authority. The pre-
ogiso era is said to be before 900 AD, and Ogiso era and the establishment of the
Benin kingdom is placed at around 900-1300 AD.
The Igbo communities have been generally described as acephalous, but Igbo vil-
lage-group states with their capitals at Nri, Arochukwu, Onitsha, Oguta, Aboh and
Osomari—have been well-studied and documented (Nzimiro, 1972; Onwuejeogwu,
1981; Dike & Ekejiuba, 1990). However, state formation was a recent phenomenon
in Igbo history. Apart from Nri, these village-group states developed in the 17th cen-
tury as a result of contacts with the neighbouring Igbo and non-Igbo groups and
later, as a result of the trans-atlantic trade. Nri and Arochukwu in the 13th and 17th
centuries, respectively, had considerable populations to visit and supervise various
settlements that dotted parts of Igboland. Like the Yoruba towns, these Igbo towns
grew basically as administrative centres.




Incidentally, it is not a little surprising to see the fundamental difference in perspective on the necessity or non-necessity of a centralized hierarchy playing itself out in another sharply divided discussion again after many decades.

Dede1:

It is an arrant nonsense to suggest we learn defense or economic policy from Yoruba or Benin system of government when both capitulated at sight of British soldiers. It must be recall Ndigbo clandestinely resisted British influence till the time of amalgamation of the Protectorates.

Lol, source? (for all three of the claims in these two sentences)

GenBuhari:

@PhysicsHD

Did you witness / remember  Buhari's government?

If so , would you agree he has been the only effective leader in stamping out corruption?

Aitiku is loyal to IBB

GEJ is loyal to Obj
Buhari is loyal to Nigeria

No I didn't witness anything and never claimed that I did, I'm simply of the opinion that the coup itself was fundamentally dumb and one of the worst things ever to happen to Nigeria. The regime was illegal and it's crackdown on freedom of speech was just backwardness. I would agree that he was effective in stamping out some corruption but it doesn't take away the sin of plunging a democratic country backwards into military rule and towards totalitarianism. There are some other commendable aspects of the regime, such as its very commendable opposition to SAP, but not enough to give it a redo when there is a chance for a new administration that seems more focused on infrastructure and electricity and other more crucial things.

9ijaMan:

That's very "smart" of you. Perhaps you should cut away the past from your life and see what you'll have left. I wonder which part of the Nigerian constitution stipulates a maximum age limit for any elective post. I guess I won't blame IBB at all when he said, Nigerian youths are not ready for leadership position. The only problem you have with Buhari is that "he's from the past". Just for once try to read your post before clicking the "submit" button.

What are you talking about? When did I bring up age? I said he is a thing of the past. Here is a man who said Muslims should vote for a candidate that promotes Islam (backwardness, instead of integration and merit based voting he preaches division and religious sectionalism), who allowed PTF money to be used to disproportionately develop areas in the North rather than say, the Niger Delta or South East (backwardness, when true federalism and the proper use of natural resources are key issues that need to be dealt with to ensure the continued existence of Nigeria), who mocked the idea of national ID cards (backwardness, while every civilized/developed country keeps records and information, Buhari could care less about Chadians and Nigeriens or Beninese just waltzing into Nigeria and using the country without paying anything), who appointed people overwhelmingly from his ethnic stock and/or region to his cabinet (backwardness) and who I feel never merited being head of NNPC, or being chairman of PTF as he had no background in or special expertise in economics/business or strategic development but was granted such a role because of the backwards mentality of Nigerians that rewards military bosses instead of placing qualified people in their proper positions.

Buhari is a thing of the past. There would be more pressure on somebody like GEJ to perform well, since he feels that he would only be there via the grace of Nigerians, rather than as a rotational-presidency derived right.

What kind of Oba gets thrashed by his subjects like this?

The guy should should promote himself and his office more and get more respect. When the Oba is perceived as just some guy, and not as a royal or a father like figure, things like this can happen.

People are seriously overestimating this old man's popularity.

Sky Blue:

It would have been interesting to see how Buhari would have responded to this piece.

Nigerian politicians don't do that kind of thing.

Truth.

I wonder why people can't see that Buhari was just another military goon.

Up.


Truth.

Oh. My mistake.

My sincere apologies.

Buhari ruled Nigeria from January 1984 to August 1985, when he was toppled in a miliatry coup. He is one of Nigeria's most popular politicians and is perceived as being more democratic than most of Nigeria's leaading politicians, according to John Campbell, a former US ambassador to Nigeria

Did Campbell actually say he was perceived as being more democratic? Or just that he was perceived as not being corrupt? Buhari is actually perceived as being authoritarian. Or is curtailing freedom of speech democratic behavior? I think the spin, whether by Campbell or by whoever wrote this write-up, is unnecessary to sell the point.