₦airaland Forum

ajanaku2: Suarez is a Cheat, a Racist and a Dog!

Basically.

salt 1: Good discovery. I never thought of it. I've never heard a name with the other tribes in it.

The person you quoted is wrong.

The Edo have numerous names where the ethnic group is mentioned within the name. I'm sure some other ethnic groups in Nigeria do it as well, but people who aren't from their ethnic groups just don't know much about their names. Nobody knows all the names that each ethnic group in Nigeria uses so a person can only guess what naming conventions and patterns other groups use unless they go and find out about those groups for themselves.

pleep: ^ haha, that sounds like an interesting sight tho

Do they have good debates about military tactics and weapons? that kinda stuff is hard to bring up on nairaland.

There is a subsection dedicated specifically to military history and some of the threads in sections outside of that sub-forum occasionally mention or segue into military history as well. They do have some interesting debates about military tactics and weapons, and some of the information about Middle Eastern and east or south Asian military or political history is occasionally interesting (although the focus of the forum is still primarily on European/western history), but like I said before, it is a slow moving forum. So if you engage in a drawn out debate with somebody about something, a response might not come for hours.

Another problem is that many of the posters there who do comment on Africa - even seemingly intelligent and rational ones - seem to have a pretty distorted view of the history and capabilities of many precolonial African societies, so it would be a bit frustrating to even bother attempting to correct every misconception they have. I've seen a few black posters there attempting to overturn the tide of ignorance in some threads, but that might have little effect overall. If it were up to me, everyone who commented seriously on African history there would have to have at least read the first 6 volumes of the 8 volume Cambridge History of Africa, if they've read nothing else on African history. I say this only because some people who stumble on the site like I did might take some of the claims ill informed people make on that forum as factual or as informed opinions when some of the posters there commenting on Africa (especially pre-colonial Africa) have clearly read little to nothing on African history.

One thing I will admit that I thought was nice were the "titles" for posters. Members have titles under their names based on the number of posts they have (or at least I think that's what it's based on), such as "citizen" (lowest title), "academician" (slightly higher), "historian", "archivist", "contrarian", etc. I know this title/rank stuff is done on many other forums as well and that it has no real significance on that forum or elsewhere, but I did like the particular names they chose for the different titles.

A good initiative from Mr. Ezeozue. Kudos to him.

What professor Ehret wrote about Benin and Igala above is based on J.K. Thornton's theory about kingship origins. The validity of the theory is very questionable. Much of it seems to be based on Thornton's confusion about the word Oghene ("Hooguanee"/"Ogane" in Portuguese documents), the title of the ruler which Benin informants told Portuguese visitors about. Oghene is a word that basically means great lord in Edo and closely related languages and it was the title of that ruler. I'm not sure that Thornton was aware of the context of the use of the word in those documents before he wrote his original article.

In his original paper, Thornton seemed to believe that because European mapmakers and some later European writers mistook the title of the king (Oghene) for the name of a kingdom and then further corrupted the name to "Agare", "Agarra" and a few other similar words that could match closely with "Igala," that there was actually some "Agare"/"Oghene" kingdom northeast of Benin - basically Thornton was arguing that the European mapmakers were indicating an "Agare"/"Ogane"/"Oghene" kingdom located northeast of Benin, when they should have been writing about or indicating the Igala kingdom, since that was the actual kingdom the Benin informants were referring to.

In reality, they were not referring to the Igala kingdom, but to the title of a ruler, as the wording in the original documents makes absolutely clear. And the ruler they were referring to was not the ruler of the Igala kingdom, but the ruler of a completely different place (presumably Ife, although they don't actually say that outright).

The only point which I think is in favor of Thornton's theory are the 14th century Catalan and Italian maps which he mentions in his article as indicating a "kingdom of Organa" (Ogane/Oghene) along the Niger river (the capital of the Igala kingdom, Idah, is also located right next to the river Niger), but that indication on those maps could also be due to geographical confusion about the location of the kingdom and also an even earlier confusion of the title of the ruler (Oghene) with the name of the kingdom by Europeans who relied on African informants from places other than Benin.

The idea of the Igala kingdom preceding Benin or being the source for the monarchs of Benin also seems to be contradicted by the archaeological studies of Graham Connah (on Benin) and J.S. Boston (on Igala).

I haven't read the book, but if he didn't include a caveat that what he was saying in that part was entirely speculative and based on the unconfirmed theory of Thornton (who built on the work of Alan Ryder, another great historian), then I think that was a pretty big slip up.

By the way it is untrue that "the kings of the Igala claimed descent from the Nri of Igbo-Ukwu" as Ehret suggests. There is not a single precolonial or early colonial document or even post colonial document which supports this idea that they actually claimed descent from Nri, even if there might be some post colonial documents or articles from non-Igalas that attempt to make it seem like they actually did claim that descent or which state that they have that descent. In fact, anyone who has read the earliest documents about the Nri and Igala connection will come across numerous publications suggesting or stating outright that the founders of Nri were originally Igala settlers. This does not mean that that is necessarily true (that they were Igala settlers), but it is something which Ehret should have at least mentioned if he was going to talk about the connection. That's another error on his part.

PAPA AFRICA: Why were you banned from historum?

lol, some mod must not have liked my post responding to some British guy who wrote a bunch of garbage about certain precolonial African states in one thread there. I certainly can't think of any other reason.

I only registered on there to correct some trash that some very ill-informed British guy was writing about Benin (the kingdom, not the country), the kingdoms of the western Sudan (ancient Ghana, Mali and Songhai), and African art and architecture in general, etc. After that, I would have been done posting on that forum. I had come across the forum before that but left and never registered because it was mostly about European history (the way the subsections of the world history section are divided is proof enough of that) and not really all of world history, and also it's kind of a boring and slow moving forum.

I noticed a few spelling and punctuation errors in the long first post that I made there responding to the British guy, and I could no longer modify the original post, so I just added a post below indicating what the correct spellings and punctuation should have been in the long post that I made immediately above.

Then one random moderator (who I had never interacted with before) banned me for "trolling" without giving any kind of warning or explanation or even mentioning which post it was that I made which qualified as "trolling". I don't think there's anywhere else I've come across where anyone would be silly enough to claim that indicating what spelling and punctuation errors were made in a long earlier post that can't be corrected is some form of trolling.

And in another section of the forum, they had an entire thread devoted to defining what actually constitutes "trolling," (apparently it's a big issue over there) and after several pages of discussion and argument, they still couldn't reach a consensus.

I think a lot of the posters on that forum are actually old guys (one guy even posted a picture of himself in a project/experiment he was working on about ancient painting techniques and he was old and had grey hair in the picture) and they don't understand some of the "newfangled" internet lingo younger people are using, such as the word "trolling." Maybe they think that if someone posts something that you just don't like then that person is trolling.

Anyway, I have another completely different username on that site, so if I suddenly decide to go back there to post something, I can still post there anyway.

When I return to this thread, more images of 19th century Timbuktu and some historical images of Djenne will be posted.

esere826: @Physicsqed

Any idea on when Nigerians started making fabric?
What type of fabric was being made?
Before fabric, what was being used for clothes?
arond what period did the change in material come abour?

Tnx

I honestly don't have clear answers to these questions, but I would assume that the Nok culture or whatever preceded the Nok culture probably had nobles/elites/rulers who wore fabric of some sort, although I doubt that any of it would have survived up to this day without disintegrating and becoming dirt.

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/5/1/46467_images_image_5126_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1908. Rütimeyer, L. "Weitere Mitteilungen über West-Afrikanische Steinidole (Mit Tafel VIII & IX, sowie zwei Abb. im Text)." Internationales Archiv für Ethnographie., Vol. Bande XVIII.

Original language: German

Caption translation: Basalt stones from Agba (South Nigeria) decorated with sculptures. From Partridge, Cross River Natives P. 269.

Text translation: “The interesting question of who the producers of these stone pictures were unfortunately remains unanswered in these new findings. But in one important regard I must modify the view I expressed in 1901, that an old stonework from Mendi Land was an isolated instance of a real Negro tribe creating sculpture from stone. This view has meanwhile been surpassed by the interesting finding of Partridge, Assistant District Commissioner in South Nigeria, who in 1905 discovered and described the strange monolithic ring stones in the region of the Cross River at the tributary of the Aweyong. It is at these holy places that generally conical, 3 – 5 foot high stone columns are placed, usually around a large central tree. These stones are basalt, which comes from surrounding gravel in streams. Many of these are decorated with chiseled human figures, depicted until just below the navel. The figures are mostly stylized; here the prominent navel and tribal markings are typical.” (p. 174)

Illustration technique: b/w field photograph

Keywords:
• Cross River (Country, region, place)
• agba (Country, region, place)
• Nigeria (Country, region, place)
• basalt (Materials and techniques)
• incised (Materials and techniques)
• carved (Materials and techniques)
• anthropomorphic (Notable features)
• monolith (Object name, type)
• protruding navel (Object name, type)
• stone monument (Object name, type)
• ancestor memorial (Object name, type)
• Ejagham (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/3/8/61487_images_image_3893_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1913. Oldman, W.O. Illustrated Catalogue of Ethnographic Specimens, Vol. X, No. 125 (August).

Caption: AFRICA. FETISH MASKS ETC. 5 (30987) Ditto; circular, light wood coloured yellow, black and white. Slightly pierced with worm holes. Fibre bindings on back. 22cm dia. S. Nigeria.

Illustration technique: studio photograph

Keywords:
• Nigeria (Country, region, place)
• raffia (Materials and techniques)
• carved (Materials and techniques)
• pigment (Materials and techniques)
• wood (Materials and techniques)
• round (Notable features)
• mask (Object name, type)
• Eket (Style, culture group)
• Ibibio (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/4/7/68212_images_image_4725_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1900. Webster, W.D. Illustrated Catalogue of Ethnological Specimens. European and Eastern Arms and Armour. Prehistoric and Other Curiosities, Vol. vol 4, No. 25.

Caption: 34. (8831) Carved wood figure with movable joints, pounding corn, decorated in black and white, 13 inches high. (Niger Protectorate)

Illustration technique: b/w studio photograph

Publication plate/figure: plate 31; fig. 34

Keywords:
• Nigeria (Country, region, place)
• pigment (Materials and techniques)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• movable joints (Notable features)
• pounding corn (Notable features)
• articulated limbs (Notable features)
• puppet (Object name, type)
• sculpture (Object name, type)
• seated figure (Object name, type)
• Anang (Style, culture group)
• Ibibio (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/4/1/51591_images_image_4143_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1900. Marriott, H.P. Fitz-Gerald. "A West African Tribe and its Secret Societies." The English Illustrated Magazine, Vol. XXII, No. 198.

Caption: Initiation Dress of the Egbo Secret Society of the Ibibio Tribe

Text: In most West African districts, you will find that the boys of the better classes are taken away at a certain age--between ten or fourteen--to prepare them for the responsibilities of manhood. They are placed in the charge of those leaders of the tribe who direct the initiation ceremonies of the secret society....The boys are kept in a portion of the forest sacred to the society where none dare go but the members....Here the lads are kept for a period varying...from several weeks to a year. Whenever they leave the sacred bush with the rest of the procession they are disguised in their initiation dresses , such as the one in our Illustration. This belonged to the Egbo of the Ibibio tribe; it is composed of twisted fibre of the Raffia palm closely knitted together, a pattern being produced by some of the threads being dyed red and others black. Together with its hood, it is all made in one piece, and you slip into it though a hole at the chest. The hands and feet are hidden in a thick fringe of grass, and falling over the shoulders and mask is a mane of the same herb. The wooden masks that these initiates wear are either white or coloured, but not pure black all over; the latter are only worn by the full Egbo members. One of the white masks is seen worn by the boy in the initiation dress. (pp570-571)

Illustration technique: b/w studio photograph

Publication page: 571

Keywords:
• Nigeria (Country, region, place)
• raffia (Materials and techniques)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• fiber netting (Materials and techniques)
• pigment (Materials and techniques)
• fringe (Notable features)
• Ekpo mask (Object name, type)
• masquerade costume (Object name, type)
• Ibibio (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/9/85831_images_image_955_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1902. M'Keown, Robert L. In the Land of the Oil Rivers. The Story of the Qua Iboe Mission.

Original language: English

Caption: Members of a Secret Society Masked and Dressed for a Play

Text: “Free-Masonry in Ibibioland. The great feature in the life of the Ibibios is the existence of so many secret societies. Some of these, like the great, dread, Akpan-Oyoho, are civil in their functions, the members framing and executing the laws of the district; others, like the Idiong, are of a religious nature, and carry on sacrifices and rites connected with worship. Then there are the Ekpo, and the Ekong, and many others, even the women having an order all to themselves. Initiation into any of these societies mentioned here is extremely costly, but the fee for entrance into some of the others is very trifling. The members of all these societies spend much of their time in native plays.” (pp. 38-39)

Illustration technique: b/w studio photograph

Publication page: 109

Keywords:
• Nigeria (Country, region, place)
• fabric (Materials and techniques)
• feathers (Materials and techniques)
• pigment (Materials and techniques)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• feathered headdress (Notable features)
• masqueraders (Notable features)
• masks (Object name, type)
• masquerade costumes (Object name, type)
• Ibibio-Efik (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/2/0/74520_images_image_2097_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1904. Lönborg, Sven and Heinrich Schurtz. "Primitiva samhällen." YMER: Tidskrift, Utgifven af Svenska Sallskapet for Antropologi och Geografi, No. Heft 3.

Original language: Swedish

Caption translation: Fig. 6. The interior of a community house among the Yaunde in Cameroon. (After F. Hutter)

Text translation: The development into secret societies stands in very close connection to the belief in the deceased spirits and in the possibility of entering into a connection with them, and it is therefore not difficult to understand why Africa has become the classic ground for secret societies. [F/N 1] Especially in West Africa these societies have developed strongly. In northern Cameroon they grow “like mushrooms from the earth after a spring rain,” to disappear just as quickly.” (pp. 515-153) ------ [F/N 1] On this see Frobenius, Die Masken und Geheimbünde Afrikas (diss. German Imperial Academy, Halle 1898) and the presentation in his popular work “Aus den Flegeljahren der Menschheit” (From the Youth of Humanity), Hannover 1901.

Illustration technique: field engraving

Keywords:
• Cameroon (Country, region, place)
• pigment (Materials and techniques)
• wood (Materials and techniques)
• totemic (Notable features)
• figurated (Notable features)
• men's lodge (Notable features)
• column (Object name, type)
• pole (Object name, type)
• house post (Object name, type)
• Ewondo (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/3/4/64697_images_image_3480_image.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1882. "Berichte der Reisenden der Gesellschaft. Die Buchner'sche Expedition." Mittheilungen der Afrikanischen Gesellschaft in Deutschland, Vol. III, No. 2 (April).

Original language: German

Caption translation: Mittheilungen der Afrikanischen Gesellschaft in Deutschland, vol. III, plate 7. [Upper left:] Granary from the destroyed Ubaka. b Seal for the opening a;c Ladder. [Upper middle:] Kitchen in Ubaka [Upper right:] Details from the kitchen in Ubaka. [Below left:] Wall and gate in Labagu. (Fulde.) [Below middle:] Wall and gate in Tondi (Jaurie) [Below right:] Wall and gate in Dugu (border location in Jaurie.)

Text translation: "Plate 7. In the granary in Ubaka, Flegel noted that the lock equiped with a grip (b) was installed (a). In the kitchen he described (a) more large, built in containers, that serve brewed beers, (b) the fireplace, (c) a built in, granite plate to grind grain. The wall depicted below, next to the 'door house,' also lacks a commentary on the original sketch. It appears noteworthy, because the wall does not consist of a homogenous mass like common walls, but is made of irregular pieces. They are probably made of raw, unfired clay bricks." (p. 146)

Illustration technique: studio engraving; printed in sepia ink

Keywords:
• Nigeria (Country, region, place)
• Bida (Country, region, place)
• Ubaka (Country, region, place)
• Yauri (Country, region, place)
• earth (Materials and techniques)
• clay (Materials and techniques)
• architecture (Notable features)
• crocodiles (Notable features)
• house (Notable features)
• threshold (Object name, type)
• gateway ornament (Object name, type)
• pillars (Object name, type)
• relief figures (Object name, type)
• Hausa (Style, culture group)
• Nupe (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/6/0/40698_images_image_6010_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1920. Schnee, Heinrich. "Togo." Deutsches Kolonial-Lexikon: III Band P-Z , Vol. 3.

Original language: German

Caption translation: In reference to the article: Togo. 7. Axe used to divert lightening (Ewe).

Text translation: The head of the axe (depicting a predator) used to divert lightening in fig. 7 and the rooster in fig. 10 are also technically remarkable. A few examples of the belief in the soul in nature can be seen in the colored plate Togo, fig. 7 … The strangely formed axe (see colored plate Togo, fig. 7) curiously functions to also divert lightening. It is fastened in tall trees very close to houses and is trusted to function. Perhaps this use originated when the axes were made of stone, but that the belief remained when the stone was replaced by metal.” (p. 513)

Illustration technique: studio photograph; color

Publication page: opp. 504

Publication plate/figure: plate; figure 7

Keywords:
• Togo (Country, region, place)
• pigment (Materials and techniques)
• metal (Materials and techniques)
• wood (Materials and techniques)
• open mouth (Notable features)
• figurated handle (Notable features)
• recade ? (Object name, type)
• ceremonial axe (Object name, type)
• kpo ? (Object name, type)
• Ewe (Style, culture group)


(I'm not sure if this is one of the 'mankpo' mentioned earlier by TerraCotta or if it's actually a tool the Ewe once used as some kind of lightning rod like the writer suggests, or if it is possibly both.)

https://img827.imageshack.us/img827/3153/gateintothetownofketouk.jpg

An image of a gate leading into Ketu, with different thatching on the roof. I'm not sure of the date of this photo unfortunately but I think it would be safe to assume it is also from the early 1900s. This gate is designated the "old gate" in the caption to the picture, so maybe this gate preceded the other one or maybe they were both around together but this one was older. Strangely, I only found this image on eBay (where someone is selling the postcard containing the image).


edit: Some interesting information about Ketu from Robert Smith's book Kingdoms of the Yoruba (1988):

"Today the most striking feature of Ketu, now a remote and neglected town, it its fortifications, comprising a circuit of massive earthen walls, still in some places over twelve feet in height and nearly as broad, outer ditches to a depth of some eight or nine feet and twenty feet wide, planted with thorns, and above all the great Idena ('Sentry') Gate, a fortress in itself with inner and outer covered gateways and a central courtyard, certainly the most impressive example of Yoruba military architecture in existence. Ketu historians attribute the building of these fortifications to Sha, the fourteenth Alaketu, and add that the oba himself supervised the work, which was accomplished by the townspeople with the aid of two giants living nearby. The Idena Gate is said to stand upon the place where Ede first entered the site of his new capital and where later a hunchbacked weaver, one of those already living on the spot when the immigrants from Ife arrived, was killed as a propitiatory sacrifice - a circumstance from which the town and the kingdom are said to derive their name (a proverb in the form of a riddle: Ke 'tu ike? Ke fo ilu?: 'Who can straighten a hunchback's hump? Who can break our town?'). Sha's successor, Alaketu Epo, completed the fortifications, and it is claimed that to give strength to the walls the clay was mixed with palm oil instead of water." - Kingdoms of the Yoruba, p.57

(Ede mentioned above was the seventh Alaketu, or king of Ketu.)

https://img198.imageshack.us/img198/4857/sculptedcolumnsinthepal.jpg

Sculpted columns in the palace of the king of Ketu. The date is from between 1908 and 1912.

Below is an image of a gate leading into the Yoruba town of Ketu in the Republic of Benin (formerly Dahomey). The photo is from 1909.

https://img405.imageshack.us/img405/8726/619120gatetothetownofke.jpg

https://img267.imageshack.us/img267/223/217001gatetothetownofke.jpg

The king of Allada in 1900:

[img]http://images.nypl.org/index.php?id=1161494&t=w[/img]

Le roi d'Allada. (1900)

Image Details

Image Title
: Le roi d'Allada.

Additional Name(s)
: Fonssagrives, Jean Baptiste Joseph Marie Pascal -- Author

Specific Material Type
: Prints

Item/Page/Plate
: 13

Source
: Notice sur le Dahomey. Publiee a l'occasion de l'Expostion universelle sous la direction de m. Pierre Pascal. Par m. Jean Fonssagrives.

Source Description
: 408 p. illus., ports., map. 24 cm.

Location
: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture / General Research and Reference Division

I came across two sources for anyone who wants to read more about Dahomey's history and buildings:

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/palace_abomey.html

These 5 pdfs below are part of a larger single document:

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/palace1.pdf

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/palace2.pdf

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/palace3.pdf

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/palace4.pdf

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/pdf/palace5.pdf


A different publication from that same site (the Getty Conservation Institute) about Dahomean buildings, except in French instead of English:

http://www.getty.edu/conservation/publications_resources/pdf_publications/passe_present_abomey.html

^^
I'm pretty sure the face there is an artist's later rendition, not a drawing made by someone who actually saw him.

On the previous page I posted an old image of a throne of a Dahomean king that was in black and white. Below are photographs of two of the thrones of past kings in color.

The throne of king Béhanzin of Dahomey:

https://imageshack.us/a/img593/6523/piste21photo1tronebehan.jpg

https://imageshack.us/a/img825/3058/throneofkingbehanzinofd.jpg

The throne of king Glele of Dahomey:

https://imageshack.us/a/img716/2572/throneofkinggleleofdaho.jpg

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/5/14671_images_image_547_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1919. Luschan, Felix von. Die Altertümer von Benin; mit 889 Abbildungen nach Zeichnungen von B. Ankermann, G. Kilz, L. Sütterlin u.a., sowie nach Photographien usw., hrsg. mit Unterstützung des Reichs-Kolonialministeriums, der Rudolf Virchow- und der Arthur Baessler-Stiftung.

Original language: German

Caption translation: Three almost lifesize, painted wood figures of the Kings Geso, Glé-glé and Behanzin from Dahome; Gift of General Dodds to the Museum in Trocadero

Text translation: "With the final defeat of the Béhanzins, these very peculiar figures fell into the hands of the victor, General Dodds (1), who gave it to the Museum at Trocadéro. Thanks to the kindly permission of my colleague, Hamy, who has since then passed away, I was allowed to have them photographed for this book and can reproduce them here in Fig. 436. (1) [footnote]: In Germany and strangely enough also among the negroes in the United States, it is not generally known, that this excellent and highly talented general, to whom the French owe the conquest of Dahome, at which his white predecessors had failed for years, that this general, himself had colored blood: his mother was a colored woman from St. Louis in Senegal. It appears to me to be just towards the negroes and otherwise not entirely pointless, this fact, which only appears in the older French colony. Dodds was born in 1842 in Senegal; a good picture of him is located at Brunet und Siffert, Section de Dahomey, Expos. Univ. 1900, S. 101."

Illustration technique: b/w studio photograph

Publication page: 291

Publication plate/figure: abb. 436

Keywords:
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• cock (Notable features)
• Glele (Notable features)
• Guezo (Notable features)
• lion (Notable features)
• shark (Notable features)
• Behanzin (Notable features)
• royal emblem (Object name, type)
• sculpture (Object name, type)
• standing figure (Object name, type)
• bocio (Object name, type)
• lifesized statue (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

[img]http://raai.library.yale.edu/web/art/5/2/99076_images_image_5210_medium.jpg[/img]

Publication: 1908. Frazer, J.G. "Statues of Three Kings of Dahomey." MAN: A Monthly Record of Anthropological Science., Vol. VIII, No. 73.

Text: “On a recent visit to Paris I was struck by three life-size wooden statues in the Trocadero Museum, which represent three kings of Dahomey—Guexo, Guelelé, and Behanzin—all more or less completely in the form of animals. Through the courtsey and kindness of Dr. Verneau, Director of the Museum, I am able to communicate to Man an excellent photograph of these statues, and another photograph of a throne which belonged to one of the three kings. It is not the first time that these curious figures have been published. They were the subject of an illustrated article by M. Delafosse which appeared in ‘La Nature, No. 1,086, for March 24th, 1894 (pp. 262-266), and to which Dr. Verneau kindly called my attention. The following account of the statues translted from that article may be of interest to readers of Man:--“These statues are, in fact, symbolical, each of the kings is represented under the figure of an animal which he has chosen for his emblem and of which he bears the name. Guezo, surnamed ‘Kohoulo’, that is to say ‘the cock,’ is represented under the form of a man covered with feathers; Guelelé, called ‘Kinikini,’ ‘the lion,’ is figured by a lion rampant; and lastly, Behanzin, whose surname is ‘Gbowlé,’ which means ‘shark,’ has the shape of a dog-fish graced with two arms supported by human legs…The three statues have the arms in the same position, which is that of a boxer preparing to attack—the left fore-arm horizontal, the right fore-arm raised. This combative attitude was formerly emphasized by a weapon in each hand; the holes which must have served to fix the swords may still be seen. Guezo still brandished in his right hand a Dahomey sword, broad and short. He wears at his back an iron cartridge-pouch, supported by a belt of the same metal, and above the feft elbow he has an iron bracelet. Guelelé wears a similar cartridge-pouch, only in front. Behanzin had one also; the nails which fastened it may still be seen…Of these kings, Guezo reigned from 1818 to 1858; his son, Guelelé, reigned from 1858 to 1889; and Guelelé’s son, Behanzin, reigned from 1889 till he was expelled by the French…These statues seem to prove that kings of Dahomey habitually posed as certain fierce animals or birds. The custom deserves to be studied, and may perhaps throw light on such legends as the Minotaur, the serpent of Erechtheus, and so forth. Whatever these animal symbols of the kings of Dahomey may have been, they cannot have been totems of hereditary in the male line, since they differed in these successive generations traced from father to son.” (pp. 131-132)

Illustration technique: b/w context photograph

Keywords:
• Dahomey (Country, region, place)
• carved wood (Materials and techniques)
• cock (Notable features)
• Glele (Notable features)
• Guezo (Notable features)
• shark (Notable features)
• Behanzin (Notable features)
• lion (Notable features)
• royal emblem (Object name, type)
• sculpture (Object name, type)
• standing figure (Object name, type)
• bocio (Object name, type)
• statue (Object name, type)
• Fon (Style, culture group)

Ishilove: Why was that little boy at the far right always scowling?

Maybe he was playing and they interrupted his play time and forced him to take that picture.

This is an image of one of the carved wooden doors from the old Abomey palace that was mentioned above, except in color:

https://img607.imageshack.us/img607/1299/portegatefromthepalaceo.jpg

https://imageshack.us/a/img404/3615/397001.jpg

https://imageshack.us/a/img96/6406/783001.jpg

Another image from that postcard website.

https://img266.imageshack.us/img266/2668/dahomeypalaceruinscopy.jpg

A larger image from the same French postcard website as before:

https://img706.imageshack.us/img706/6776/709001.jpg

Also from that "E. Besson collection" and I'm assuming its from around the same time as the other photos (circa 1910s/early 1900s). The caption is "Dahomey - Un coin de l'enceinte du Palais de Behanzin à Abomey" for anyone who can translate that.

https://imageshack.us/a/img705/3607/dahomeypalaceruins2copy.jpg

Here are two larger images of this same photograph that I found on a French postcard website:

https://imageshack.us/a/img526/4646/491001y.jpg

https://imageshack.us/a/img194/3078/567001.jpg


This image is also from that "E. Besson" collection and the caption is: "Dahomey - Vue intérieure du Palais de Behanzin à Abomey."

https://imageshack.us/a/img839/120/dahomeymodernbeninruins.jpg

This is the description I came across for this image on the site where I found it:

"Dahomey (modern Benin) - The ruins of royal apartments at the King's Palace destroyed by cannonballs at Abomey."

Another site gives the date for this image as "circa 1910s" and another site mentions that it is from the "E. Besson collection." Not sure who Besson is, but obviously this photograph is from his collection.

I also found a larger image from a French website "delcampe.fr" which seems to sell old postcards, among other things:

https://img43.imageshack.us/img43/9474/dahomeypalaceruins3.jpg

https://imageshack.us/a/img837/6075/ruinsofroyalapartmentsa.jpg

Another image from the University of Southern California's Digital Library website. This is the information for the picture:

Title: Ruins of royal apartments at the palace in Abomey, Benin, ca. 1925-26.

Description: "Ruins of the King's Apartment." Former royal apartments in the ruined palace at Abomey.; From a set of lantern slides entitled "Dahomey, the stronghold of the fetich" compiled by Frank Deaville Walker (1878-1945), editor of the Methodist Missionary Society magazines Foreign Field and its successor, Kingdom Overseas. Many of the photographs Walker used were his own, taken on visits to the MMS mission fields between 1920 and 1937. His trip to West Africa when the photographs in this set were taken took place ca. 1925-1926.

Geographic subject (city or populated place): Abomey
Geographic subject (country): Benin
Photographer: Walker, Frank Deaville
Publisher (of the digital version): University of Southern California. Libraries