VOL. 6, N0. 1, 2005

EDITORIAL:THE FUTURE OF BENIN STUDIES AND ITS SUSTAINABILITY

Benin studies as the study of the culture, history, language and people who were part and parcel of the Benin Empire has come a long way starting with the early European visitors accounts. The conquest, looting and dispersal of Benin artworks gave great impetus to the further study of Benin as they provided material evidence for the study of the culture and history. Jacob U Egharevba classic: Ekhere vb Itan Edo (1934) later translated as: A Short History of Benin (1936) complimented the Artworks by exposing the historical consciousness of the Edo people and their meticulousness in its preservation. This great work helped in spurring scholars like late Prof Kenneth Dike into using oral traditions in reconstructing African history and demonstrating the viability of Africanist historiography as a field. It also gave birth to the BENIN HISTORY SCHEME initiated by Prof Dike in the University College, Ibadan and was truncated by the outbreak of the Nigerian civil war and ethnic politics.

In spite of this, Benin studies remained the darling of many western scholars who sustained it for a very long time. They produced a lot of works especially journal articles and a few books as well as a documentary film. But their studies were narrow and limited to the Artworks, anthropology and political history. These internationalized Benin studies. In the course of these developments, some scholars careers were suddenly truncated and affected their further contributions. Such were the fate of Hans Melzian the pioneering linguist who lost his life during the Second World War and Robert E. Bradbury, the anthropologist who died in 1969 after amassing a lot of materials for his further research and publication. The interest of some others like Professors Alan F.C. Ryder and Dan Ben Amos soon fizzled out and they moved on to other areas particularly when area studies was no longer well funded. Some have remained committed and made a life long career in Benin studies. But age is no longer on the side of most of these academics. They are no longer able to engage in travels for new researches and are starting to retire from academics. Prof Paula Girshick (formerly Paula Ben Amos) could not honour a recent invitation to Benin due to age and health, Flora Edouwaye Kaplan recently retired, and Prof Joseph Nevadomsky is on the verge of retirement. This is virtually emptying the field of Benin studies in the west.

A similar situation is happening at home. The doyen of Benin Studies, Prof Phillip Igbafe has also retired from University of Benin, while some other pioneers and initiators in the field like Ikpomwonsa Osemwegie are no longer functioning much on account of health. As the report on local publications in this issue shows, majority of the local writers in the area of Benin studies are people past their prime and retirees. While their publications help to fill the yawning gap and provide new source materials, these writers would obviously not be able to sustain new writings and researches.

There do not seem to be many new scholars, writers and researchers in the field both in the west and in the local scene. This portends a dreary future for Benin studies. The controversy sparked off by Omo N'Oba Erediauwa memoirs recently almost caught the Edo people pants down, when the Yoruba amassed both their old professors and young scholars to defend their myth, while the Edo people had to make do with largely individual efforts particularly from the old guard. Means must therefore be found of attracting young scholars to the field and reversing this ugly trend. Critical to safeguarding the future of Benin studies is availability of adequate funding for researchers. The Edo Diaspora community is already showing the way. Local efforts and contributions are greatly needed to complement the Diaspora community efforts. Our young people in higher institutions should also take it as a challenge to research on their communities and on all subjects that c! an bring betterment and progress to our communities. Also a well-funded specialized journal should be instituted to provide outlet for the publications of these new and up coming scholars.

INSTITUTE FUNDING BOOSTED BY EDO DIASPORA COMMUNITY

The Institute for Benin Studies activities hitherto hamstrung by poor funding has been revived again. This development is coming through the donations and assistance of members of the Edo Diaspora community. The Institute had in August 2004 posted an appeal for donations letter on the World Wide Web via Edo Nation, Esan Community, Edo Ciao and Edo Community websites. This has been followed up with the publicity campaigns and weekly postings by the indefatigueable Augustina Omosigho Iyare, the Institute treasurer in North America, and a leading Edo cultural activist in the United States of America who is also the hostess of Oredo Online website. The appeal fund campaign was further boosted by Chief Nosakhare Isekhure (the Isekhure of Benin Kingdom) who drummed the message home at the Edo National Convention in Detroit Michigan, USA in September 2004.Ever since, pledges and donations in cash and kind have continued to come the way of the Institute not! only from the Americas and Europe, but from faraway Afghanistan in Asia. Apart from donors whose names and donations have been published on the worldwide web, some donors have pleaded to remain anonymous and have paid for some of the services rendered to the Institute in the US. We appreciate their invaluable contributions and use this opportunity to thank them once again for their gracious generosity.

OREDO LOCAL GOVERNMENT COUNCIL AGENTS SABOTAGE INSTITUTE LIBRARY SERVICES

The free library services to researchers and readers from all over the world who use the services provided by the Institute for Benin Studies, Benin City has suffered a serious setback in recent times. This setback is courtesy of Oredo Local Government Council whose agents seized some of the furniture of the Institutes library. The seizure is in lieu of payment of revenue, based on their wrong assumption that the Institute was a business center. All appeals to the council revenue agents and the Chairman of the Council Mr. Ebomwonyi explaining the activities and status of the Institute are yet to be acknowledged and the furniture items returned. This development is seriously affecting the work of the various researchers and readers (including foreigners) who visit the institute to consult the rare books and documents kept in the library. The council is yet to appreciate the invaluable services of the institute in providing free library services, which the! council does not provide its tax paying citizenry.

LOCAL PUBLICATIONS BOOST BENIN-EDO STUDIES

Benin -Edo studies got a new lease of life recently with the trickle of local publications that are debuting. Until recently, the publication of books on Benin-Edo history and culture were virtually on the wane. Publications were far in between especially from the seventies through early nineties. Only few local writers carried the mantle then and produced largely school text. Much that were published then were by foreigners and only few of these works reached these shores because of the economic crisis. But since the late 1980s local writers have been easing their way onto the scene with some Edo people publishing their works abroad. Onaiwu Ogbomo When men and women mattered, Iro Eweka Dusk to Dawn and Ademola Iyi-Eweka Okha Ogiso amongst some of the Edo authors published abroad. In the local scene, Ekhaguosa Aisien has published four books Iwu, Erediauwa Prince of Benin, Benin City: The Edo state Capital and his Magnus opu! s Benin city Pilgrimage Stations, Osaren S.B.Omoregie The Trials of Ogiso Owodo and Great Benin in five volumes, Osayomwanbo Osemwegie Guidelines on Traditional Marriage in Benin Kingdom, Egirama Edo Nogbae (Intensive Edo Grammar) and The History of Benin:Ogiso dynasties 40B.C.-1200 A.D.; S.O.U.Igbe (compiled) From Cradle to Grave; D.U. Edebiri Essays in Benin History and Politics and Igori, Benin Traditional Marriage; Pedro Obasekie plays Obaseki and Idia, Isoken Irene Salami Emotan and The Queen Sisters, Emwinma Ogieriakhie play Idia; Ivie Erhahona Edo Proverbs and Figures of Speech: Omoregie Bini Names Usi Osemwota The Customary laws of the Binis amongst others. A peculiarity of these writers save for Pedro Obaseki, Irene Salami and Ivie Erhahon is that they are all elderly people. They are concerned with preserving the cultural heritage, history and values some of which they experienced and cherish. This is a clarion call to the younger generation to brace up not only to preserving the heritage, but helping to distillate the ideals and translating them into social action for the progress and development of the society.

INSTITUTE INITIATES SYMPOSIUM ON ESAN HISTORY AND CULTURE

Come May 2005, the Institute for Benin Studies will be organizing a symposium on Esan history and culture in the historic and university town of Ekpoma. The symposium theme is "The Esan People: Forty-five years after C.G. Okojie's Ishan Native laws and custom". The call for papers has already gone out. This symposium is to help honour Dr Christopher Gbelokoto Okojie on his, eighty-fifth birthday, which comes up in April. Dr Okojie is an internationally acclaimed Gynaecologist, statesman and philanthropist. Fifty-five years ago, Dr Okojie left the opulence of the colonial service and the glitter of city life to relieve the long suffering of his rural and impoverished people of Esan land. He not only a staked his life and career, by opening a private clinic to improve the health of his people, but also conducted extensive research on the history and culture of the Esan people. This produced his magnus opus and now a classic titled Ishan Native laws and custo! m in 1960. The symposium whose keynote address will be delivered by Dr Okojie will also provide a forum for discussing his classic as well as documenting aspects of Esan history and culture. The well-researched papers will be edited, put together and published.

OMO N'OBA EREDIAUWA MEMOIRS IS NIGERIA'S BOOK OF THE YEAR 2004

It is rather a rarity in these climes for royalty to put pen to paper to write book(s). This is not unconnected with the enormity of the affairs of state, where royalty have to virtually politick to attract development to their domain as well as provide for the needs of their people. So it came as a surprise to many when His Royal Majesty, Omo N'OBA N'Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, Oba Erediauwa CFR, made a public presentation of his civil service memoirs titled I remain sir, your obedient servant, in April 2004. But what many did not know was that he was not the first Oba of Benin to write. Oba Akenzua II wrote The Cathechism and Hymns of Holy Aruosa Huanren in 1945. This book by Oba Erediauwa documented his early life as a Crown Prince and career in the Nigerian civil service also touched on the history of the events leading to his coronation as the thirty eighth Oba of Benin under the Eweka dynasty. It was this latter aspect of the book on the his story of events of the coronation ceremonies that rankled the Yoruba people as it demystified the myth of Oduduwa on which a pan Yoruba ideology and identity politics is founded. It generated controversy and a great outpouring of writings from all sides. These dominated the newspaper pages at home and abroad as well as the worldwide web and local electronics media for the remaining part of the year 2004. Given the great intellectual debates (none of which has been witnessed in Nigeria since the books on the Nigerian Civil War) which it stimulated and the redefinition of Nigerian history, Omo N' Oba Erediauwa's book I remain sir Your Obedient Servant is voted our book of the year 2004.

TINA IYARE LAUNCHES EDO LANGUAGE MULTIMEDIA TEACHING AID

The teaching of Edo language to children was recently made easier by the solo effort of our inimitable sister Augustina Omosigho Iyare in the United Sates of America. A trained teacher, social worker and cultural activist, she realized the difficulty of imparting the knowledge of Edo language to children without teaching aid and developed internet downloadable multimedia Edo program. With this Edo alphabet and numerals as well as their pronouciation can be easily taught. They are also supported with moving visuals and audio. The programme is available for download from the internet on payment of US$45 to tinaigho@yahoo.com or check www.netcom.com/Edo for further information. Schools and governments are encouraged to patronize this laudable work of sister Tina Iyare.

BOOK REVIEW

TITLE:BENIN IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIA: AN AGENDA FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

AUTHOR:EGHOSA OSAGIE

PUBLISHER :INSTITUTE FOR BENIN STUDIES, BENIN CITY, NIGERIA

DATE:2000

REVIEWER: DR. FESTUS IMUETINYAN

The last days of the 20th Century was a period of anxiety and sober reflection for the different peoples of the world The Benin people were no exception. With a background knowledge by the Benin people Hut they have experienced a protracted period of decline during the 20th century, the desire and focus became how to develop stoat egies to reverse the trend and turn the 21st Century into a period of renaissance and renewal in all aspects of human endeavour for Benin, it is against this background that one can understand the timeliness of Professor EghosA Osagie's lecture published as above titled monograph, The mono graph does a very clear and useful job of tracing the sources and genesis of the decline experienced by die Benin people in the 20th Century. Additionally, it examines trends in many areas of eco none, political and social-cultural life of the Benin people mat might favour or impede their survival in the new century. The Monograph is! divided into four parts viz introduction, the pre-colonial and colonial experiences of the Benin people, their experience in the post independence era and the agenda for the 21st Century. b the first of the four parts monograph, the author spells out his objective, which is to give and objective assessment of the performance of in Benin in the twentieth century and its place and destiny in the twenty first century. in the second and third parts of the work, the author skillfully demonstrated his knowledge of the history of the Benin people by taking ii the reader through their pre-colonial and post- 2independence experiences The author identifies specific problems arising from his analysis that needs urgent attention.

POLITICALLY, he calls attention to the potential for conflict arising from lack of congruence between modern and traditional systems of government.
Absence of a clear-cut political leadership, the distinct from leadership in the traditional system.
Tendency of mischievous elements to engineer enmity between traditional leadership and emerging leaders in the modem political set-up.
Short-sighted hostility of highly placed official at the Federal level belonging to closely related clans of the Edo ethnic group me to legitimate Benin interests.
Entrenchment of money politics; and Inadequate provision by me Benin people as a whole for the sustenance of the traditional institution.
ECONOMICALLY, he identifies: The collapse of the few manufacturing enterprises in Benin, a situation that has rendered most intractable the incidence of poverty, unemployment, emigration and crime.
The threat to the survival of Benin forest (the source of numerous pharmaceutical plants) now reduced to barely 2 percent of the original as a result of illegal felling of immature trees.
The danger inherent in me current conclude situation in land matters in Benin. As he puts it, "The land problem is very sensitive, it has to be handled with care if major inter ethnic crises are to be avoided in the 21 Century".
With respect to SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOM, he calls attention to the negative effects of
The Americanization of the Youths in the areas of fashion and food, music and Lingo.
The exploitative attitude of me extended family towards children of the deceased. In the view of the author, "the trend, if un-checked may in the future extend to undermine the communal basis of Benin society and the extended family itself.

ATTITUDES The author identities the following negative attitudes among the Benin people, which require urgent attention.
Lack of the spirit of community development.
Excessive individualism.
Selfishness; and self-centeredness.
Divisiveness arising from membership of externally derived "esoteric" societies.
Overdeveloped consumption patterns unmatched by corresponding commitment to hard work.
Preference for taking the easy way out of difficulties, e.g. emigration, aversion to risk-taking in business, backward-looking conservatism, and a curious readiness to adjust to poverty.
Neglect of rural areas now being seriously encroached upon by neighbouring ethnic groups, His agenda setting proper, receives the attention of die author in the last part of the paper. Identifying corporate survival as the goal of the Benin people in the 20th Century, the author proposed a number of strategies that could help confront the welter of problems experienced during the 20th Century.

The monograph however contains a major lapse must be pointed out. The work is too recent to ignore the debate on how to ensure the emergence of a political leadership among the Benin people distinct from leadership in the traditional system. People from other groups have always capitalized or seized upon the weak nature of non-traditional political leadership in Benin. His conclusion, I should say that the paper is an important contribution to the understanding of the challenges feeing the Benin people in the new century. The paper is hereby recommended to students and other researchers who want to understand the political economy of the Benin people.

THE EDO DYNASTY AND THE WORLD PROLEGOMENON

By Prof Iro Eweka.

It is perfectly true, as philosophers say, that life must be understood backwards. But they forget the other proposition, that it must be lived forwards. Soren Kierkegaard

This piece is about Edo (Benin) rulers - what we know of them and for what they have been worth. We know precious little about them and that link is largely speculative, like what Jacob Egharevba has told us about the Ogisos of the so called "First Period" or dynasty. What we know nothing about, however, is what preceded the Ogisos themselves. As to what the Ogisos and the Obas of die so called "Second Dynasty" have been worth we may find out when, later, we attempt to discover the answers to the following questions, namely: Who were the rulers? Who were their contemporaries and counterparts elsewhere in the world? What exactly did they do? Why did they do whatever they were supposed to have done? What lessons can contemporary Edo cultural/historical studies learn from their lives and deeds? This is "comparative history" of sorts. But before going any farther, it must be said that the name "Benin" will not appear again in this piece. The part of the world, which has gone by that name since the late 19th Century was first known to its own people as Igodomigodo. But later as Edo. This piece is concerned with Edo.

To reach its present level of perfection, the white man's stupidity must have gone through an enormous pressure induced by uncertainty, fear, paranoia and hubris. The uncertainty must have sprung from doubts as to whether the likes of the Hebrew Yahweh did, indeed exist. The fear probably arose from the possible existence of "Hell". As for the paranoia, that was probably the product of the constant expectation of invasion by ambitious neighbours. And the hubris must have been born of "success" in some of their various traumas.

In contrast, none of the criteria of uncertainty, fear, paranoia and hubris seemed to have applied to the Edo-due allowance being made for the universal "ontological insecurity1' which afflicts all of the human race without exception. For, according to the Edo creation story, the people had no doubts or worries about the existence of their Osanabua but were always sure about that Creator with whom they had made an inviolable contract even before they came into the world. They, therefore, did not fear Osanobua's wrath or judgement or condemnation before or after death. They had no concept of "Hell" until the advent of the British. The Edo had no need for paranoia because they had never been conquered (until 1897); and, they have always been just, fair-minded and liberal towards their conquered foes whom they had trusted and absorbed. As for hubris, the Edo have always been famous for their humility and natural inclination towards "live-and-let-live'. After all, it was Eweka II, the 36th Oba (King) in the 800-year old second dynasty, who once declared that the man of power who did not misuse or abuse his strength must be compared to a beautiful woman who refrained from flirting: why boast when real power can effectively demonstrate its own worth and value!

We must examine the place of Edo rulers, past and present, in the overall framework of other rulers around me? World. We seek to know where and how they fit if they do fit at all and why. Two categories are examined, ' namely: the Monarchs and the Dynasts. And the two categories are defined as follows: a monarch is one who governs alone - a supreme and absolute ruler. A dynast, on the other hand, is one who possesses strength and is able to perform but only under some external control. In common usage, of course, the dynast is a hereditary ruler, inheriting his or her strength by succession within a single-family tine. This form of succession is best guaranteed by the system of primogeniture, which is the Edo system as it has been elsewhere in the world.

From the definitions, however, it should be clear that, whereas a dynasty may also succeed in becoming a monarch, the reverse is never necessarily the case. There are examples that support that claim from England, Europe, Japan, India and China, as we shall see in due course. While dynasties may change hands, as they have often been known to do, monarchies tend to remain permanent. And, as shown in the earliest Edo practices, the source of a King's {or Queen's) power was his (or her) capacity to inspire friends, relations and foreigners alike to gather round him (or her), on the capacity to lead them successfully in war and to feed and reward them with princely gifts. Furthermore, the Edo accepted both their monarchs and their dynasts on the grounds of noble ancestry; while their warlords (lyase, Ezomo, etc) were accepted only for their courage. The principle was encapsulated in "reges ex nobilitate, duces ex vitute sumunt". Striking elements of continuity lay in the conception of a monarch as that symbol of many and various aspects of the (Edo) people's lives as well as in the numerous trappings of such central services as anointing and coronation.

But as for finding the answers to the questions posed earlier, if we are able to observe how men (and women -kings and queens) have acted and now they have described their own actions, we should be able to obtain a clearer and sharper focus on their assumptions and presumptions. Thus we should be able to see their minds more in terms of how the human mind really is, rather than as the mirror of coherent principles of political thought but really as the battlefield of conflicting assumptions and aspirations devoid of any evidence of coherence. Among the Edo, though, as elsewhere in the world, the humanness of the ruler has often been obscured by the notion of divinity, which maintained that the king (or queen) is the direct representative of Osanobua on earth and that his/her person is sacred. Like Edward the Confessor, the Edo king/queen was believed to have been "chosen by Osanobua before the day of his/her birth and....consecrated to the king-dom less by man than.... by heaven" Edo kings/queens were even given such supernatural powers as enabled them to heal the sick and perform wonderful miracles. As the chief repositories of divine authority and mediators of divine blessings, they were themselves not priests but mediators of the hardly less efficacious blessing of divine order and good government. Indeed, the name Ogiso, by which all the rulers in the first dynasty were known, translates as "king from the sky" but more about that later.

Meanwhile, the feet that the very little known about the Ogiso and even less about those who reigned before them conceals and distorts the age of the Edo culture (civilization) and obscures the history. The writing of the history began only in 1932 by Jacob U. Egharevba and contains large chunks of folklore disguised as historical facts, which, however, do not only enhance its authenticity but also render it much more entertaining and enlightening. And the fact that nothing is verifiable outside folklore of the pre-Ogiso era does not prove that Edo did not exist at all before the so-called ogiso period. Thus arise the following pertinent questions, namely: was Edo (the original City State) founded? Who did the founding? When? Why? How? Where theyâ€™re any human inhabitants there before the founding? Or did the founder herd the original inhabitants there like some cattle? And from where could they have been herded?

The Western mind has divided human cultures into three main categories: the ancient ("classical"), the "primitive" and the 'advanced'. As a result of hubris, the "advanced" belongs to the white man who reveres the 'classical' as his proud heritage; while ignoring and even debasing the 'primitive' as superstitious 'rubbish7. In those terms, the "primitive' must be seen as, at worst unknown and unknowable; at best, a mere imitation of its betters, "borrowing" features from those "betters". As Alain Denielou has thoughtfully observed, the white man is 'so used to connecting the idea of civilization with certain level of technological development that (he loses) sight of the level of human knowledge and culture in those limes which (he terms) prehistory'. That, of course, is part of the white man's stupidity.

But according to Immanuel Velikovsky, "Because the same elements can be recognized in very different settings, we can affirm that there was no borrowing from one people by another. A common experience created stories, so dissimilar, at first, and so much alike on second thought". An example that comes readily to mind is Plato's story of Er, which illustrated the concept of re-incarnation, reproduced in Dawn to Dusk: folktales from Benin. It is an exact replica of the Edo reincarnation myth in practically every detail. The consequence, however, of the presumed borrowing of what are common features between one culture and another, must have led Jacob Egharevba to the error of asserting that the earliest Edo were migrants from Egypt and the Sudan. No convincing evidence - even if there can be said to be any evidence at all - has been offered for the migration story. As Egharevba puts it in Chronicles of Events (1965), there were two "waves" of the presumed migr! ation from Egypt. And he wrote, "the first wave came from Sudan through Nupe about 7* century AD." And "the second wave came from Egypt through Sahara and Ife". If the evidence for the so called first wave rests on the terracotta artifacts, assigned to the legendary Nok Culture, then the claim is suspect, because of the interminable controversy that surrounds it. On the other hand, it makes no sense that anyone migrating from Egypt across the Sahara should first land in Ife before advancing north to Igodomigodo (now known as Edo). Nevertheless, Egharevba's historical misadventure extends beyond the issue of the origin of Edo migrants. It includes the following absurd contradiction regarding the putative dates of the presumed migrations. For a start, Percy Amaury Talbot's The Peoples of Southern Nigeria, published by Oxford University Press in 1926 (ten years before the publication of Egharevba's A Short History of Benin) stated that "perhaps about the 7th Century B.C., a further ! wave of Sudanese peoples began to pour in, first the Edo and Ewe (Popo...)" "In contradiction to Talbot, Egharevba posited 7th century A.D, as the date of the migration.

The two dates cannot be both correct, surely. But if Talbot were right, the Edo migrants must have arrived in Igodomigodo about the same time as the beginning of Etruscan Art in Italy as well as the date of the Phrygian King Midas. On the other hand, if the 7th century AD. offered by Egharevba is correct, it would be 200 years later than the more reputable date (500 B.C.), now generally assigned to the Nok Culture as well as to the ancient kingdom of Ghana (Talbot's Ewe), while Ife came into being in 1100 A.D.,as asserted by Nimian Smart in The World Religions (1989). And if Nimian Smart is right, then Oranmiyan was sent to the Edo people as their Idngonly70yearsafterbeginningoflfeitself. Yet Oramniyaa's arrival as king among the Edo was at the end of the reign of the last (the 31st) Ogiso of the so called first dynastic period. On Ac whole, it is difficult, in spite as well as because of all the confusion and uncertainty to unders! tand why the earliest inhabitants of Igodomigodo should not have had their own independent origin, which they claim through their oral history Even if "immigrants" arrived at any time during the 1400 years between 700 B.C. and 700 A.D., there must have been people already in existence there. In modem times, it is said that the story of mankind began in the tropical forests of at least 65 million years ago. Thai, incidentally, would locate the infamous "Garden of Eden" somewhere inside the tropical forests, in which case, the mythical Adam and Eve would nave inhabited those forests. There is no logical reason whatsoever to exclude Edo from taking their place alongside other claimants as the "origin of the world".

But on a more serious note, it is now generally behaved that over the first two million years of human history, our ancestors depended entirely upon Nature's whim for food. And according to Edo oral history, the whim of Nature on which the people depended for their daily bread was I so (the sky). The claim that Iso was so dose to the earth that all .they had to do was reach up for it, cut a slice and eat it. That claim may not be as outlandish as it may sound when one realizes mat numerous other cultures around the world feature experiences of a sky that was dose to the earth For example, in the Mythology of Pugel Sound (published in 1924 in "Journal of American Folklore XXXVII)" Shehon related a story told him by the Snohomish tribe as follows: "A long time ago, when all animals were still human beings, (he sky was very low. It was so low that the people could not stand erect..."

The similarity between mat story and the version from Edo seems quite striking. But it goes much furtherlban the mere superficial look. For, in me Edo version, the period in which me sky was so low to the earth that people could actually touch it, coincided with the period when all the animals and plants spoke a common language. In other words, it was the very earliest age of the earth when all of Nature was one and indivisible. However, another example of stories about the low sky comes from East Africa Their belief was that in very old times the sky was very close to the earth. They were in a very good position to know, since human life as we now know it, is believed to have begun there (Otduvai!) But yet another example of the low sky myth is from the Kaska tribe in the interior of British Columbia, There they claim that once a long time ago the sky was very dose to the earth. And in Religious and Cosmic Beliefs of Central Polynesia, Vol. / Williamson reported the inhabitants of the South Sea Island as claiming that "the sky was so dose to the earth that men could not walk", and, "myriads of dragonflies with their wings severed the clouds confining the heavens to the earth".

There are numerous other examples of those kinds to be found all over the world - all created independently. But having driven /so out of human reach, die Edo were forced to find other sources of food. Their answer lay in soil cultivation. Thus began agriculture. Indeed, as modem scholars generally agree, it is only within the last 10,000 years that human beings have settled down to farm the land and to control their own food supply. The last 10,000 years" dates back to 8000 B.C. be said to have been in existence by 8000B.C., even if not before. This should be an eye-opener, because whereas Nimian Smart puts the Siimerian urban settlements in Mesopotamia, the beginning of cultivation along the Nile, and the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt at 2500, 2000 aid 1100 B.C., respectively; Main Danielou places the Paleolithic (Magdalenian) Age at 13000 B.C. and the Neolithic Age at 8000B.C According to Danielou, the "Mother Goddess' (known to the Edo as OLOKUN) arrived in Cyprus in 6500 B.C. He places the predynastic Egypt at 5000 B.C. and the 'historical! flood' (Noah's?) in the year 3000 B.C. The fascinating story about the origin of the Edo does not begin and end with the low sky and the beginning of agriculture In fact, the Edo creation myth begins with the presence of an endless body of water on which lay floating on his back the solitary figure of a man whose sole companions were mi uwenrhie-otan ( a stick) and a snail shell. Just as the myth of the low sky is universal, so is that of the enormous flood that covered everywhere on earth. If that was not the "Primordial Soup", then it could have been either the "Flood of Deucalion" ortne "Flood of Ogyges" (both of which were recorded in ancient Greek mythology) or "Noah's Flood" (recorded in Hebrew mythology).

Concerning the story of Noah's Flood, incidentally, Danielou has stated, "Christians take as historical fact the symbolic accounts of the Bible and the Gospel. They go and dig on the top of Mount Ararat to find the remains of Noah's Ark even though the flood myth is universal, known to the Hindus as to the Babylonians and the American peoples, and each tradition makes the Ark ground on a different mountain" (or plain?) The story of the flood is widespread and common to all cultures, and the Edo culture is no exception. The Indian tribe, Wichita, in Oklahoma, North America, tell of "the Deluge and the re-peopling of the earth", as reported by G.A. Dorsey in "The mythology of the Wichita" in 1904. They claimed that "there came to the people some signs, which showed that there was something in the north that looked like clouds; and the fowl of the air came, and the animals of the plains were seen. All this indicated that something was to happen The clouds that were seen in the north were a deluge The deluge was all over the face of the earth".

It is recognized in various quarters today that folktales contain concrete FACTS about actual events that have taken place in the reality of human life. And it is well established in the areas of paleontology, anthropology, history, even chemistry, biology, and physics that the traumas of such real events produced Collective Amnesia" from which was later dredged the "Collective Unconscious" which formed the storehouse of the factual contents of folklore. To back up that assertion, it is believed that the contents of our present earth have been destroyed and then re-created several times in the earth's long history. In other words, an "old world" is destroyed and a 'new world" takes its place. As Danielou has phrased it. "All new life is born iron a life destroyed" Thus the earth has passed through well-known "New ages" in the past and will pass through many more "New Ages" in the future. Having said that, "World evolution is subject to cycles", Danielou declared that "Many times, mankind together with the animals and vegetable species have known the cycle of their infancy, golden age, decline and destruction Each of these cycles is divided into four periods known as Kjgas, This division of the ages of the world was known to the Egyptians, the Greeks, and all me ancients". The ancient Edo can have no reason for excluding itself from such knowledge.

Of course, Danielou restricted himself to India and Greece in examining "The Traditions of Shiva and Dionysus". But Vehkovsky, taking seven" World Ages". He wrote " a conception of ages that were brought to their end by violent changes in nature in common all over the world. Thenumberofagesdifrersfrompeopleto people and from tradition to tradition. The difference depends on the number of catastrophes that the particular people retained in its (collective) memory, or on the way it reckoned the end of an age" Indeed, as recorded by Varro, the Etruria folklore recorded seven lapsed ages. The Greeks had similar records. While Heraditus who lived from 540 to 475 B.C. claimed that the world is subjected to destruction by fire once in every 10,800 years; Aristacus of Samos was convinced in the third century B.C. that within a period of 2,484 years the earth suffers two separate destructions by fire and by flood. And not only the Greeks, either. For the Hindu sacred book, Bhagavala Parana, describes four such ages, the sacred scriptures of the ancient religion of Mazdiasm in Persia, the Avesia, described seven such ages; the Chinese refer to perished ages as iris where the tenth kis extended from the beginning of the world until Confucius; the Incas, the Aztecs, the Mayais, the Polynesians, the Hawaiians, the Icelanders and the rabbinical tests of the post-exilic Jews ("He made several worlds before ours, but he destroyed them all") - all de! scribed worlds mat died and were regenerated.

The Edo folktales are not devoid of the notion of world ages. And, at least since the reign of Oba (King) Esigie when the Iwokt (the cult of royal astrologers) was formalized, between 1504 and 1550 A.D - corresponding to the advent of Copernicus - the Edo have been able to keep an eye on the cosmos (Incident] ally, Nostradamus, the "prophet", was born in the reign of Esigie). The Iwoki ate, as Prince Ena Eweka has stated, "experts in weather forecasts and are capable of controlling the weather too". Eweka adds, 'It is also believed that early Europeans who visited (probably the Portuguese) may have been members of this guild" Tbelwoki were - and hopefully still are - moon gazers, capable through their expertise, of prophesizmg future events, as astrologers all over the world have been known to do. So, by aid large, the Edo have never lived their daily lives outside the general scheme of the rest of humanity. And most of their (oral) hist! ory is contained in their folktales. Human beings everywhere think of themselves, as the Princes and Princesses - die highest beings -of all creation. Yet they know little of what LIFE itself is or exactly how it came into existence. In spite of being taught that they have "Lived" on earth for millions of years, they find that their own-recorded history covers only a few thousand years and even those few thousand years are not by any means sufficiently well known. As for their so called un-recorded (Oral/Remembered) history, what is known is seen only as fragmented, disjointed and marked by disarming discontinuity. Nevertheless, evidence seems to be mounting that creation, as a whole is ONE, even if it exists in "Ages" as discussed earlier.

Let us now turn specifically to the rulers of the Edo kingdom and their places vis-Ã -vis their contemporaries elsewhere in the world. Of course, it must not be forgotten that nothing at all is truly known before the Ogiso period. We do not know the name of anyone who lived in that period. Nor do we know whether or not there were any rulers at all. Therefore, our discussion must be confined to the Ogiso era(the so called "First Dynasty"). But we certainly cannot ignore the common place thought that ail civilizations and cultures, as Danielou has dearly stated, are the fruit of the accumulation of man's knowledge and experience, handed down from generation to generation. However, thirty-one Ogiso's have been named by Egharevba (repeated by Eweka).Although that names seem to suggest the etymology and morphology of the ancient language.

No one has been able to offer any clue as to their connotations. If die Ogisos are given an average of 23 years of reign each on our time scale, the "first dynasty" must have lasted for some 713 years altogether, assuming that their year was 12 and not 10 months long. That would place there reign of the first of them, Obagodo at about the year 475 AD, which would correspond with the reigns of some, A least, of the Anglo-Saxon rulers who ruled what is now called Great Britain from 450 to 1154 A.D We should then be able to match the Ogisos with the early Germanic rulers who conquered and dominated the British Isles some (550 years ago But sadly, outside of folklore, we know nothing of what any of the Ogiso's actually did. It is not enough for our purpose that certain villages in the Edo Kingdom "have been in existence since the time of Ogisos", as Egharevba and Eweka frequently phrase it Or, as in the case of Owodo "the reign was peaceful and co! mfortable for all" And unlike the case of each of the 38 Obas (Kings) of the second dynasty, who have reigned for a total of 810 years (at the average of 23 years each) to whom specific reignal years have been assigned, none of the Ogisos has a reignal year to his/her name. No meaningful comparison can be constructed, therefore, to cover the Ogtso period. That period must, consequently, be consigned to the obscurity of folklore of which there is no shortage. What may be said, though, is that, whereas the Angle-Saxon kings had cut up the British Isles into a multiplicity of tiny kingdoms out of which a single kingdom ("England") took 1035 years to emerge; the Edo kingdom has remained a single organic unit throughout its long history, unconquered until 1897 AD On the other hand, ii should be noted that, as was partially the case in respect of the earliest Ogjso, the earliest Anglo-Saxon kingship was "elective" where the "Elector" might be favourably compared to the Edo Uz! ama (the so called "Kingmakers") whose position was rather more like the Anglo-Saxon Witon ("Wise Men") but rather less man the Witenagemont (the Anglo-Saxon "Royal Council") And, as previously indicated, the 'Divine right of Kings" applied with equal force to the Anglo-Saxon as to their Edo counterparts.

The rulers, however, to whom the greater bulk of the present piece is devoted are those who belong to the second dynasty which is said to have begun around the year 1200 A.D. But even so, not all of the 38 named in this so called second dynasty are accorded equal treatment For there have been those who actually inherited the throne but sat on it only for a few months or even a mere matter of days. They were dynasts only in name, not in any substance. Rather man rule, they were themselves ruled out of existence and it was only by dint of age-old adherence to the principle, later known as primogeniture, did they manage to retain the dynastic succession. Others among the 38 under consideration, spent a few years before they were either assassinated, as was the case of Ohen, or exiled But the more important ones who were both Monarchs and Dynasts rolled into one, and who were true empire builders and expansionists are given the fullest possible treatment within ! the bounds of the available reliable information. They have been called "Warrior Kings' and it is to them that the glory of Edo kingdom rightly belongs. Finally, Zeitgeist underlies the ideas and principles treated and even where numerous different reasons can be adduced for the events discussed, the ultimate "cause" will fall on the Spin! of the Age in which the events are known to have taken place. Today, there are very few crowned heads left in the world, and most of them - if not all - are dynasts rather than monarchs. A modem Emperor of Japan even had to publicly renounce his age-old divinity and submit to the new ("Constitutional") circumstance. But closer to home. Queen Elizabeth II now hangs on to her throne by the breadth of her hair and no one is certain that her heir will ever ascend the British throne By dose analogy, it is now increasingly speculated that the present Edo king, the 38th in the second dynasty, may well be the last Oba in the ancient kingdom. Behind all the changes lies Zeitgeist true monarch today is the Spirit of the Age, it seems to have always been- And while one may sigh over such blatant fatalism, realism dictates that the best bet is to let the sleeping Cerberus lie.

Search