Osanobua, the supreme creator, Olokun, lord of the sea and of wealth, and Ogun, lord of iron and of the hunt, in their Edo, or Bini, forms as addressed by the people of the historic Benin Kingdom in southern Nigeria. These figures parallel deities of the neighbouring Yoruba orisha tradition but are attested independently in Edo oral history, court ritual and the bronze and ivory art of the Benin royal court, which depicted Olokun and royal ancestors long before European contact in the fifteenth century.
Facts
Structure
Structure of the PantheonA supreme creator above a working order of intermediary powers 1 Divine HeadshipA supreme creator who withdrew from active rule and receives little direct cult 1 Succession Between Divine GenerationsOne divine generation; no succession between generations is recorded 1 The Creator and the Ruling GodsThe creator withdrew after making the world and is seldom addressed in cult 1 Attestation
Era of Attestation Era of AttestationAttested from Edo oral tradition in the Kingdom of Benin, documented in the outside record from Portuguese contact in the fifteenth century CE, continuing today. 1 Veneration TodayActively venerated in a living tradition 1 Cult
Principal Cult CentreBenin City, where the royal ancestral altars stand in the palace of the Oba, with Olokun shrines kept through Edo country 1 Organisation
Membership of the PantheonEvery place, clan and lineage adds its own 1 How Mortals Enter the PantheonAncestors and founders become objects of cult 1 Sources
Primary SourceOral tradition held within Edo lineages and the palace societies, with the royal art of Benin as a documentary record and published ethnography 1 Connections
Associated With
This source names Benin directly: "by the people of the historic Benin Kingdom in southern Nigeria."
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Its own cited description places the Edo in southern Nigeria.
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Sources
1. Encyclopedia of Religion
Mircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.), Macmillan Reference, 2005View the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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