The Fascinating, But Controversial History Of The Benin Bronzes
What you might not know about these African works of art.
The Edo people believed the universe was made up of two worlds. One was the ordinary world of human beings. The other, was the magical world of gods, spirits, and the place where their ancestors went after they died.
The human world was surrounded on all sides by water. If you wanted to cross over to the other side, to the magical world, you needed to get over this vast ocean. Every person made this journey twice. Once, when they were born. The second time, when they died.
Osanobua was the supreme god of creation. All the other gods were his descendants. The Edo believed every person living in this world had a shadow spirit living on the other side, in the magical world. It is this spirit that tried to get Osanobua to help them when the going got tough in ordinary life.
This interplay between the worlds was how the Edo imagined the universe functioning. Spirits were real. Gods were real. Magic was real. According to these legends, their kings — the obas, were descended from the supreme god himself, and that’s why they had ultimate power on this Earth.
