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Idia

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Idia
Iyoba of Uselu
 First, of the Kingdom of Benin
Sixteenth-century ivory pendant depicting the face of Idia
Sixteenth-century ivory pendant depicting Idia, now in the British Museum.
Iyoba of the Kingdom of Benin
TenureEarly 16th century
Investiturec. 1506
PredecessorOffice established
SuccessorElaba
BornLate 15th century
Ugieghudu, Isi district, Kingdom of Benin
DiedEarly 16th century
Burial
Egua Iyoba, Uselu
HusbandOzolua
ChildEsigie
EdoIdia n'Iye Esigie ('Idia, the mother of Esigie')

Idia was a royal woman of the Kingdom of Benin[a] and the first person to hold the title of Iyoba, an Edo term for the mother of the reigning Oba ('king'). A wife of Ozolua and the mother of Esigie, she held ritual, military and political authority during the succession disputes and conflicts associated with her son's accession and the early decades of his reign in the first half of the sixteenth century. Neither her birth nor her death can be dated precisely, although she is generally placed in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries and is traditionally said to have originated from Ugieghudu in the Isi district of the kingdom. Edo accounts attribute Esigie's success against his half-brother Aruanran partly to Idia's political counsel, military forces, ritual protection and knowledge of medicine. An Edo proverb describes her as the only woman who went to war, but surviving traditions differ as to whether she personally led troops, accompanied Esigie on campaign or dispatched soldiers from her court at Uselu. Her contingent participated in the Benin–Idah War of 1515–1516, and her head slave and his men were credited with killing the commander of the Idah forces.

Esigie established the office of Iyoba for Idia, gave her a separate palace in Lower Uselu and assigned her chiefs, servants, lands, privileges and a court comparable to those of Benin's senior officeholders. The title subsequently became a permanent institution within Benin's ritual and political structure, and later Obas formally installed their mothers as Iyoba after taking the throne. Tradition also attributes to Idia the introduction of the Ekasa ritual dance and the curved coral-beaded ukpe-okhue ('parrot's beak') headdress, both of which became associated with the office and its ceremonies. After her death, Idia became a recurring subject in Benin court art, appearing on cast-metal memorial heads, carved ivory pendants, altar tusks, bells and other royal objects. An ivory pendant identified with her later served as the emblem of the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, commonly known as FESTAC 77, and was subsequently reproduced as a symbol of Nigerian and African cultural heritage.

Life and political career

[edit]

Name, origins and marriage

[edit]

Idia is also known as Idia n'Iye Esigie, meaning Idia, the mother of Esigie.[2][3] In Benin praise traditions, she is called Idia ne ekonorhue, translated as "Idia, the Womb of Orhue", a reference to the sacred white kaolin clay known as orhue in Edo.[4][5] Another praise song describes her as fighting with a double-edged sword, which historian Barbara Winston Blackmun interprets as referring both to warfare and to concealed ritual knowledge.[4] Although Idia's birth date is unknown, available accounts place her in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.[6][7] She was an Edo woman from Ugieghudu (also written Uzeghudu) in the Eguae ('palace') area of the Isi district of the Kingdom of Benin.[8][9] Later narratives describe her as beautiful, determined and knowledgeable in medicinal and ritual matters before she entered the royal household.[10]

Idia became one of the wives of Oba Ozolua, whose reign is associated with territorial expansion and repeated military campaigns.[11][12] One account states that Ozolua first saw her performing in a dance in the capital and began marriage negotiations after noticing her.[13] Her relatives reportedly prepared and strengthened her medicinally before she entered the palace, a process historian Nkiru Nzegwu interprets as an initiation intended to equip her spiritually and psychologically for royal politics.[13] A royal oral tradition recorded by historian Flora Edouwaye Kaplan offers another explanation for the two vertical marks shown between Idia's eyes. According to this version, her parents opposed her marriage to the Oba and consulted an oracle. A physician-diviner then made two cuts in her forehead and inserted substances intended to repel Ozolua or make her undesirable to him. Ozolua is said to have recognised that medicine had been used and ordered his specialists to neutralise it before Idia appeared before him, after which she entered the palace as an iloi ('royal wife'). Kaplan distinguishes these incisions from the facial markings ordinarily worn by Edo women, which she states usually consisted of either one or three forehead lines rather than two.[14][15] Nzegwu instead suggests that the cuts and medicines may indicate that Idia's family deliberately expanded her ritual abilities and prepared her to advance politically within the court.[10]

Idia bore the prince Osawe, who later adopted the regnal name Esigie.[16][17] Ozolua's other sons included Ogidogbo and Aruanran (also rendered as Aruaran, Arhuaran or Arhuanhuan).[16][11][12]

Dynastic crisis and Esigie's accession

[edit]

The succession crisis is known primarily through oral material preserved in songs, divination verses, annual ceremonies, royal art, guild accounts and chiefly traditions. Historian Kathy Curnow wrote that these narratives share a generally consistent sequence of major events while differing in detail because they derive from several oral fragments rather than a single contemporary written record.[18] During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, colonial administrators, anthropologists and local historians collected portions of this material, much of which remained unpublished or dispersed among archives.[19] One tradition presents Ogidogbo as Ozolua's original successor and assumes that primogeniture governed royal inheritance at the time.[11] Nzegwu, however, argues that primogeniture had not yet become a rigidly codified rule of succession.[20] Both accounts state that Ogidogbo lost his claim after injuring his leg in a contest with his younger brothers because a bodily impairment was considered incompatible with kingship.[16][11] Ozolua consequently appointed Ogidogbo to govern a provincial territory, leaving Esigie and Aruanran as the principal claimants to the throne.[11]

A narrative concerning the princes' births states that Idia and another of Ozolua's wives, usually named Ohomwin or Ohonmi, became pregnant at the same time and returned to their paternal households for childbirth.[11][16] Although Ohomwin reportedly gave birth to Aruanran first, Idia's household sent news of Esigie's delivery to the palace before Aruanran's birth was announced. Esigie was therefore entered in the royal record as the older prince.[11][17] Nzegwu interprets the account as evidence of coordinated action among Idia, palace officials, royal wives and female ritual experts, although the surviving traditions do not establish how directly Idia organised the episode.[21] Aruanran acquired a reputation as a physically powerful warrior and was reportedly Ozolua's preferred son, whereas Esigie became associated with learning and intellectual training connected with the early Portuguese mission.[12][11] In Curnow's reconstruction, Esigie learned to read, write and speak Portuguese and may have received some instruction in Latin after being presented for baptism as part of Ozolua's attempt to obtain firearms from Portugal. Portuguese restrictions against selling weapons to rulers who were not Christian prevented Ozolua from acquiring them solely through his son's conversion.[11] Aruanran, meanwhile, was said to have trained in medicine and supernatural techniques under a female ritual practitioner in anticipation of conflict with Esigie and Idia.[20][11]

Another succession account states that Ozolua attempted to establish Aruanran at Udo, a town north of the Benin capital, providing him with chiefs, artisans, royal insignia and a ritually prepared eben, or ceremonial sword. He was ordered not to allow the sword's point to touch the ground before reaching Udo, because the first place where it struck the earth would be recognised as the "New Benin". Esigie allegedly accompanied the procession and repeatedly urged Aruanran to honour shrines along the route until Aruanran accidentally lowered the blade while still within the Benin capital, leaving the older city in possession of ritual precedence.[22] When Ozolua later died during a northern campaign, control and burial of his remains became another element in the succession dispute.[12][22] Aruanran intended to seize the body when it passed through Udo, but Esigie's supporters reportedly misled him with an elaborate coffin containing a log while secretly transporting Ozolua's remains in an unremarkable bundle. Esigie obtained the body, conducted the royal burial and proceeded to his coronation, after which civil war began between Udo and the Benin capital.[22]

Benin traditions consistently credit Idia with assisting Esigie during the conflict, but they differ in their descriptions of her actions. Some state only that she mobilised soldiers and used medicinal and ritual knowledge to secure his accession.[23][24] A more detailed version recorded by Curnow places Idia at Unuame in Udo territory, where she disguised herself as a food seller and prepared meals for Aruanran's troops. The soldiers who ate the food were believed to have transferred their loyalty to Esigie, and Idia reportedly repeated the process when a second military division arrived. Archaeological reports of unusually large quantities of early-sixteenth-century pottery along the Unuame shoreline have been interpreted as evidence of a substantial temporary settlement, although they do not substantiate the supernatural elements of the account.[22]

Esigie's enlarged forces later attacked Udo, killing Aruanran's wife and son and forcing Aruanran towards the shore of a lake.[25] Tradition states that he avoided capture by removing a sacred bead associated with kingship, pronouncing an invocation and drowning himself.[26] Blackmun similarly records that Aruanran destroyed or surrendered the royal beads before dying by suicide after Esigie's victory.[12] A separate account maintains that Esigie experienced a temporary mental disturbance after wearing the bead associated with Aruanran.[27][26] Members of the Ogbelaka guild reportedly closed around him,[b] copied his irregular speech and movements and sounded iron gongs, causing observers to interpret his arrival in the capital as a staged victory celebration.[26] Idia then found a ritual practitioner able to treat him, while her supporters guarded the ruler and concealed his condition from potential rivals.[27][26] The continuing Emobo ceremony, in which the Oba performs with an ivory gong among Ogbelaka participants, has been interpreted as commemorating both Esigie's return and the protection provided by Idia's followers.[27][26]

Establishment as Iyoba

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Creation of the office

[edit]

After taking the throne, Esigie established the title of Iyoba for Idia, who became its first holder.[29][30] Its literal meaning is the mother of the Oba, although "queen mother" is commonly used as an approximate English rendering.[6] Nzegwu distinguishes an Iye Oba, the biological mother of a ruler, from the constitutional office of Iyoba, arguing that "queen mother" can obscure the title's separate ritual, political and moral functions.[31] Earlier custom is said to have required the biological mother of a newly installed Oba to be "put away" or killed so that she could not become an alternative source of political authority.[32][17] Esigie declined to apply that custom to Idia and instead created an institution through which the ruler's mother was formally incorporated into government.[6][33] Later traditions therefore attribute to Idia and Esigie the abolition of the killing of royal mothers and the establishment of a right for later Iyobas to remain alive during their sons' reigns.[34][35]

Brass commemorative head with a tall lattice-patterned headdress and broad beaded collar
A later brass head of an Iyoba, illustrating the continuation of the office established for Idia.

Chiefs and other political groups reportedly opposed the innovation, and one tradition states that Idia temporarily went into hiding because she feared assassination.[36] Nzegwu argues that her support among royal women, palace chiefs, ritual practitioners and other allies was sufficient to protect her and secure the survival of the new office.[37] Academics Ucheawaji Josiah and Blessing Jeffrey-Ebhomenmen cite a minority version in which the title was created only after Idia died, whereas Egharevba, Kaplan, Blackmun and other specialist writers maintain that she received it during her lifetime.[38][39][14][4] Egharevba places Idia's installation around 1506 and records that later Obas normally invested their mothers as Iyoba approximately three years after ascending the throne.[40] If the mother of an Edaiken ('crown prince') died before he became ruler, her remains could be preserved and subsequently reburied with the title and honours of an Iyoba after his accession.[40][36] The office therefore allowed ritual recognition to be extended to royal mothers who died before the customary time of installation.[40]

Nzegwu argues that biological motherhood alone cannot explain the institution because earlier mothers of Obas, such as Erinmwide, the mother of Eweka I, had not received the title.[41] She interprets the creation of the office as a political response to the instability surrounding Esigie's accession, Idia's role in government and the need for a trusted figure who could reinforce the authority of the Oba.[31] Under this interpretation, the Iyoba represented a form of "supreme motherhood" through which the ruler's biological mother was ritually reconstituted as a political mother of the kingdom and a spiritual and moral guardian of the Oba.[41] Nzegwu nevertheless emphasises that the office was neither constitutionally equivalent to the Obaship nor equal to the sovereign authority vested in the Oba.[41]

Court at Uselu

[edit]

Esigie built Idia a palace in Lower Uselu called Eguae Iyoba ('the court of the Iyoba').[29][42] There she maintained her own chiefs, attendants, servants, retainers and court, supported by land and villages assigned to her household.[6][4] Historians Toyin Falola and Ann Genova describe the grant as territory under Idia's control, while Blackmun characterises it as a separate jurisdiction with vassals and land.[33][4] The old capital consisted of the smaller Ogbe district, containing the Oba's palace and the residences of palace chiefs, and the larger Orenokhua district, inhabited by town chiefs and their dependants. Beyond the principal city wall lay another enclosure containing shrines and the settlements of the Uzama ('kingmakers'). Farther northwest stood the Edaiken's court at Uselu, with Idia's establishment located to its south in Lower Uselu.[43] Anthropologists Peter Roese and Dmitri Bondarenko reported in 2003 that remains associated with the former Iyoba palace were still visible beyond the first city wall on Ifon Road.[36]

Some narratives maintain that after Idia moved to Uselu, she and Esigie communicated through intermediaries rather than meeting directly.[32][26] Curnow proposes that Esigie's chiefs may have encouraged this arrangement to reduce Idia's personal influence, while another account connects her relocation to disputes with Aruanran's mother at Ugbekun, a former residence of royal widows.[26] Nzegwu disputes the interpretation of Uselu as a place of exile, arguing that relocation neither severed Idia's contact with her son nor excluded her from military, political, diplomatic and commercial affairs.[34] She interprets the court's location as strategically connected with Esigie's struggle with the Uzama, whose settlements and political base were nearby. From there, Idia and her entourage could observe the area, obstruct cooperation between the Uzama and Esigie's opponents and protect routes leading into the capital. Her household included servants, retainers and non-domestic dependants or troops commanded by her head slave, whom Nzegwu identifies as Oro.[43]

The confrontation with the Uzama formed part of a wider constitutional dispute over authority shared between hereditary kingmakers and the Oba. Nzegwu suggests that the Uzama's refusal to participate in royal ceremonies expressed opposition to Esigie's protection of Idia and his creation of the office without their consent.[43] After defeating Idah, Esigie disciplined or replaced opposing chiefs, imposed annual homage to Erinmwin Idu, added a dance involving the ahianmwen-oro staff[c] to the Ugie Oro festival[d] and instituted the Ague fast.[e][47] The removed Uzama later accepted the changes and pledged loyalty to the Oba in return for restoration to office and formal recognition of hereditary succession within their body.[48] Egharevba also associates Esigie's rule with the establishment of the Elaba, Eribo and Ohugba titles, the restructuring of the Iwebo royal society and the elevation of the Uwangue as its head.[49] Idia's office became permanent within this wider reorganisation of political institutions.[48]

Political and judicial authority

[edit]

The rights granted to Idia placed her among Benin's senior officeholders.[6][50] She could occupy a throne, wear red ceremonial garments and distinctive coral-bead regalia, carry an official sword and retain titled chiefs of her own.[6][51] Historians Daniel Iweze and Umasom Amos further state that she could nominate individuals for chieftaincy titles, which were then formally granted by the Oba.[17] From Uselu, Idia presided over a court and exercised authority within the territory assigned to her.[6][52] She adjudicated disputes by directing her chiefs to investigate events and issuing decisions after considering their reports.[6] Later accounts also associate the early office with tribute collection, management of local affairs and political counsel to the Oba.[53]

Although the Iyoba was often ranked alongside a leading male chief, her institutional rights exceeded those held by most town chiefs.[54][48] Like the Edaiken and Ezomo,[f] she was permitted to wear a coral-bead shirt and cap, although Kaplan writes that this cap was not a crown, which remained exclusive to the Oba.[48][56] The Iyase[f] and other leading chiefs instead wore conical headgear made from leopard skin, patterned cloth or red flannel rather than the forward-curving coral-covered headdress of the Iyoba.[56] The office also possessed coercive and military powers uncommon within the title hierarchy. Nzegwu states that an Iyoba could mobilise troops and belonged to the limited group of officeholders with authority over life and death. Together with the Oba, Ezomo, Ero and Oliha, she was among the few authorities permitted by royal sanction to conduct human sacrifice within the contemporary ritual and political system. Her court also contained chiefs and religious specialists corresponding to positions within the Oba's palace.[48]

Unlike most titled chiefs, an Iyoba could commission ivory and copper-alloy works for devotional and personal use, including ikegobo, or altars to the hand, and urhoto, or rectangular altarpieces.[48][50] Such objects depicted her in formal coral-bead regalia, accompanied by attendants carrying signs of ritual and political office.[50][57] Like deceased Obas, deceased Iyobas received cast-metal commemorative heads supporting carved ivory tusks on royal ancestral altars.[48][50] Blackmun cites a seventeenth-century European description of a later Oba's mother who maintained an elaborate court outside the capital and was consulted on matters of state.[57]

Ritual knowledge and protection of the Oba

[edit]

Benin traditions repeatedly associate Idia with divination, prayer, medicine and ritual practices intended to protect Esigie and reinforce his rule.[6][4] In the political setting described by Nzegwu, medicinal and supernatural expertise contributed to legitimacy, courage and authority and was not treated as separate from government. The ability of the Oba to control forces believed to preserve the kingdom's vitality was politically significant to priests, chiefs and ritual officers whose positions depended upon him. During Ozolua's reign, both women and men could practise medicine or serve as diviners and ritual specialists. Nzegwu cites Enaben, a royal wife remembered as a formidable sorceress, as evidence that esoteric knowledge was not regarded as an exclusively male domain.[58] Idia's expertise therefore provided a recognised basis of authority within the political and religious assumptions of sixteenth-century Benin.[59]

Blackmun describes Idia's power as restrained, cool and concealed, contrasting it with the overt strength and virility associated with the Oba.[60] The praise title "Womb of Orhue" associates her with white kaolin, purity, spiritual protection and coolness, while also containing what Blackmun identifies as a euphemistic inversion referring to feared occult capacities.[61] In the traditions she discusses, such powers were not regarded as inherently harmful when used by a woman to protect her child and the kingdom.[27] Idia's association with protective ritual is also retained in the yearly Orhu festival.[62] During this observance, the Iyoba prepares boiled beef and white yam without red palm oil or red pepper for deceased people who left no children to commemorate them. The prescribed meal recalls an offering said to have been made by Idia during Esigie's succession struggle. Its white ingredients signify restrained female power and coolness, whereas the omitted red ingredients represent blood, heat and forceful vitality.[45]

Court imagery also represents Idia as a guardian. The Iyoba can appear beside, above, below or on both sides of the triadic representation of the Oba supported by two attendants, indicating that female forces were understood to sustain kingship.[45] Idia or an attendant may carry a rectangular mirror charm believed to reveal and repel harmful spiritual forces.[45][57] Its reflective surface was also associated with peace, beauty, protection and the calm waters linked with Olokun.[57]

Benin–Idah War

[edit]
Map showing major states in the region of present-day Nigeria during the sixteenth century
States in the region of present-day Nigeria during the sixteenth century, including Benin and Igala.

The Benin–Idah War is usually dated to 1515–1516.[63][64] Egharevba connects its outbreak with a dispute between Esigie and the Oliha, head of the Uzama chiefs.[39] The Oliha publicly claimed that his wife Imaguero was the kingdom's most faithful woman. Esigie challenged this assertion and sent a palace porter carrying coral and agate beads to seduce her.[39] Imaguero accepted the ornaments, entered into a relationship with the porter and arranged to reside at her father's home, where the meetings continued for several weeks.[63] During a public gathering, the porter described the affair and Imaguero confirmed it, leading the Oliha to order her strangled.[9] To retaliate against Esigie, the Oliha sent his servant Aigbovuleghe to inform the Attah of Idah that Benin intended to invade and that the Oliha would support Idah's army. The same intermediary was then used to warn Esigie that Idah was preparing an attack, with the aim of provoking a war in which the Oba might be killed or captured.[9] Later scholarship interprets the episode as part of the wider constitutional dispute involving Esigie, Idia and the Uzama, rather than solely as a conflict over marital fidelity.[43]

Copper-alloy relief showing a central armed warrior flanked by two smaller attendants
Benin court relief of a warrior and attendants.

The Attah assembled an army and marched on Benin, while Portuguese missionaries or associates were reportedly present with Esigie during the campaign.[63][65] Idia dispatched troops from Uselu under her head slave's command. Her soldiers participated in the fighting and killed the commander of Idah's army, although her head slave was then fatally kicked by the dead commander's horse while attempting to remove his garments.[9] Academic Josephine Abbe and historian Jean Borgatti also repeat the account that Idia's soldiers and slaves contributed to the victory and that her head slave killed the opposing general.[64] Other versions assign Idia a more direct role in the fighting.[42][66] She is variously described as accompanying Esigie with her own troops, entering battle disguised as a man or fighting personally beside him.[67] Iweze and Amos further record traditions that she produced decoy soldiers to mislead the Igala army and killed an Igala ritual specialist who had entered Benin as a spy.[66]

Another battlefield narrative states that an ibis flew over the Benin army while crying and beating its wings, which royal diviners interpreted as a sign of impending defeat.[59] Idia rejected their advice to withdraw, urged Esigie to order the bird shot and helped restore confidence among the troops. Her presence and forces were remembered as countering the prediction and enabling the campaign to continue.[68] After the Idah army was defeated, the Attah sought peace through an intermediary called Emuenmuen. Idah was required to pay an indemnity, and the result removed an immediate military threat to Esigie's rule.[9] Later interpretations connect the victory with Benin's stronger position in north–south commerce along the Niger, linking routes towards the Songhai region with the Atlantic coast.[69][70] On returning from Ohinmwin on the Niger, Esigie stayed at Uzeghudu, identified as Idia's birthplace, for a year before the chiefs of Benin called him back to the capital.[9] Nzegwu proposes that Elaba, who later accompanied Esigie militarily, may have been trained for that position under Idia's influence, although this remains an inference rather than a directly recorded fact.[53][70]

Ceremonial traditions

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Ekasa ritual dance

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Benin tradition attributes the introduction of the Ekasa dance to Idia and Esigie, after which it became incorporated into royal coronations and funerary rites.[49][40] Its origin is placed during Esigie's reign, and Idia is said to have encountered or obtained the dance through interaction with the spiritual world.[64] Chief Nosakhare Isekhure, who served as chief priest of Benin from 1980 to 2017, stated that Idia chose the dance to celebrate Esigie's accession and later requested its performance at her own funeral because she had introduced it. A different tradition assigns the Ezomo a role in helping Idia bring Ekasa from the spiritual realm into the physical world.[64] Because of this association, the Ezomo's lineage retains the right to host the performers at its palace for one day near the end of the ceremonial sequence.[71] During that visit, a sacrifice is made at an iroko tree for the spirits from whom the dance was traditionally obtained.[64]

Ekasa was said to have been performed at Esigie's coronation and again at Idia's funeral in recognition of her ritual and military support during the Idah conflict.[64] These occasions established a ritual sequence beginning with the acknowledgement and deification of a newly installed Oba and concluding with the incorporation of the Iyoba among the ancestors. In coronation ceremonies, Ekasa forms part of rites of passage and the ruler's ancestral transformation. At the funeral of an Iyoba, it recalls the royal mother's protection of her son's reign. The term Ekasa may refer to the performers' leg rattles, the standards they carry, the music, the movements or the entire combination of ritual action, dancing, singing, drumming and visual display.[72] Its principal locations are Usama, the former palace ground used in coronations, and Adesogbe, the central palace precinct in Benin.[73] The additional appearance at the Ezomo's palace acknowledges the lineage's place in the traditional origin of the dance. Performers are drawn from the Ogbelaka, Eguadase and Eben communities.[28] Ogbelaka is both an old Benin quarter and a guild attached to the Iwebo palace society. Eguadase also belongs to Iwebo, and its residents claim descent from Idia as the basis for their participation with Ogbelaka. The Eben group, traditionally founded by Oba Ewuare and attached to the Iweguae society, preserves and guards the royal body during funeral rites.[28][g]

Ukpe-okhue headdress

[edit]
Metal commemorative head with a tall forward-curving beaded headdress and broad collar
Sixteenth-century commemorative head in the British Museum, generally identified as Idia; its profile displays the forward-curving ukpe-okhue.

Idia is traditionally identified as the originator of the hairstyle and ceremonial cap called ukpe-okhue ('parrot's beak'), named for its resemblance to the curved profile of a parrot's beak.[77][78] The headdress is tall, concave and bent forward, with its surface covered by a coral-bead net or lattice.[79][6] Tassels or bead strands hang from its base, extending before the ears and around the neck.[79] Later holders adopted the form, and it became a distinguishing emblem of the Iyoba.[6][66] Some earlier studies called it a "chicken's beak", but Kaplan states that the correct comparison is with a parrot.[79] In smaller or less precisely rendered objects, the headdress may be mistaken for the upright conical caps worn by senior male chiefs.[78]

The upper projection of the Iyoba's cap is termed the ede Iyoba and was understood as a sign of increased spiritual communication. Blackmun argues that this feature placed the ritual potential of the Iyoba symbolically nearer to that of the Oba than to the powers of ordinary nobles.[27] Her complete formal costume could include the headdress, a high coral odigba collar, crossed baldrics, a netted bead shirt and a straight skirt or wrapper decorated with horizontal bands.[27][77]

Death, funeral and succession

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Neither the date nor the cause of Idia's death is known.[8] Nzegwu places it probably no later than the end of the first quarter of the sixteenth century, whereas other oral accounts connect it directly with the final stages of the Idah campaign.[69][26] In one version, diviners warned Idia during the war that Esigie's life was threatened. She approached a medicine associated with his grandfather and vowed that any death intended for her son should instead be transferred to her. According to the tradition, Idia then died while Esigie survived and completed the victory over the Igala army. The announcement of her death allegedly reached him during the celebrations after the battle, changing the public celebration into mourning.[26]

Esigie arranged extensive funeral honours for Idia, including ceremonies ordinarily associated with deceased Obas.[26] The performance of Ekasa formed part of her burial and later became an established component of the funeral of an Iyoba.[80] Esigie also commissioned an ancestral altar supplied with ivory tusks, cast-metal heads and other commemorative royal objects.[26][6] By custom, the palace of a deceased Iyoba was demolished and a shrine established at or near the site of her former residence in Uselu. Caretakers maintained these shrines, although Kaplan wrote that many movable objects had subsequently been removed or sold to foreign collectors and dealers.[79] A modern source places Idia's tomb at Egua Iyoba in Uselu.[66]

In Egharevba's list of titleholders, Idia appears as the first Iyoba, followed in 1552 by Elaba, the mother of Oba Orhogbua.[40] Nzegwu states that Elaba was Esigie's preferred wife, accompanied him on campaigns and may have received preparation from Idia for a similar role of political and military support. Before Orhogbua's accession, Esigie had already commemorated Elaba by creating a chieftaincy title in her name.[53]

Representations in Benin court art

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Memorial heads

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Idia's commemoration after death established or inaugurated the production of cast-metal memorial heads for Iyobas and their placement on ancestral altars.[6][81] Known as uhunmwun elao, the heads supported carved ivory tusks and formed part of larger groups of altar objects.[82][50] They referred to particular royal mothers by preserving their identities and achievements while also representing the continuing institution of the Iyoba.[83][27] Kaplan discusses a sixteenth-century brass-and-iron head measuring 41 cm (16 in) high, 15.5 cm (6.1 in) wide and 17 cm (6.7 in) deep, which entered its museum collection as a gift from Sir William Ingram. Nearly life-sized and thinly cast, it is distinguished by naturalistic facial modelling and detailed workmanship. Kaplan identifies it as one of the most accomplished surviving works of the royal brass-casters' guild, the Igun-Eronmwon, traditionally founded under Oba Oguola.[32]

Front view of a metal commemorative head with a tall lattice-covered headdress
Front
Profile view of the same commemorative head, showing its forward-curving headdress
Profile
Front and profile views of an early-sixteenth-century commemorative head of an Iyoba, often identified as Idia, in Berlin's Ethnological Museum.

The general label "Benin Bronzes" includes objects made from several copper-based alloys. Analysis shows that many contain copper and zinc and are therefore technically brass, while others combine copper and tin with varying proportions of zinc or lead. Because older metal was often recycled and recast, alloy and trace-element studies alone cannot establish a secure chronology. Kaplan states that more extensive archaeological work is required to resolve continuing questions about the dates and regional development of Benin casting. The heads were created by lost-wax casting, or the cire perdue method. Production involved shaping a clay core, modelling the surface in beeswax, preparing a mould, firing it, melting and pouring the alloy, breaking away the mould and finally polishing and finishing the cast. Because the maker could not inspect the object before the mould was removed, an unsuccessful pour could invalidate the preceding work.[32]

Kaplan's 1997 study identifies six early heads associated with Idia, each bearing the curved ukpe-okhue and its coral-bead netting.[56] Her 2000 catalogue entry instead refers to five generally accepted examples and one disputed head, indicating that attribution of the complete group remains uncertain. The head in the British Museum and another in the National Museum, Lagos, have been attributed stylistically to the same sixteenth-century caster. Characteristics developed in these early examples recur in approximately forty-five later commemorative heads made for Iyobas.[79]

Ivory pendant portraits

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A number of sixteenth-century ivory pendant portraits have been identified as images of Idia.[14][84] Related examples survive in the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Seattle Art Museum, the Linden Museum and other collections in Europe and North America.[85] Kaplan's 2008 account identifies four rare sixteenth-century pendants, while other publications refer to five closely related objects and to a broader group of comparable carvings.[6][86] The British Museum pendant, carved from elephant ivory with iron and copper-alloy inlay, is approximately 24.5 cm (9.6 in) high, 12.5 cm (4.9 in) wide and 6 cm (2.4 in) deep. Large lateral loops allowed it to be suspended from ceremonial regalia at the chest or waist. Dark iron once filled more of the almond-shaped eyes and two vertical forehead cuts, creating a contrast with the ivory.[86]

Ivory pendant portrait with two vertical forehead marks and an openwork border
Metropolitan Museum of Art
Ivory pendant portrait with a broad headband above the forehead
Linden Museum
Two sixteenth-century ivory pendants identified with Idia; the Linden example is distinguished by an additional headband.

The top of the British Museum pendant is framed by closely patterned hair and a row originally consisting of eleven small bearded Portuguese heads, ten of which remain. Copper-alloy inlays formerly emphasised details of their helmets and eyes.[86] On Idia's pendants, Portuguese men are generally shown with beards, large noses, foreign garments and, in some cases, guns or other weapons.[85] Scholars have connected their presence with diplomatic relations, foreign trade, military technology and Benin's expansion during the reigns of Ozolua and Esigie.[42][65] Below the face, an open lattice is cut through the ivory so that light can pass between its elements.[86] Kaplan interprets this ruff-like border as a flattened representation of the multiple coral-bead rows worn around the Iyoba's neck.[87] Images of fish, mudfish and other aquatic or royal forms refer to Olokun and to wealth obtained through the sea.[8][84] The combination of Portuguese heads and deep-water creatures associates foreign contact, maritime wealth and royal authority.[8]

The two iron-filled vertical cuts on the forehead provide the most consistent identifying feature of Idia. Their position reflected ideas about the forehead as a source of thought, spiritual force and power, while oral tradition connected them with medicines placed beneath the skin before her marriage to Ozolua.[14][15] A later popular explanation describes the marks as warrior scarification, but Kaplan distinguishes them from standard tattoos and cicatrices.[86][15] The pendant in the Linden Museum is distinguished by an added coral headband called Udahae. Oba Erediauwa and his chiefs considered this detail potentially a later addition rather than part of the original carving. Examples in the Metropolitan Museum and Seattle Art Museum include concealed cavities for protective medicinal substances.[88] Blackmun therefore describes these works as apotropaic, mask-like containers rather than masks worn over the face.[27]

Ceremonial use

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Ivory pendants depicting Idia became elements of the Oba's ceremonial costume during the annual Igue and Emobo rites.[89][88] They were worn during ceremonies intended to renew the ruler's strength and remove harmful spiritual forces from the kingdom.[50][27] Kaplan recorded that Oba Erediauwa used two strands of carved ivory ornaments during major ceremonies. The principal strand held seventeen pendants: eight matched pairs depicting Obas, leopards, elephants and crocodiles, together with one unmatched pendant portraying Idia. The other strand contained thirty-nine narrow, pencil-shaped ivories decorated with carved designs, although the number worn at one time varied partly with the ruler's waist.[88]

Blackmun suggests that pendants of Idia may first have been worn during the Ugie Iye Oba festival and at Emobo.[h] During the latter ceremony, the Oba sounds an ivory bell while dangerous spirits believed to remain after the Igue cycle are driven from the capital. Four surviving ivory bells of sixteenth-century date once showed a frontal face bordered by bird-like designs on their smaller attached bells. Blackmun tentatively identifies the face as Idia because the bell is associated with the actions of her supporters when they protected Esigie during his temporary incapacity.[27]

Tall carved ivory double bell with a large lower chamber and a smaller attached upper chamber
Early-sixteenth-century ivory double bell of a type used by the Oba during Emobo.

Ancestral tusks and other imagery

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Several early carved ivory altar tusks give prominent positions to Idia, Ozolua and Esigie. In a group discussed by Blackmun, these three royal figures serve as the principal motifs rather than appearing within a larger group of historical personalities.[90] Their arrangement connects dynastic memory with ritual defence, military authority and the political circumstances of Esigie's accession.[91] Another tusk depicts Idia in its sixth register wearing a tall coral-covered headdress, beadwork garments, crossed baldrics and a high odigba collar. She stands over a horizontally placed bird, which Blackmun interprets through Edo belief as an allusion to her ability to resist witchcraft directed against the kingdom or the Oba. Female attendants flank her, including one carrying a rectangular protective object that may once have held a mirror.[57]

Copper-alloy altar stand decorated with four standing female figures holding gongs
A later Benin altar stand possibly made to support an ivory tusk; its female gong-bearers suggest an association with an Iyoba.

On many ancestral tusks, the Iyoba appears beside the triadic composition of the Oba supported by two attendants, while male figures retain the central positions. The works Blackmun terms the Queen Mother tusks differ by devoting nearly one-third of their carved surfaces to women and repeating the Iyoba image between five and seven times. They also depict the Ugie Oro observance associated with victory over Idah and show the Oba sounding the ivory bell associated with Idia's protection. Blackmun therefore proposes that these tusks may have been made for the altar of a royal mother rather than that of a deceased Oba.[45]

Gender and identification

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In Kaplan's 2000 survey, representations of women accounted for fewer than ten per cent of known surviving objects from the Benin court. Even so, the Iyoba was the most frequently represented woman, appearing in the roles of priestess, royal mother and senior chief.[79] Her images could include male retainers, adult women, young female attendants and insignia of ritual or political authority.[42][79] Kaplan argues that court imagery suppresses or complicates the Iyoba's sexuality because she occupies a titled role generally held by male chiefs.[42] Viewers unfamiliar with Benin visual conventions may therefore identify her as a man because of her bead shirt, chiefly insignia and formal posture.[54] More reliable identifying features include the ukpe-okhue, patterned skirt or wrapper, bodily marks and the presence of young female attendants.[77]

The attendants of the Iyoba were sometimes shown wearing little clothing, a convention signifying purity, childhood and the absence of adult sexuality. It also carried a protective meaning because lightly clothed attendants could not conceal dangerous substances or objects. Breasts do not consistently establish sex in Benin art, because male and female chests could both be represented with similar triangular forms, particularly in small or less carefully executed castings.[77] Blackmun describes the imagery as multivalent because every representation of a later Iyoba can also evoke Idia as the first holder of the title.[27] Through dress, ritual, court art and ceremonial action, later titleholders were expected to reproduce her protective relationship with the Oba.[62][57]

FESTAC 77 and international recognition

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The British Museum holds a widely reproduced ivory pendant identified with Idia. It was taken from the royal palace during the British expedition against Benin in 1897, when many court objects were removed and distributed through European museums, private collections and the art market.[92][86] Historian James W Singer places its removal within the destruction of Benin's political and economic independence, the exile of Oba Ovonramwen and the disruption of the institutions that sustained court art.[86] Nigeria selected the pendant's image as the emblem of the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture, held in Lagos in 1977.[92][93] Because the event was widely known as "FESTAC 77", the carving became popularly known as the "FESTAC mask".[94][95] Despite that conventional name, the object is a pendant intended for royal regalia, not a mask designed to cover the face.[27][86]

Large outdoor procession with mounted participants, performers and spectators
The Grand Durbar in Kaduna during FESTAC 77.

The British Museum refused Nigeria's request to borrow the original for the festival. According to Nzegwu, the museum required a guarantee of £2 million, which the Nigerian government was willing to provide, but the loan still did not proceed. Oba Akenzua II addressed the immediate need by commissioning the Igbesanmwan ivory-carvers' guild to make two copies for use at FESTAC. Nzegwu interprets the quality of these reproductions as evidence that twentieth-century Benin guild members retained the specialised carving knowledge of their predecessors.[92] Some earlier scholars identified the pendant as an image of an Oba or another male person.[92][94] Kaplan connects this misidentification with the visually ambiguous gendering of the Iyoba in court art and with assumptions that Benin political authority must be represented by a man.[42][92] FESTAC introduced the image to a broader international audience, although many viewers did not recognise that it represented a woman.[92][3]

Subsequent reproductions have appeared on plates, trays, drinking vessels, jewellery, ebony and brass plaques, wax-print cloth, George textiles and T-shirts.[92][2] Kaplan describes the image as a Nigerian national emblem recognised throughout West Africa and in the wider African world.[94] Historian Molefi Kete Asante places it among the most recognisable visual representations of African royal women.[2] Josiah and Jeffrey-Ebhomenmen criticise a modern publication on Christianity and African religion that used Idia's image as a general symbol of "juju".[96] They argue that this usage removes the work from its identity as a memorial portrait and substitutes a vague and derogatory religious category for its historical context.[97] Their study examines the memorial head as an indigenous historical object whose meanings have been maintained through festivals, storytelling, oral tradition and ritual practice.[96] They also interpret the visual prominence of the head as expressing an indigenous understanding of the head as the source and regulator of personality, capacity and destiny.[98]

Singer describes the British Museum pendant as an object representing Benin and Nigerian history within Western museums while emphasising that it reached Britain through colonial seizure.[86] Roese and Bondarenko record a continuing local form of remembrance at Unuame, southeast of Udo, where elders identified a shrine object called "Idia's pot" to archaeologist Patrick Darling.[36] The Eguadase community's claim of descent from Idia provides another connection between her memory and present-day ceremonial participation.[28]

Historiography and interpretations

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Historian Jacob Egharevba's A Short History of Benin is among the earliest influential written syntheses of traditions concerning Idia, Esigie, the war with Idah and the creation of the Iyoba title.[99] Historian Nkiru Nzegwu places Egharevba's publication within an early-twentieth-century attempt to reconstruct Benin historical identity following the destruction of the independent kingdom in 1897. She argues that this cultural-nationalist effort sometimes transformed layered oral traditions into literal historical narrative, while later colonial and academic approaches often prioritised European archives and marginalised women in accounts of political history.[100] Nzegwu maintains that Benin's past should be reconstructed by combining oral accounts, annual ceremonies, ritual performances, visual art, African conceptual frameworks and written sources rather than relying primarily on European documents.[101] She also rejects attempts to infer sixteenth-century gender relations directly from twentieth-century domestic structures transformed by colonialism, Christianity, Westernisation and Islamic influence.[100] This method leaves open the possibility that initiatives conventionally credited only to Esigie were partly devised or implemented by Idia.[102]

Historian Flora Edouwaye Kaplan gives greater emphasis to the Iyoba's motherhood, ritual guardianship and visual representation as a senior chief.[42][6] She interprets the institution as elevating the mother of the reigning Oba and supporting the continuity of the dynasty and kingdom.[68] Nzegwu considers this interpretation insufficient and argues that Idia's military resources, political knowledge and ability to act within government were more significant than maternity alone.[31] Her broader interpretation characterises Idia as a "hidden" or "shadow" Oba who sometimes exercised authority during periods when Esigie was unable to do so.[53] She interprets the Emobo drama, royal imagery and traditions of Esigie's temporary illness as evidence that Idia concealed his incapacity, coordinated his allies and briefly directed political affairs.[37] This argument does not suggest that Idia formally replaced Esigie or permanently became the ruling Oba, but that she periodically stabilised government as his strategist, adviser and ally.[53]

Greg Thomas follows Nzegwu's interpretation and presents Idia as a second Oba, a female king or the principal force behind Esigie's government.[3] Historian Monica Aneni similarly argues that Idia's ritual and political influence enabled her to exercise power approaching that of the ruler, interpreting her conduct through a combination of maternal commitment and pursuit of political authority.[103] Published chronologies differ over the date of Esigie's accession and therefore over when Idia received her title. Kaplan and several later studies date his reign to approximately 1504–1550, whereas Blackmun gives approximately 1517–1550.[23][12] Egharevba dates Idia's investiture to about 1506, but the available evidence does not provide an exact year or day.[40] Accounts also differ over Idia's direct role in warfare. Egharevba states that she sent soldiers led by her head slave, while later narratives place her on the battlefield as a commander, strategist or combatant in disguise.[9][67][52] Edo traditions remembered her as the only woman who went to war.[42][4]

See also

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Explanatory notes

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  1. ↑ The Kingdom of Benin, a traditional kingdom located in what is now southern Nigeria, no longer exists as a governing entity, but the Oba ('king') still rules a tribal kingdom and holds an advisory role in the government of Benin City.[1]
  2. ↑ The Ogbelaka guild is a guild under the Iwebo palace society.[28]
  3. ↑ The ahianmwen-oro, or "bird of prophecy", is represented as an ibis in this tradition.[44]
  4. ↑ Ugie Oro is a royal ceremony commemorating Esigie and Idia's victory over Idah.[45]
  5. ↑ Ague is a sequence of fasting and purification ceremonies associated with the new-yam harvest.[46]
  6. 1 2 The Iyase is the commander-in-chief of the Benin warriors, followed by the Ezomo and the Ologbosere and Imaran.[55]
  7. ↑ The Oba's household was organised into three distinct associations, each responsible for particular aspects of palace life.[74] The first, Iwebo, originally managed clothing and regalia for the Oba.[75] Over time, its duties expanded to include oversight of financial and trading matters, under the authority of the Uwangue, a title linked to Ewedo. The second group, Iweguae, consisted of attendants and domestic servants, led by the Esere. The third, Ibiwe, was tasked with serving the Oba's wives and children, and its senior chief, Osodin, is traditionally traced back to Ewedo's time.[76]
  8. ↑ The Ugie Iye Oba is a royal festival honouring the Iyoba.[27]

References

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Citations

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  1. ↑ Parks 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Asante 2023, p. 214.
  3. 1 2 3 Thomas 2009, p. 127.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Blackmun 1991, p. 59.
  5. ↑ Falola & Genova 2009, pp. 160–161.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Kaplan 2008, p. 527.
  7. ↑ Aneni 2016, p. 23.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Nzegwu 2005, p. 38.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Egharevba 1968, p. 28.
  10. 1 2 Nzegwu 2005, pp. 43–44.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Curnow 2024, p. 288.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Blackmun 1994, p. 96.
  13. 1 2 Nzegwu 2005, p. 44.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Kaplan 1993, p. 59.
  15. 1 2 3 Kaplan 1997, p. 91.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Nzegwu 2005, p. 40.
  17. 1 2 3 4 Iweze & Amos 2024, p. 24.
  18. ↑ Curnow 2024, p. 287.
  19. ↑ Curnow 2024, pp. 287–288.
  20. 1 2 Nzegwu 2005, p. 43.
  21. ↑ Nzegwu 2005, pp. 40, 43.
  22. 1 2 3 4 Curnow 2024, p. 289.
  23. 1 2 Kaplan 1997, p. 76.
  24. ↑ Buhle, Murphy & Gerhard 2008, p. 22.
  25. ↑ Curnow 2024, pp. 289–290.
  26. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Curnow 2024, p. 290.
  27. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Blackmun 1991, p. 60.
  28. 1 2 3 4 Abbe & Borgatti 2019, p. 6.
  29. 1 2 Egharevba 1968, pp. 27, 75.
  30. ↑ Kaplan 1993, pp. 55, 59.
  31. 1 2 3 Nzegwu 2005, pp. 51–52.
  32. 1 2 3 4 Kaplan 2000, p. 14.
  33. 1 2 Falola & Genova 2009, p. 160.
  34. 1 2 Nzegwu 2005, p. 56.
  35. ↑ Iweze & Amos 2024, p. 27.
  36. 1 2 3 4 Roese & Bondarenko 2003, p. 135.
  37. 1 2 Nzegwu 2005, pp. 54, 56.
  38. ↑ Josiah & Jeffrey-Ebhomenmen 2024, p. 4.
  39. 1 2 3 Egharevba 1968, p. 27.
  40. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Egharevba 1968, p. 75.
  41. 1 2 3 Nzegwu 2005, p. 51.
  42. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kaplan 1993, p. 55.
  43. 1 2 3 4 Nzegwu 2005, p. 57.
  44. ↑ Nzegwu 2005, pp. 47–48, 60.
  45. 1 2 3 4 5 Blackmun 1991, p. 61.
  46. ↑ Curnow 1997, pp. 46–53.
  47. ↑ Nzegwu 2005, pp. 57, 60.
  48. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nzegwu 2005, p. 60.
  49. 1 2 Egharevba 1968, p. 29.
  50. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Bortolot 2003.
  51. ↑ Iweze & Amos 2024, pp. 24–25.
  52. 1 2 Aneni 2016, p. 24.
  53. 1 2 3 4 5 Nzegwu 2005, p. 63.
  54. 1 2 Kaplan 1993, pp. 55, 58.
  55. ↑ Egharevba 1968, p. 80.
  56. 1 2 3 Kaplan 1997, p. 94.
  57. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Blackmun 1994, p. 108.
  58. ↑ Nzegwu 2005, p. 47.
  59. 1 2 Nzegwu 2005, pp. 47–48.
  60. ↑ Blackmun 1991, pp. 59–61.
  61. ↑ Blackmun 1991, pp. 59–60.
  62. 1 2 Blackmun 1991, pp. 60–61.
  63. 1 2 3 Egharevba 1968, pp. 27–28.
  64. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Abbe & Borgatti 2019, p. 4.
  65. 1 2 Kaplan 1997, pp. 76–77.
  66. 1 2 3 4 Iweze & Amos 2024, p. 25.
  67. 1 2 Iweze & Amos 2024, pp. 24–26.
  68. 1 2 Nzegwu 2005, p. 48.
  69. 1 2 Nzegwu 2005, pp. 38–40.
  70. 1 2 Iweze & Amos 2024, p. 26.
  71. ↑ Abbe & Borgatti 2019, pp. 4, 6.
  72. ↑ Abbe & Borgatti 2019, p. 5.
  73. ↑ Abbe & Borgatti 2019, pp. 5–6.
  74. ↑ Ryder 1969, p. 5.
  75. ↑ Ryder 1969, pp. 5–6.
  76. ↑ Ryder 1969, p. 6.
  77. 1 2 3 4 Kaplan 1993, p. 58.
  78. 1 2 Kaplan 1997, p. 89.
  79. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Kaplan 2000, p. 15.
  80. ↑ Abbe & Borgatti 2019, pp. 4–5.
  81. ↑ Josiah & Jeffrey-Ebhomenmen 2024, pp. 4–5.
  82. ↑ Kaplan 2000, pp. 14–15.
  83. ↑ Josiah & Jeffrey-Ebhomenmen 2024, p. 5.
  84. 1 2 Kaplan 1997, p. 92.
  85. 1 2 Kaplan 1997, p. 77.
  86. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Singer 2026.
  87. ↑ Kaplan 1997, pp. 92–93.
  88. 1 2 3 Kaplan 1997, p. 93.
  89. ↑ Nzegwu 2005, pp. 37–38.
  90. ↑ Blackmun 1994, p. 97.
  91. ↑ Blackmun 1994, pp. 96–97.
  92. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Nzegwu 2005, p. 37.
  93. ↑ Kaplan 2008, pp. 527–528.
  94. 1 2 3 Kaplan 2008, p. 528.
  95. ↑ Falola & Genova 2009, p. 161.
  96. 1 2 Josiah & Jeffrey-Ebhomenmen 2024, p. 1.
  97. ↑ Josiah & Jeffrey-Ebhomenmen 2024, pp. 1, 5.
  98. ↑ Josiah & Jeffrey-Ebhomenmen 2024, p. 7.
  99. ↑ Egharevba 1968, pp. 27–29, 75.
  100. 1 2 Nzegwu 2005, p. 34.
  101. ↑ Nzegwu 2005, pp. 34, 36.
  102. ↑ Nzegwu 2005, p. 36.
  103. ↑ Aneni 2016, p. 25.

Works cited

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Books
Journals
Magazines
Encyclopaedias
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