Ife
Ife
| Ilé-Ifẹ̀ | |
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 Ilé-Ifẹ̀
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| Coordinates: 7°28′N 4°34′E / 7.467°N 4.567°E |
Ife (Yoruba: Ifè, also Ilé-Ifẹ̀) is an ancient Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria. Evidence of urbanization at the site has been discovered to date back to roughly 500 AD. It is located in present day in The British Musemn
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History
According to the Yoruba people, Ife is where the founding deities Oduduwa and Obatala began the creation of the world, as directed by the paramount Deity Olodumare. Odùduwà is thought to have created the earth before he became the first divine king of the Yoruba, while Obàtálá is believed to have created the first humans out of clay. The Oòni (King) of Ife claims direct descent from the god Oduduwa, and is counted first among Yoruba kings. He is traditionally considered to be the 401st deity (òrìshà), the only one that speaks. According to historians, the town's habitation can be traced as far back as 350 BCE. The meaning of the word "ife" in the Yoruba language is "expansion"; "Ile-Ife" means in reference to the myth of origin "The House of Expansion". In fact, the city is regarded as the origin of Yoruba culture, industry and of people of Yoruba descent.
Mythic origin of Ife
The Yoruba claim to have originated in Ife. According to their mythology, Olorun, the supreme god, ordered Obatala to create the earth but on his way he found palm wine, drank it and became intoxicated. Therefore the younger brother of the latter, Oduduwa, took the three items of creation from him, climbed down from the heavens on a chain and threw a handful of earth on the premordial ocean, then put a cockerel on it which scattered the earth, thus creating the land on which Ile Ife was built. Oduduwa planted a palm nut in the hole and from there sprang a great tree with sixteen branches representing the clans of the early Ife city-state. The usurpation of creation by Oduduwa gave rise to the ever lasting conflict between him and his brother Obatala which is still today re-enacted by the cult groups of the two clans during the Itapa New Year festival.
Migratory origin of Ife
Another origin story from the Yoruba is that they were the product of intermarriage between a small band of invaders from the savanna slightly to the North East and the indigenous inhabitants of the forest. According to this version, Oduduwa was the son of Lamurudu, a prince from the east , possibly related to the ancient Nok culture of the savanna. Oduduwa and the natives left their homeland at some point between the first and the seventh centuries A.D. After wandering for some time, they found and settled the state of Ife. Oduduwa first had twins from his wife. But it was taboo to have twins, so he sent them away. He later had a son called Okanbi. Okanbi in turn had seven children who founded the Yoruba states of Owu, Sabe, Popo, Benin, Ila orangun, Ketu and Oyo.
Oduduwa had six sons and one grandson who went ahead to found their own kingdoms and empires, namely Ila Orangun, Owu, Ketu, Sabe, Popo, Oyo and Benin. Oranmiyan, Oduduwa's last born, was one of his father's principal ministers and overseer of the nascent Edo empire after Oduduwa refused the plea from the Edo people for his governance. When Oranmiyan decided to go back to Ile Ife after a period of service in Benin, he left behind a child named Eweka that he had had in the interim with an indigenous princess. The young boy went on to become the first legitimate ruler of the second Edo dynasty that has ruled what is now Benin from that day to this. Oranmiyan later went on to found the Oyo empire that stretched at its height from the western banks of the river Niger to the Eastern banks of the river Volta. It would go on to serve as one of the most powerful of Africa's medieval states.
Ife city-state
Art history
Between 700 and 900 A.D., Ife began to develop as a major artistic center. Important people were often depicted with large heads because the artists believed that the Ase was held in the head, the Ase being the inner power and energy of a person. Their rulers were also often depicted with their mouths covered so that the power of their speech would not be too great. They did not idealize individual people, but they tended rather to idealize the office of the king.
The city was a settlement of substantial size between the 9th and 12th centuries, with houses featuring potsherd pavements. Ilé-Ifè is known worldwide for its ancient and naturalistic bronze, stone and terracotta sculptures, which reached their peak of artistic expression between 1200 and 1400 A.D. After this period, production declined as political and economic power shifted to the nearby kingdom of Benin which, like the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo, developed into a major empire.
Bronze and terracotta art created by this civilization are significant examples of realism in pre-colonial African art.
In his book, "The Oral Traditions in Ile-Ife," Yemi D. Prince has referred to the inimitable terracotta artists of the 900 A.D. as forming Art Guilds--Cultural School of Philosophy, which today can be likened to many of our old institutions of learning which were established as religious bodies. Is the Cultural School of Philosophy one of the first oldest institutions in the world? Only the nonpareil terracotta artists could rejoin such a question.
Traditional cults
Ife is well-known as the city of 401 or 201 deities. It is said that every day of the year the traditional worshippers celebrate a festival of one of these deities. Often the festivals extend over more than one day and they involve cult-dramatic activities in the palace. The most spectacular festivals are those, which demand the participation of the King. They include the Itapa festival for Obatala and Obameri, the Edi festival for Moremi and the Igare masqueraders, and the Olojo festival for Ogun. During the festivals and at other occasions the traditional priests offer prayers for the blessing of their own cult-group, the city of Ile Ife, the Nigerian nation and the whole world.
The King (Ooni)
The royal dynasty of Ife is over 800 years old. The present ruler is Alayeluwa Oba Okunade Sijuwade Olubuse II, styled His Imperial Majesty by his subjects, who ascended the throne in 1980.
The modern town
Today a mid-sized city, Ife the holy city, relative to the town Ife, is home to the Obafemi Awolowo University and Natural History Museum of Nigeria. Ife people are of the Yoruba ethnic group, one of the largest ethno-linguistic groupings in Africa and in Diaspora. (The population of Yoruba-kith and kin in Diaspora is said to be more than the population of Yoruba, about 35 million, in Nigeria.) Ife has a local television station called NTA Ife, and is home to various businesses. Ife is also the trade center for a farming region. Yams, cassava, grain, cacao, and tobacco are grown. Cotton is grown and used to weave cloth. Hotels in Ilé-Ife include Hotel Diganga Ife-Ibadan road, Mayfair Hotel, Obafemi Awolowo University Guest House etc. Ilé-Ife has a stadium with a capacity of 9,000 and a second division professional league football team.
Philosophy
Although religion is often considered first in Yoruba culture, nonetheless it is the philosophy, the thought of man and the reasoning of the mind that actually leads the faculty to the creation and the practice of religion. Both philosophy and religion, as well as the folklore of the land can be said to have emanated from Ile-Ife, inasmuch as Ile-Ife is the birthplace of the Yoruba people.
Exhibition
A major exhibition entitled Kingdom of Ife: Sculptures of West Africa, displaying works of art found in Ife and the surrounding area, was being held in the British Museum from 4 March to 4 July 2010.
See also
- History of the Yoruba people
- Legends of Africa
- List of rulers of Ife
Notes
- ^ Ife (from ca. 350 B.C.)
- ^ Bascom, Yoruba, p. 10; Stride, Ifeka: "Peoples and Empires", p. 290.
- ^ Lange, Ancient Kingdoms, 347-366; idem., "Preservation", 130-1.
- ^ Stride, Ifeka: "Peoples and Empires",
- ^ Johnson, History, p. 7-8.
- ^ Walsh, "Edi festival", 231-8; Bascom, "Olojo", 64-72; Lange, Ancient Kingdoms, 358-366.
- ^ Homepage of the Ooni of Ife
- ^ Britishmuseum.org
- Akinjogbin, I. A. (Hg.): The Cradle of a Race: Ife from the Beginning to 1980, Lagos 1992 (The book also has chapters on the present religious situation in the town).
- Bascom, William: The Yoruba of Southwestern Nigeria, New York 1969 (The book mainly deals with Ife).
- --- "The Olojo festival at Ife, 1937", in: A. Falassi (ed.), Time out of Time. Essays on the Festival, Albuquerque, 1987, 62-73.
- Frobenius, Leo, The Voice of Africa, London 1913 (Frobenius stayed for nearly two months in Ife, in 1910-11).
- Johnson, Samuel: History of the Yorubas, London 1921.
- Lange, Dierk: "The dying and the rising God in the New Year Festival of Ife", in: Lange, Ancient Kingdoms of West Africa, Dettelbach 2004, pp. 343–376.
- Ogunyemi, Yemi D; (Yemi D. Prince) The Oral Traditions in Ile-Ife, ISBN 978-1-933146-65-2, Academica Press, 2009, Palo Alto, USA.
- Ogunyemi, Yemi D; (Yemi D. Prince) The Aura of Yoruba Philosophy, Religion and Literature,
ISBN 0-9652860-4-5, Diaspora Press of America, 2003, Boston, USA.
- Ogunyemi, Yemi D; (Yemi D. Prince) Introduction to Yoruba Philosophy, Religion and Literature, ISBN 1-890157-14-7, Athelia Henrietta Press, 1998, New York, USA.
- ---"Preservation of Canaanite creation culture in Ife", in: H.-P. Hahn and G. Spittler (eds.), Between Resistance and Expansion, Münster 2004, 125-158.
- Stride, G.T. and C. Ifeka: "Peoples and Empires of West Africa: West Africa in History 1000 - 1800", New York 1971.
- Walsh, M.J., "The Edi festival at Ile Ife", African affairs, 47 (1948), 231-8.
- Willett, Frank: Ife in the History of West African Sculpture, London 1967 (The book also deals with some oral traditions of Ile-Ife).
- Wyndham, John: "The creation", Man, 19 (1919), 107-8.
Coordinates: 7°28′N 4°34′E / 7.467°N 4.567°E
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