Ewuare the Great Sacralises the Oba of Benin
Coming to power around 1440 after a violent struggle, Ewuare the Great transformed Benin from a polity in chronic conflict between the Oba and the uzama hereditary chiefs into a centralised sacred monarchy. He elevated the Oba to a position of theological inviolability — the king's person embodying the fertility and order of the kingdom — making royal authority unchallengeable but rendering succession crises potentially catastrophic. He reorganised the capital, created new title-holding offices to counterbalance the old nobility, and consolidated the palace guild system in which the igun eronmwon could cast bronzes only for the Oba, turning artistic production into an instrument of royal propaganda. His military campaigns expanded Benin's reach and supplied war captives to the domestic slave and ritual economy. This top-down restructuring of the constitution of the kingdom defined Benin's political order for centuries.
- Year: 1440 CE
- Category: Political
