The great Benin Kingdom in the beginning

The great Kingdom of Benin was also known for its beadwork

Igodomigodo and the Ogiso Era

Mythical Kings

According to oral tradition, Benin, then known as Igodomigodo, was ruled by paramount kings known as the Ogiso. Ogiso is coined from Ogie, the Edo word for king or ruler, and Iso, the Edo word for sky, literally translating to King of the Sky or the God-King. 

Traditions credit the Ogisos with mythical powers. Many folk tales feature talking with personified animals, plants, and material objects and matching their wits against the trickster animal, Egui, the tortoise. Traditions also record that thirty-one Ogisos ruled in succession, including two women, about half of whom were known by their names. 

It is not clear whether these rulers were elected or followed the same rule of primogeniture that was the custom of the people. However, the fact that thirty-one Ogisos are believed to have reigned, and that some of them were women, suggests that seniority, perhaps within a family, played some part in determining the choice.  

Notable Kings (Ogisos) 

Jacob Egharevba’s account names fifteen kings (Ogisos) of this period beginning from Igodo and then Ere, his first son, through to Owodo, the last king of this era who was childless, and who was banished when the people decided to do away with paramount kingship. 

The fifteen Ogisos recalled by tradition include: 

1. Igodo 

2. Ere 

3. Orire 

4. Akhuankhuan 

5. Ekpigho 

6. Oria 

7. Emose 

8. Orhorho 

9. Oriagba 

10. Odoligie 

11. Uwa 

12. Ehennenden 

13. Obioye 

14. Arigho  

15. Owodo 

Emose and Orhorho are believed to be women.   

Earliest and Surviving Settlements 

The Ogiso era may have lasted several centuries, and Benin has secured control of the surrounding, heavily forested region by establishing small, dependent farming settlements. This was achieved by sending the princes to rule over villages and settlements, which continued to owe allegiance and pay homage to each succeeding Ogiso as their overlord. The succeeding dynasty continued this practice.

About 100 such villages have survived the times under hereditary chiefs called Enogie (plural Enigie) who trace their ancestry from the sons of different Ogisos. These earliest villages include Ihimwirin, Avbiama, Oka, Idogbo, Utesi, Ogua, Urhoho, Ute, Eyaen, Aho, Irighọn, Azagba, Igo, Egbaton, Ughoton, Udo, and Esi.

The surviving villages also include Okha, Umoghumwun, Orogho, Uhen, Okenuhen (Okeluse), Okhumwun, Ikoha, Use, Ego, Ekho, Ebue, Irokhin, Udeni, Erua, Ugha, Orhua, Urhuekpen, Amagba, Ugbeu, Evbuekoi, Ekhua, Ogan, Isua, Uhi, Ekae, Uzeghudu, Iowa, and  Omin.

Other include: Ikoka, Iyekeze, Ogba, Ogbokhirima, Okuo, Owe, Ominira, Unuame, Ugolo, Ikpako, Uhogua, Ayen, Orio, Uwan, Egbaen, Idumwonwina, Ohovbe, Ogheghe, Uvbe, Ite, Iguogbę and Izikhiri.   

Early System of Government 

During the Ogiso era, Benin was still a small state and not as advanced as it became in the centuries after or following the coming of a new dynasty. The system of government at this time consisted of the king and the council of state, which was made up of two blocs of chiefs: one appointed by the king and the other, the Uazama, a group of principal chiefs who exercised control over the different quarters of the kingdom. 

The Uzama wielded some influence, as can be seen from the fact that it survived the Ogiso era and later became a hereditary caste of kingmakers. Among the chieftaincy titles created by the Ogisos were Esagho (the prime minister and war chief), Aragbua, Erhaghohen, Lamalua, Ogiama, Ukpoza, Giaghama, Oluo, and Ogievbeke. 

Other titles created by the Ogisos include Nirokhin, Ogiodu, Ogikeke, Ogiogbon, and Iraghoghe. At this stage, there were five Uzama, including the Oliha (leader), Edohen, Ezomo, Ero, and Eholo N’Ire.   

A great African Chief

The Palace of the Ogisos 

The palace of the Ogisos which was started during the reign of Ogiso Ere, was on the site that used to house the Western Boys High School, off the Second and Third East Circular Roads. It is said to have stretched from the school to the cemetery being about half a mile in length, a quarter of a mile wide, containing many gateways, chambers, council halls and a big harem divided into sections. 

The Ogiso palace occupied a suitably elevated position, and its spacious front overlooked the valley of the Ikpoba River up to the Oregbeni hills, which still occupy the eastern fringes of the city today. 

The End of the Ogiso Era 

A revolt and the banishment of the ruler ended the Ogiso period. There followed a brief phase where there was no royal ruler, described by Jacob Egharevba as an experiment in 'republican government', which seems to mean a change in the method of appointing the ruler so that in place of hereditary succession within a family, a choice was made by the body of chiefs from among their own number. 

This experiment proved a complete failure, for the first ruler appointed under it, Evian, tried to have his son Ogiamien elected to succeed him, and the chiefs, having foiled that intrigue, could not agree on an alternative candidate from among themselves. The chiefs decided to send emissaries to the Oduduwa of Ife, asking him to provide one of his sons to rule over them. Benin traditions also insist that Oduduwa was a Yoruba corruption of Izoduwa, who is believed to be Ekaladeran, the exiled son of the last Ogiso who found his way to Ile-Ife after long wandering in the forest, becoming king of the people and assuming a new name in the process.

Izoduwa (Oduduwa) sent his son, Oranmiyan, who would later leave Benin after fathering a son who became Oba Eweka I. Thus, the deadlock was resolved, and the introduction of a new dynasty, the Oranmiyan-Eweka Dynasty, related to establishing its rule over several Yoruba groups about the same time ended with. 

Both Benin and Yoruba traditions support the story of Oranmiyan as the first of the new line of Benin rulers and the circumstances in which he and his followers went to Benin at the invitation of a party among the chiefs.