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About The Omaha morning bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 1922-1927 | View Entire Issue (April 1, 1923)
ThoAkdrThdtCldimcdThousdndsofHumdnVictims Until Only a Few Yeats Ago Men, Women and Babies Wexe Sacrificed on This Shrine to Appease Strange Heathen Gods Large bron/e bust of a heathen diet) ar a dead king that stands in tlie canter of the altar. The left hand holds a sort of ax or hammer, and the right probably once held a staff. Perhaps no other object In the whole world Is more deeply drenched with bkxtd and tears and the cruel memories of utterly needless human suffering than the sacrificial altar of a curious and little understood African tribe which has lately been r-Mtored to all its original barbaric magnificence and placed on exhi bition In the University Museum at Philadelphia. If this ancient shrine could speak It is believed it could tell a story that would almost pass belief—a ■tory of thousands of men. women and children whose lives were pitl Isssly claimed In the superstitious • effort to appease the wrath of vengeful heathen gods And the horrible practices which this nltor win sard catno to an end only a matter of 25 years ago. Ti ** altar consists or a « oil*-* non of bronze likenesses of the dusky feint and their an* ■ -tors, iur mot' t«*d by elephant tusks carved with .vernes symbolic of their lives and deeds; a group of bronze bells. wo<* • n rattle staves and bronze pla* ms All that is nus-iiig is the ax w th which the royal execution or, until 25 years ago cut off th** head of the victims who w*-re fon l to kne#i before the altar. This blood stained shrine was once In daily use at the mysterious city of Or* Heflin• in the Imurt of Went Afi t long a puzzle to ar« Imeulo gist It might still be in use If ICI; • Mu bow hadn't made the cr \ ror "f sacrificing every mender of a j> ireful mission sent to hi city by th* British as recently •< l'1* Fm a long time no won! wuk . ret .v • d of th#* fate of th#- pdinbei-' of thi mission. Then throiigii ad Join tng tribes the British learned that 4 very man had been bel.* id* l to p oidtiate the *iro4a, and fort: witii .* military expedition was sent out to depose Kduboa and tea* I him m ndider system of religion I ril that time very little had been kno". n #»f the city and of Its wror •hip and royalty'. The king lived in ••elusion, rarely seen ev«n by Ina own subjects. For a half century It h d been known that Benin had * on# ■ iav-n the center of an unox plai d craftamansldp In wood carv lag and in bronze cahUiir, mo far •ui lor to the art of other Aft loan Ht;t« tribes that there wan no coi ' ariaon. Occaalonally lomo r* Ui; < s of thea« works were amuf: ft* l i.ot. but with them came crude •oi'■< indicating that tho former Ml'' ■■ of the eitf had become tu |ln. V ' a the Biltiah foroe enleied |fcev itl<eorer»<l mi the top* of 'h* "Altar «>( tinman sacrifice” from the mysterious city of Renin in West Africa as restored at the I'nivrrsit) m u snim in Phila delphia. Note the long fetish tusks with hrome pedestals, the altar hells and rattle staves to drive away evil spirits and the statues of gods, goddesses and dead kings. lent pie* and many oi the more Important buildings of the royal compound huge brass snakes, mo con structed that their heads hung down over the door way a The city was accidental!., burned on the third day of their occupation and thus many of the finer works of early art still pre served were destroyed. But enough information wa» ob tained so that scientists at the t.'nl verslty Museum have been able to solve the mystery of Benin’s for mer art and culture. They were due to a Portuguese missionary, who lived In the city In the year 151C and taught the Inhabitants many things. In common with nearly an in© *&v&go irib©« .if Africa, the Liiui, as the*© people at© known, cut off the heads of th*ir captives am! pre* aerv»i|l them. It is believed that th© Portuguese, known to th© savages as Aharnanviwn. taucht the natives how to make mat a of th© heads of captiv es and th it this 1* d to the plea of immortalizing the features of king 4 and other important person* a.g» i in brm.ze. Tiny w* re then net up as id'da on th© altar, ai d instead of killing captives whet** they Were caught, th© Btrii brought th©rn to t)o» ten pi© ' Th© most striking and thv ©user. f .*1 J '< ..f I I til'-l «-f th* VI •l'1^ of tin* Bini," >.i>s I>r II. I\ liall, who reconstructed th© altar from the collection obtained by the mu sewn "oniiMMted In sacrifices to their • tic. sto|-k. who vv*r© coneeivrd .is directing for good or evil the af fair** of living men Thoyo spirit mlgh: be angry and the wider pow • i n which death had ’ohf**rr©d gn thorn by n«H(v i^lon with th© pit!r u<»I and the invisible that is. with other spiritual foi^* at 1 • *!* m*-n * never inmrnnted and alway* nuillg n «nt mad© th''. at., r r f<<* nildahl©. 1 Th* v i i’.'t hr propitiated, and ■ (I. the i : • nc© *tf Ilf**, was an a cpt iM c*ffc'dng if not n neces *ai % r» v .v i * i to them. Altars ami images, * ontain©rs of tlio ancestor spirit, th© god were iln ni hed there for© with th© hi*hat nf victim." f* > wl s and gouts and ov n, nn»l ala** men. women tn«l llttlo • hihlren. Th© god* wrt!*c I• iri• < other spirits. lib ©rated by IhmIIIv death, muat be mad© mesa*'tigers to them of prayers and wishes, and a human spirit was nato ill :l»©no*st efficient m* r senger. "'Hi© go.|s were subject to th* same needs as their rhildr* n on earth. so when a king or a great king died attendant!* must h© dr fv* 1 •. I> d »• h ’ if • w*1 d \t the right, the huge wooden image that «tuod beside the sarrifh iai al tar and into « which a thorn was thrust er ery time a ho rn a n Ufa waa sacrificed. Bronx* bust of a prisoner of war who wm «Jain on C*re»t Benin's bloody ailar. And others must follow at eat h annl versary < <4 cl* ration of his death For lesser in^n a lesser su«-rifle* of fowls or goat* or oxen must serve, though the poultry yard and the herd were not h pored in the former case, either. “As being himself fetish and rep jo sentit.g the interests of the divine pr»deressors, the king had the right Jo sa.rifle* human Victims. This prerogative was not unique. The hlef riffb'isls. Agent* of hi* power* and klngiy functions, though but one of th*n\ bore % priestly title, shared also this sacerdotal preroga tive and were thus strongly en trenched in all flohlH. military, civil »nd religious, over which the royal power extended, and wielding that power for the king, kept him in •he background, an aweinspiring puppet; invented with all the f|i* ttuences of superstitious terror which were the sanction* « f tho a t« they performed in his name Not only the king, tin n, but also the queen mother, tha captain of war. the principal Judge and the chief pried might sacrifice human Icings to their ancestor*. From mean ancestor* they inherited their -ffb rs and. like the King, thus wifld ♦•d power by a kind of divine right. *!u* a ancestors who are sacrificed to and to that extent worshiped are. tf not «lr* mlv deified, at least in a fair way of being ho. "Ilenin was. it seems a lmfy city ,1 W;*m rut «»ff riot only ph> si* :lll> by a wall but spiritually by a king tal*oo from the rest of the king (Join- governed by a hierarchy whose members were possess'd i»f varying degree* of supernatuiat |Miwer. Apparently the city main t \Inrd its supremacy over the other town* of the kingdom chiefly by the superstitious awe which this theory of government inspired; sup ported as If was by the bloody ter ror of ritual murder. The actual slaying of victims was delegated to a prof* sstonal ex* i ulluner, a public off.dul of con idt iul»l« in*i*ort«i»ce Tf the act of killing was originally essential to i he offi»*s of celebrant at these sac »iflees, pet hups w< nui* si'c a sin vivid of ilie primitive eierolss of this right or duty in the cl roll m I . **. *S , ' . , t , t led I I » p Oi* \bovr. interesting example of wood carving found In the royal palace at Great Benin and xhowing how well advanced the people were in tills difficult art. *«f a leopard by a hunter. Here v •cent to ace the king In his doubb capacity of priest and god, offering in hia own person a sacrifice to him self for an essential [>art of the ritual of sacrifice on other oo»a melee w ts the sprinkling of the linages of am .*!ral deities with the td<xid of the victim. "There was a considerable va riety of sTbjh image*, for the cult of ancestor* was not con fined to thoso of tho king every family owed worship and sacrifice to the spirit* of its forbear*, and these were *up posed to Inhabit object* of .sc \ cral kinds and forms. "Tho king s special fetish was a representation In bron*' or l.riiss of a human head, prob ably a portrait of an an< estor. sur mounted by the tusk of an elephant often carve<i al lover with figures of men and animals. These were set up on altars which there la re.t son to suppose were in some cases alao the tomb* of royal ancestors.' Benin City also was Known as )*do «nj wui the capital of tho coun try of tho same name which Is now !>nrt of the British protectorate of Nigeria. Tho king left the compound in which tils palace w.vs situated only on very rare occasions. a--c<>rd ing tct Mr, Hull s account. 1 >-t he ruled at one time over a territory reaching us fur ns the sea on -the Save ovist, the flat, low stretch of the African seaboard between the rivers Volta and Niger. ilia subjects believed that ho re *1 utied neither food tior drink to sustain his life: that, although he might die, lie would come again to life -vi id his kingdom. Offenders against the law and prisoners of war furnished most of the victims. •'Great Benin." says Hr. George Myron Gordon, director of Hi* I'ni versity Museum, "was the last ex ample of the old style barbarism that has furnished history with one of its principal motives front the |h -inning Tliat barbarism may veiy wadi lie repr- wonted by lis alfsrw "In the museum we have set up •ip "altar such as might have lawn seep In Great Benin prior to 1M> utpl t mu mu aw th- a i o* Inolher brume head of an altar vie tiiu. the style of sculpture showing it curious similarity to that of an cient Kg; pi. tall has been omitted from its ar ray of idols, heads, tusks, bells and staves, but realiam could not !•« attaimst writhout the presence of a sacrifice, for the altar require! hu man victim* and It w-us usually wet with blood and reeking with fresh offerings. ‘‘Including th# object* on the altar, there are In all about IOC specimen* in the museum'* Bonin collection Other collection* similar In kind are In the British Museum, the Pitt River* Muse' at Oxford and tbo Berlin Museum. Benin art object* arc iwrvly ohm li able now. "All of the piece* shown in the t'niversity Museum were collected in 1 HP7 by niemlier* of the expedi tion that visited Great Benin in that V C.ir. when the human -utcri flc«, were stoppeil and the k ng tn.iib- i prisoner. •The chief Int-rost of the cotleo i Astlnnnl s» Sir. seven)