Iyoba Idia’s visage is the most widely known face of an African royal woman after the Egyptian Queen, Ahmose-Nefertari or Nefertiti. Her face has gazed on us from countless museum pedestals the world over.
The official story is that Iyoba Idia is the mother of Esigie, the Oba who reigned from 1504-1550. We do not know the exact date of her birth or death, but she was alive during the Idah war in which her army and war general secured a resounding victory for Benin (Oronsaye 1995, 61; Ebohon 1979, 60; Egharevba 1968, 28).
An Edo woman, Idia was born in Ugieghudu, in the Eguae area of Isi (Oronsaye 35, 61 Egharevba 28). By the time she died, probably by the end of the first quarter of the sixteenth century, she had substantially altered Benin’s dynastic history as well as defined its course of history.
For one, the victory over Idah not only eliminated it as a potential threat, but it also enabled Benin to gain and consolidate its imperial advantage in the north-south Niger river trade route that stretched all the way to the commercial centers of the Songhai empire and to the Atlantic ocean (Sargent 1986: 421-2).
Secondly, she promoted and fought relentlessly to wrest the Obaship for Osawe (the personal name of Oba Esigie), an action that allowed Benin to reach its apogee.
Before Esigie gained control of the imperial administration, and even after, she was the power behind the throne. Finally, the establishment of the institution of Iyoba (Mother of the Oba) not only accorded power to royal mothers in the running of the kingdom, most profoundly, it shifted the longstanding administrative protocol that conferred power to females from daughters, who are of royal blood, to wives, who are nonroyals.
Without Idia’s political savvy, it is doubtful if Esigie would have succeeded his father as Oba.In the political domain, she has also been credited for using her knowledge of the occult to seize the throne of Benin for her son (Blackmun 1991, 60-61) and to defeat the enemies of her son (Egharevba 1968; Kaplan 1997, 1993; Blackmun 1991).
The yearly Orhu festival dramatizes the sacrificial food offering she made to help her son become Oba (Blackmun 1991: 60-61).
Idia entered the royal household after she caught the fancy of Ozolua during a dance performance in the capital (Oronsaye 61).
Once the Oba initiated the marriage process, her parents knew she would become an Oba’s wife and eventually took the precaution of medicinally seasoning and “cooking” their daughter for her future life.
This preparation strengthened her to cope with whatever vicissitudes palace life would throw at her.
The “strong willed” Idia and her parents would have surmised that life as an Oba’s wife may be tumultuous, but was indeed an excellent route to power and wealth.
It would have made sense for them to take advantage of all the excellent opportunities it offered to advance their Ugieghudu family and Idia’s own personal line.
As the grand protector of the kingdom, Idia’s powers were particularly crucial during the major military challenge Esigie faced as a new Oba. The Idah army was on its way to the capital.
The fratricidal accession battles had left behind a fragmented army and dispirited Bini soldiers. Matters were not helped when the ibis, conceived as a bird of prophesy, flew over the soldiers marching to battle shrieking and flapping its wings.
The rattled royal diviners predicted military disaster and urged retreat, but resolute Idia drew upon her strength and reputation in supernatural powers and neutralized their prediction of doom.
Closely heeding the counsel of his mother who was on the battlefield with her own army, Esigie (probably Idia) ordered the bird to be shot. Fortified by her powerful presence, and at her urging, Esigie rallied his dispirited soldiers to a victorious battle.
Idia’s role here is not unlike the role of the Omu (female monarch) of Aboh whose magical shield and war canoe always led Aboh soldiers to war, and without which they would not fight (Ekejiuba 1992, 102-03; Nzimiro 1972).
Although these stories and legends acknowledge that she raised an army and went to war, they all fail to appreciate that for her to participate at this level in government, she must have been the most formidable power in Benin kingdom.
