Asẹbẹrhia
Asẹbẹrhia (altar rings) are displayed on ancestral altars dedicated to the Iy’Ọba, as she was usually entitled to one. Just like the Ọba, after her death an altar in her memory was erected within the palace and decorated with a collection of objects related to her achievements in life. The Asẹbẹrhia usually consists of figures around a principal figure with a circular base. They are made by the Igun Eronmwon.
Asẹbẹrhia are brass cast objects in a ring-shaped form, measuring between 20 and 26 cm in diameter. The iconography is often related to sacrificial themes: birds pecking the corpses of decapitated people lying prone with their hands tied behind their back. A central figure is usually depicted standing with a gong in one hand and a staff in the other. Researchers have divided these rings into different three groupings, the largest of which dating to the Benin middle period, between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries (Nevadomsky, 1989 ; Vogel, 1983 ).
Educational Material
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