ABSTRACT
Obas Esigie's efforts to rehabilitate his own and his father's legacy through new festivals and the monumental plaque commission effectively positioned these two rulers in the forefront of Benin history. Esigie inherited a divided court, an army of weakened local militias, and a number of newly conquered vassal states that had previously revolted in an attempt to slip out from under Benin's power. The plaque corpus may be viewed as an extension of Esigie's diplomatic efforts to change the political reality in Benin during the early sixteenth century. In Esigie's court, the Ihogbe guild could equally use the assembled warriors depicted on the plaques to illustrate the history of Ozolua's battles, to outline Esigie's campaign against Aruanran, or as evidence of the allies and foes involved in the Idah war. The repeated pillars of warriors likewise celebrated Orhogbua's own successes as well as the military power exercised by Esigie and Ozolua before him.
