ABSTRACT
Africans have maintained a thorough interaction with the environment, nature, society, and the idea of ancestral wisdom for a very long time. Societies have risen and fallen, appeared and disappeared, and yet the overarching attitudes of Africans toward human relationships and familiarity with the mysterious world of ancestors have remained intact. Oba Esaghie’s reign lasted nearly half a century, and he oversaw the development of Benin city into a great city of many people, institutions, and places of commerce. With Ewuare, the warring clans of the Edo came under one general government, protected their borders, created institutions that revered the ancestors, and concentrated on the metal and plastic arts. The artists and artisans of Benin became especially brilliant and excellent at working metals. The great treasures of African art taken from Benin will never be in one place again.
