Queen Idia (c. 1500s) rewrote the rulebook on mothering in ancient Benin. She fought for her son’s life and place on the throne – and made herself a queen in the process.
Queen Idia (c. 1500s) rewrote the rulebook on mothering in ancient Benin. She fought for her son’s life and place on the throne – and made herself a queen in the process.
While motherhood can take many forms, to mother is to usher forth new generations through care, work and imagination. For the entire month of December, we’re celebrating mothers — including those who raised children who went on to lead the civil rights movement and school desegregation efforts, such as Alberta King and Louise Little, as well as mothers of movements like Lorena Borjas who started the Latinx trans movement. All of the women featured this month were dedicated to the survival of children in their work and to imagining better futures for the next generation.
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Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
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Hi, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Anna Malaika Tubbs, the author of “The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of MLK, Malcom X and James Baldwin Shaped A Nation.” My work focuses on motherhood, through the lens of feminism, intersectionality, and inclusivity. I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica
This month, we’re talking about mothers — women who ushered forth new generations and new futures through their care, work, and imagination.
Today, we’re talking about a woman who rewrote the rulebook on mothering in ancient Benin. She fought for her son’s life and place on the throne – and made herself a queen in the process. Let’s talk about Queen Idia.
In the late 15th century, a prosperous kingdom flourished in western Africa: the kingdom of Benin. Its tropical forests teemed with wildlife: leopards, pythons, pangolins. The waterfront saw trade with civilizations near and far. Benin’s Oba, or king, wore a tunic of red coral beads brought to the kingdom’s shore from as far away as the Mediterranean.
But the kingdom was also fiercely independent, powerful in both its economic influence and its wealth of warriors. Its position between societies further inland and Europeans on the coast allowed the kingdom to control commerce in the area. Benin was a trade capital, a hub for gold, ivory, and pepper, as well as the West African slave trade.
This is the Benin Idia was born into. And the kingdom’s potential collapse spurred her into history.
Idia was the second wife of Oba Ozolua. Idia and one of her co-wives gave birth just a few hours apart. And technically, Idia’s son Esigie was not the first born. Legend says that while he was born just after his brother, Arhuaran, Idia was able to inform the Oba of Esigie’s birth first. This fast action meant that Esigie could become heir… despite the fact that Arhuaran was the true first-born son.
All the same, Idia nurtured her son, and raised him to ascend to the throne.
She knew that their best chance at survival – and her best chance at gaining any power – lay in Esigie taking the crown.
As the two sons grew up, they led two important cities: Arhuaran was based in Udo. About 20 miles away, Esigie and Idia lived in Benin city. That distance gave Idia the leeway she needed to prepare. She used her knowledge as a priestess to school Esigie in prayer and medicine. And together, they raised an army to prepare for impending war.
At the end of the 15th century, Oba Ozolua died. The dispute for the throne was immediate. It rattled the Kingdom of Benin, nearly shaking its foundation as a political and cultural center. The neighboring Igala peoples saw the opportunity to stage their own attack on Benin’s northern territories. Idia’s army, including Idia herself, fought them back. In Benin oral tradition, Idia stands as the only woman to have gone to war.
When the war came to its conclusion, Esigie became the 16th Oba of the Benin Empire.
But even after the war, with her son’s position protected, Idia was in danger. Tradition stated that once an Oba was crowned, his mother must be eliminated to rid the throne of future threats. But Idia had been instrumental to Esigie’s success. He hid her away in a secret shrine, while he worked to get rid of the custom.
Once he succeeded, Idia returned to Benin as a venerated leader in her own right. He created a new title for her: iyoba, or, the queen mother. As iyoba, Idia was given her own residence with villages, chiefs, and servants to oversee. She gained the right to bear a sword of office and to wear the red coral beads of the Oba– rights previously assigned only to the closest male followers of the Oba.
Idia ruled alongside her son, counseling him on his own kingly duties. And even after Idia’s rule, the iyoba remained an important role: the queen mother had no other children, and devoted her life to protecting the Oba. Obas even wore carved ivory masks representing the iyoba during important ceremonies.
After Idia died in 1550, Esigie commissioned a carved ivory mask of her likeness: two vertical bars of inlaid iron between her eyes symbolize small incisions filled with medicine, one source of her metaphysical power. The mask was placed on ancestral altars throughout the history of the Benin Kingdom, and into modern times. In modern-day Nigeria, Idia’s mask is also revered. In 1977, it was selected as the official emblem of the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture.
All month, we’re talking about mothers. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, for having me as a guest host.
Talk to you tomorrow!