Procession to Ye Temple of Ye Great Snake on Crowning of Ye King
This engraving depicts an elaborate procession in the kingdom of Whydah in the Bight of Benin region. There are groups of soldiers, musicians, king's wives, the royal court, the queen mother, attendants and priests. Thomas Astley (d. 1759) was a British bookseller and publisher who never went to Africa. His imagined localities and illustrations of Africa were informed by a library of travel books at his disposal.
Image Title
Procession to Ye Temple of Ye Great Snake on Crowning of Ye King
RegID
SI-OB-826
Date
1745-1747
Title
Procession to Ye Temple of Ye Great Snake on Crowning of Ye King
Source
"Plate VII" in Thomas Astley (ed.), A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. 3 (London: Thomas Astley, 1745-1747), facing p. 42.
Language
French
Item sets
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Western Bight--Ouidah
Reproduced In
Derived from "Procession au grand serpent pour le couronnement du Roy de Juda fait le 15 Avril 1725" in Jean Baptiste Labat, Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais en Guinee. . . fait en 1725, 1726, & 1727, vol. 2 (Amsterdam: Aux deĢpens de la Compagnie, 1731), p. 154. Labat identified by number and letter approximately 30 features in this illustration. For an image description in historical context, refer to Robert Harms, The Diligent: A Voyage through the Worlds of the Slave Trade (New York: Basic Books, 2002), p. 161-162.
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
27-Dec-12; 21-Aug-19
Identifier
Astley018