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 deĢpens 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