The Human Sacrifices of the Ek-Gnee-Noo-Ah-Toh
This partly-coloured engraving shows a human sacrifice ceremony in the kingdom of Dahomey. With many onlookers and the king under a large umbrella, a group of people sitting in baskets were about to be thrown off a wall, called the "throwing the presents from the Ah-toh" platform. Forbes explained that "On the last day of May. . . the human sacrifices are offered by the king, his gifts to his people. In the centre of the. . . marketplace, a platform was erected twelve feet in height, enclosed by a parapet [at] breast high" (p. 44). Frederick E. Forbes went to Dahomey in the Bight of Benin region on a British anti-slavery mission in 1849 and 1850. On his first voyage, he "rescued" an Egbado princess, Sara Forbes Bonetta, whom he "gifted" to Queen Victoria.
Image Title
The Human Sacrifices of the Ek-Gnee-Noo-Ah-Toh
RegID
SI-OB-836
Date
1849-1850
Title
The Human Sacrifices of the Ek-Gnee-Noo-Ah-Toh
Source
Frederick E. Forbes, Dahomey and the Dahomans: Being the journals of two missions to the king of Dahomey, and residence in his capital, in the years 1849 and 1850, vol. 2 (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1851), facing p. 44.
Language
English
Item sets
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Spatial Coverage
Africa--Western Bight
Researchers
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
Last Updated
2-Jun-16; 26-Aug-19
Identifier
ForbesAhtoh