We are fortunate to have an eyewitness description of some aspects of Oyo culture shortly before the destruction of the capital city. In 1826 British explorers Captain Hugh Clapperton and Richard Lander visited Öyô-Ilé and were cordially received by Aálàfin Majotu. Clapperton was far more interested in establishing a route from the coastal city of Badagry to Soccatoo than in the cultural life of the people whom he met on his journey. Nonetheless, his journals provide a good deal of information about the political life of the western and northern “Yarriba” as he called them, in the years 1825 to 1827, including references to Öyô towns plundered by the “Fellatahs” (i.e., Fulani) armies. There are occasional glimpses into other aspects of Yorùbá culture, including a few that are of importance to the art historian. In one entry, for example, Clapperton writes that:

The people of Katunga [the Hausa term for Öyô-Ilé] are fond of ornamenting their doors, and the posts, which support their verandahs, with carvings; and they have also statues or figures of men and women standing in their courtyards. The figures carved on their posts and doors are various, but principally of the boa snake, with a hog or antelope in his mouth; frequently men taking slaves, and sometimes a man on horseback leading slaves. [February 13, 1826]

In other passages, Clapperton refers to the king’s female attendant who held “a handsome carved gourd, having a small hole covered with a clean white cloth, to hold his majesty’s spittle, when he is inclined to throw it away,” and he describes the king’s gift to him of a “black ebony [gooro nut] box, carved in the shape of a tortoise.” He often refers to the high value placed on coral imported from the coast for use by the king and chiefs for beads and perhaps for the king’s crown (which Clapperton did not see) and mentions strands of “blue [stone] beads” worn by the king, which came “from a country between this and Benin”

Before departing from Öyô-Ilé, Clapperton made the following observation in his journal:

The king’s houses, and those of his women occupy about a square mile, and are on the south side of the hills, having two large parks, one in the front, and another facing the north. They are built of clay, and have thatched roofs, similar to those nearer the coast. The posts supporting the verandah’s and the doors of the king’s and Chiefs’ houses are generally carved in bas relief, with figures representing the boa killing an antelope or a hog, or with processions of warriors attended by drummers. The latter are by no means meanly executed, conveying the expression and attitude of the principal man in the group with a lofty air, and the drummer well pleased with his own music, or rather deafening noise.

Carved motifs such as these were widely employed by carvers throughout Yorùbá land in the nineteenth century. Even more elaborate carvings adorned the of the »àngó cult. Unfortunately Clapperton merely refers to seeing them at the gates of the city and opposite the king’s palace, but does not describe them or mention entering one. The »àngó cult, which was closely associated with the royal court, had been an important part of Öyô-Ilé’s ritual life, since the reoccupation of the old capital at Öyô-Ilé early in the seventeenth century. If the extraordinary carvings for »àngó shrines in other and lesser Öyô towns in the mid-nineteenth century provide a clue, the shrines of Öyô-Ilé at the time of Clapperton’s visit must have been resplendent with carvings for the örì«à. Clapperton’s silence is all the more disappointing, since within a decade of his visit they would vanish.

With the failure of authority at the center, the rebellion in Dahomey and the loss of control over many of the trade routes to the coast, the weakened capital city was vulnerable to changes taking place to the north: the increasing power of the Fulani; the missionary zeal of Muslim emissaries; and the political ambition of petty chiefs in Ìlærin and neighbouring towns. Around 1830 Öyô-Ilé was under siege by Ìlærin forces, and eventually “Öyô was plundered of nearly everything…Jimbo [the leader of the Ìlærin forces] took away all the Egúngún dress [ancestral masquerades], and forced the citizens to accept the Koran.” A few years later, around 1835-36, Öyô troops attempted to reassert their authority over once-submissive northern Yorùbá towns but were defeated. After this defeat and with the imminent threat of the Ìlærin forces led by Lánlôké, Öyô

The great metropolis was deserted, some fled to Kihisi, some to Ìgbòho, and some even to Ìlærin. As it was not a flight from an enemy in pursuit many who reached Kihisi and Ìgbòho safely with their family returned again and again for their household goods and chattels till one Agandangban went and told Lánlôké that Öyô had been deserted, and the latter proceeded immediately to plunder, and carry away what was left by the citizens;…such was the fall of the great Metropolis “Eyeo or Katunga,” the ancient Öyô, still [lies] in ruins.

Archaeological Records

With the passage of time, layers of dust were deposited by the Saharan winds known as harmattans, torrential rains wore away the clay brick houses, incised the surface of the land, and buried in mud much of what was left standing. Brush fires, started by hunters, aided in the destruction. In 1938 seven or eight veranda posts were discovered in the area

near the main entrance to the ‘palace’…On these can be seen the original carving and on three which are still upright most of the original design is clear. They differ in style considerably from those generally seen today. The Old Öyô posts are tenor eleven inches thick, somewhat tapered, smoothly finished and carved in relief…The Old Öyô posts are divided into horizontal panels, each panel decorated with a continuous ‘picture’ of men, birds, horses or snakes.

This brief description suggests that the carving style was a simple bas-relief, not the deeply cut designs or three-dimensional figures that Clapperton’s observations and which characterized the late Öyô Yorùbá carving style.

Apart from portions of a few houses, the foundations of the palace and evidence of the town’s walls, garden plots, grinding holes, and a foundry where brass or bronze may have been cast, archaeologists have unearthed a few terracotta rain pots and numerous shards. Only one small, weathered terracotta head composed of two fragments has been found. Since it was a surface find, the head cannot be closely dated and remains problematic: “Until we have more examples of terracottas from the site we cannot trace its connections [with the Nok or Ife terracottas], though it does appear likely that there was a distinctive style of terracotta at Old Oyo.”

The Legitimization of Authority

The imperial ambitions of Öyô-Ilé were fostered by internal power struggles between the Aláàfin and the Öyô Mèsì and by the need to control resources. The Aláàfin built his base of power upon the support of kings and chiefs in the surrounding communities, as well as upon the peace and revenues that their allegiance brought to the capital city. Eager to expand his sphere of influence, the Aláàfin recognized that political power also depended upon the control of resources that attracts or requires allegiance. Hence, the flourishing trade in slaves in exchange for European goods, which in turn funded the purchase of horses from the Hausa for the Aláàfin’s cavalry, required the extension of the empire to the Dahomean court and the control of the trade routes.

The claim of empire, however, requires more than an effective army and the control of resources, especially when the political structure is essentially a loose confederacy of groups with an acute awareness of their own historical identities. The claim to empire requires legitimacy, the perception on the part of ruler and ruled that political power is based upon a recognized claim to moral authority. Hence, successive Aláàfin of Öyô-Ilé sought to establish their legitimacy. They claimed that they were descended from Odùduwà, the founder and first king of the Yorùbá at Ilé Ifë and that the Aálàfin was heir to the paternal authority of Odùduwà. This claim was also made by the Ææni of Ifë. One account relates that the Aláàfin was the youngest son of Odùduwà, but others assert that he was the “first son” of Odùduwà. These differing claims appear to mark a shift from a time of acknowledging the primacy of Ifë to a time when Öyô sought to claim for itself such primacy. Other accounts argue that Òràñyàn was Odùduwà’s son and heir to the throne and that it was Òràñyàn who founded Öyô and was the first Aláàfin.

There was also a local tradition upon which Öyô-Ilé based its claim to rule. »àngó the son of Òràñyàn and of Elémpe, daughter of the king of Nupe, moved the seat of government from Oko to Öyô, an account which may “[represent] the original tradition.” The extent of Öyô’s power in the seventeenth century was dubious and its effective power in the eighteenth century was limited in various ways. In contradiction, Öyô’s court histories attempted to create a fictive heritage. Öyô’s claim to an Odùduwà heritage was perceived as justifying Öyô’s aggression against other kingdoms, including those that also claimed descent from Odùduwà.