ABOMEY

Abstract

The West African city Abomey was the
 centre of the kingdom Dahomey, notorious
 for its slave raids, ritual sacrifices of
 human beings, and its religious belief in
 vodhuns. Today a peaceful town in the
 state of Benin, its visual non-citylike
 impression provides the outset for reflections
 on what constitutes a city. The article
 digs into the history of the kingdom of
 Dahomey and relates how it was constructed
 on the basis of expansion and
 incorporation of its enemies through
 assimilation, but also symbolically expressed
 in rituals that celebrated the
 conquest of the enemies. Such stories are
 recounted today in the historical royal
 palace, the Musée Historique d’Abomey,
 where the famous bas-reliefs and the
 stories of how the kings’ palaces were built
 on the blood of the enemies testify to the
 historical drama of the kingdom. The
 article compares today’s city of Abomey
 with the neighbouring city of Bohicon,
 which at first glance seems to live up to
 expected standards of what constitutes a
 modern city much better than does
 Abomey. However, it is argued that commerce,
 exchange, heterogeneity and traffic
 are not enough to constitute a city. Historically,
 Abomey had an aura of holiness
 to it, which sprang from its placement at
 the centre of the kingdom, but also from
 its being the frame for the temples of the
 gods and the king. This gives rise to a
 question of what kind of holiness can be
 attributed to modern cities. If they are not
 “holy” by virtue of being cities of kings
 or historical centres, cities will have to
 create themselves for instance through
 performative culture and historical
 recreation.