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.