Ife

Ife (ē`fā), city (1991 est. pop. 262,000), SW Nigeria. Located in a farm region, the city is an important center for marketing and shipping cacao. According to tradition, Ife is the oldest Yoruba town (founded c.1300). All Yoruba chiefs trace their descent from the first mythological ruler of Ife, Oduduwa, and they regard the reigning oni (king) of Ife as their ritual superior. Ife was the most powerful Yoruba kingdom until the late 17th cent., when Oyo surpassed it. Terra-cotta and naturalistic bronze sculptures made in the area as early as the 12th cent. are considered among the finest works of West African art; some are displayed in the Ife Museum. The Univ. of Ife is in the city, which is sometimes called Ile-Ife [old Ife].

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Ife

a town in W central Nigeria: one of the largest and oldest Yoruba towns; university (1961); centre of the cocoa trade. Pop.: 229 000 (2005 est.)

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Ife 

a city in Nigeria, in the Western State. Population, 154, 600 (1970). Highway junction and center of the cocoa industry. It is the site of a university, founded in 1961, and of the Ife Museum. Gold is mined near the city.

Ife is one of the most important centers of ancient civilization in West Africa. From the 12th century to the 19th, Ife was the city-state of the Yoruba people. The Yorubas still revere Ife as their ancestral homeland. The city has been studied since 1908, and systematic excavation began in 1953.

The flowering of Ife’s artistic culture, apparently related to the earlier Nok culture, occurred between the 12th and 14th centuries. The bronze and terracotta sculpture found in the city has become famous throughout the world. The terra-cotta heads, which were placed on sacrificial altars, are outstanding for the perfection and beauty of their forms. The softly modeled faces have an unusual delicacy of textural nuances. The bronze heads depicting gods and rulers are executed on a relatively large scale and employ a simplified stylization. The elaborate headdresses and facial markings impart a certain decorative quality. Equally striking are the bronze half-figures, apparently of the kings of Ife, in which elastic plasticity and harmonious proportions combine with a wealth of ornamental decoration. The rich and varied plastic forms (gods of the Yoruba pantheon and deified kings, called oni) created by the anonymous artists of Ife, were apparently used in sacrificial ceremonies in honor of the Yorubas’ ancestors. Ife’s bronze sculpture greatly influenced the development of Benin’s artistic culture. Certain stone relics date from an earlier period, such as the 5.16-m granite pillar called Opa Oranyan (Staff of Oranyan, a mighty warrior and the son of the founder of Ife, Oduduwa).

REFERENCES

Ol’derogge, D. A. Iskusstvo narodov Zapadnoi Afriki v muzeiakh SSSR. Leningrad-Moscow, 1958.
Frobenius, L. The Voice of Africa, vols. 1–2. London, 1913.
An Introduction to the Art of Ife. Lagos, 1955.
Willett, F. “Ife and Its Archaeology.” Journal of African History, 1960, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 231–48.
Willett, F. Ife in the History of West African Sculpture. [London, 1967.]