lion people today, live in scattered groups in southwestern Nigeria and eastern Dahomey. The first of the independent Yoruba kingdoms was established in the twelfth century A.D. at Ife, and by the mid-sixteenth century, the Oyo, the northernmost Yoruba group, had established control over the rest. The Oyo hegemony lasted until the mid-nineteenth century. But, throughout their rule, Oyo dominance was constantly contested by warring groups, organized around their urban centers. The "conditions of cultural unity and political rivalry" among the ancient Greek city-states gives an idea of conditions in pre-colonial Nigeria (Allison 11).
Though there were considerable local variations in the gods, and the traditions surrounding them, the various Yoruba groups essentially worshipped the same pantheon of gods. In the basic creation myth, the supreme god, Olorum, sent down Odudwa and his companions to Ife, and they spread out to populate the earth. All Yorubas claim descent from Odudwa (Allison 12). There are many other gods, however, who are worshipped in each center of Yoruba life. In Ife, for example, the number is given as 401, and "certainly a day never passes on which no cult festival is celebrated" (Allison 14). The worship of these gods involves complex sets of prayers, songs, dances, and sacrifices--all of which differ for each of the gods (Bascom 56). The gods
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