Bondarenko Dmitri M. Homoarchy

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community was situated from the capital (Bradbury 1973: 178, f. 10), though
officially the new head of a chiefdom, in the ideal, the senior son of his
predecessor (Bradbury 1957: 33), was to be recognized by the Oba after
consulting local seniors (Sidahome 1964: 49–50, 163). Sometimes especially
mighty and rich enigie who even tried to imitate the Oba and his court in their
way of life, entrusted themselves on their local level with some functions of the
central authorities, such as endowing their subjects with titles (Bradbury 1957:
33; 1973: 178). Anyway, they did not forget to send “presents” for the Oba as
signs of their obedience from time to time; not only to get them from heads of
their dependent communities (Sidahome 1964: 60; Bradbury 1973: 177, 180).
The heads of chiefdoms and autonomous communities were also responsible
for collecting tribute for the supreme ruler, organization of corvйe labor upon
the center’s demands and so on. They also represented all their subjects at the
Oba and central authorities in general.
The opinion of Dike (1959: 14) who argued that “the basis of Benin
economy was heavy taxes that Oba collected from his subjects”, that is
common communalists by local and titled chiefs, seems wrong. In reality these
were not taxes at all. Requisitions from commoners in favor of the supreme
authority were a tribute which communities paid in kind (food, species of
handicrafts, building materials for broadening and repairing of the palace
complex). It is also important to point out that the size of the tribute did not
depend on the quantity and quality of the land elaborated by this or that
communalist. The tribute was collected from him as not from a land holder
(which he was not in any case) but as from a subject of the Oba. There are also
no grounds for arguing the communalist’s personal attaching to land as well: as
Sharevskaja (1957: 176) has emphasized, “there is no evidence of free
communalists’ attaching to land neither in early sources nor in the ethnographic
materials. Vice versa, it is related not once that a peasant could clear a new
plot for himself”. Communalists laid roads, built bridges and so on (e.g.,
Ajisafe 1945: 24, 34; Egharevba 1949: 42–43) but such corvйe works, though
conducted on the initiative of the supreme authority and under the supervision
of chiefs, were really public in some sense. They were fulfilled for the benefit
of the whole people as all the Bini had the right to use those roads and bridges
while the tolls collected for that enriched the all-Benin treasury. Besides, the
authorities paid off for such a work, for example, in new wives (Talbot 1926:
III, 434–435). In fact, contrary to the opinion once expressed by Sargent
(1986), the Bini community was not exploited by the all-Benin institutions;
there were no antagonistic social classes, clearly defined noble and mean
estates or castes, as far as the community organization was all-embracing
(Bondarenko 1995a: 257–264).
Members of the second age-grade, the ighele formed the basis of the
Benin army. After military campaigns which became more often in the time of
creation of the empire in the mid-15 th – 16 th centuries but still did not last long