Case file · Sacred site
Olokun, ruler of the ocean depths
Olokun is the orisha of the bottom of the ocean in Yoruba religion and a major deity of the Edo kingdom of Benin, giver of wealth, health and children and ruler over all waters.
1500 CE · 6.33, 5.63 · status: legend
The account
Devotees in West Africa and the diaspora see Olokun as female, male or androgynous; Olokun is called the parent of Ajé, the orisha of wealth. In Benin City Olokun shrines with whitened clay figures and chalk are kept by priestesses, and the deity was linked to the sea trade through which European goods arrived. In Cuba Olokun is approached with great care as the unfathomable depth itself. The pin is at Benin City.
The sceptical view
A living religious tradition; the atlas records belief and practice, not a physical claim.
Connections in the atlas
- Agwé, lwa of the sea
- Mermaids stop work on Zimbabwe's dams
- Yemọja of the Ogun River
- Festa de Iemanjá, Rio Vermelho
- Mami Wata