What came to be known, as the Benin kingdom did not being its existence as a kingdom in the sense of it being headed by a king or a traditional ruler, as it is known today. It really began as a conglomeration of villages each of which was headed by the oldest man in the community who is referred to as the Odion were or village head. As time went on, these village united for the purpose of security against external aggression or for commerce, and the most powerful of the old people was said to have automatically assumed the supreme headship which eventual metamorphosed into what was known as king or Oba in Edo language.

Omo N’ Oba Erediauwa in his lecture on “The Evolution of Traditional Rulership in Nigeria” Given under the auspices of the university of Ibadan, Institute of Africa studies on 11^th September, 1984 said that in Benin, the first to emerge as such a leader almost immediately assumed the position of a king, for by the wisdom he was described as being from heaven {“Oyevbegie No Riso”}.This is the origin of the title Ogiso which came to be the title of the earlist Benin kings, before the advent of “Oromiyan