Obba

Obba was a town in the Roman province of Africa and a Christian bishopric, a suffragan of Carthage (episcopal see), the Metropolitan see of the Northe African ecclesiastical province. It is also included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees.

Location

Obba was near Carthage, in modern Tunisia, and is placed in the Roman province of Africa by the Annuario Pontificio. Sophrone Pétridès is a lone voice in placing it in the Roman province of Byzacena, further south.

According to the Catholic Encyclopaedia, it is the modern Ebba. (Ebba?)

Pétridès says the town was situated on the highway from Carthage to Theveste (modern Tebessa), seven miles from Lares (now Lorbeus) and sixteen miles from Altiburus (Henshir Medina).

Werner Huß sees as the most likely location modern Henchir Bou Djaoua or Henchir Merkeb en-Nabi.

History

Polybius mentions the town, under the name of Abba, as the place Syphax retreated to after Massinissa and the Romans burned his camp near Utica, and Titus Livius mentions it as where Syphax linked up with a body of 4000 Celtiberian mercenaries raised by Hasdrubal.

Ugia

Ugia is a genus of moths in the Erebidae family.

Species

Oba (Orisha)

Oba (known as Obá in Latin America) is the Orisha of the River Oba, whose source lies near Igbon, where her worship originates. During the wars of the 19th century, her centers of worship moved to the more secure town Ogbomosho. She is traditionally identified as the first wife of Shango (the third king of the Oyo Empire and an Orisha). Oba was tricked by Oya or Oshun into cutting off her ear and trying to feed it to Shango. She is syncretized with Saint Catherine of Siena.

Worship in Ogbomosho

At her center of worship in Ogbomosho, Oba is described as the wife of Aganju and is praised as "Oba, who owns parrot tail feathers and fights on the left".

Myths of Oba's Ear

Oba's humiliation by a rival co-wife is one of the most well-known tales associated with this Orisha. While William Bascom's study identified several unusual variations of it, the most popular myth found in West Africa, Brazil, and Cuba has Oba cutting off her ear to serve to her husband Shango as food, because one of her co-wives (most often Oshun) has convinced her this will secure Shango's attention. Once Shango sees the ear and realizes Oba has mutilated herself, he chases her from his house and into permanent exile. Bascom notes that though this story is known in many parts of Yoruba country, it was not recognized by her priest in Ogbomosho.