Mossi Political Art: Royal Figures for the Ruling Elite By
Christopher D. Roy Professor of Art History The University of
Iowa The Mossi states were founded over five hundred years ago'
when a group of horsemen from what is now northern Ghana rode
into the basin of the White Volta River and imposed their
political authority over the acephalous agriculturalist groups
who originally occupied the land.2 The invading horsemen and
their descendants, who held all political power in traditional
Mossi society before the arrival of the French, and still have
considerable power at the village level, are called Nakomse
("children of the nam," the nam being the right and power to
rule).3 The diverse groups that were subjugated by the Nakomsé
are called Tengabisi ("children of the earth"). The large group
of Tengabisi may be further broken down into the blacksmith
clans (Saya, sing. Saaba) and the clans of farmers who are
collectively called Nyonyosé ("the old ones"), without regard
for the ethnic group to which they origi