Onyame, Nyankopɔn (Onyankopɔng) or Ɔdomankoma is the supreme god of the Akan people of Ghana, who is most commonly known as Nyame. The name means “The one who knows and sees everything”, and “omniscient, omnipotent sky deity” in the Akan language… Odomankoma is an epithet referencing the creative traits, corresponding to reason, reality and the Absolute, is the spirit of the Universe and is one of the most dynamic and complex modalities of the trinity. Odomankoma is consistently cast in the role of creator. This creative function of Odomankoma is embodied in several maxims. One saying of the Akan surrounding Odomankoma is “Odomankoma boo ade”, meaning Odomankoma created the “Thing” (the universe). Odomankoma created not only the “Thing,” i.e., the universe. He also created life and created death as well. Mysteriously Odomankoma himself succumbed to death… It is said that he talks through a drum and has a drummer for that drum called Odomankoma Kyerema… Odomankoma is also represented by two animals namely: vultures and spiders…
Alias Nyame
Real Names/Alt Names Nyankapon, Odomankoma, Ɔdomankoma
Appearance List The Tshi-Speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast (1887) by A. B. (Alfred Burdon) Ellis; Annancy Stories (1899) by Pamela Colman Smith [Internet Archive] [UPenn]; The voice of Africa v. 1 (1913) by Leo Frobenius — valued for early observations and visual documentation despite controversial diffusionist interpretations of African civilization [Smithsonian]; Jamaica Anansi Stories (1924) [Internet Archive]; Akan-Ashanti Folk-Tales (1930) by R. S. Rattray; Anansi, the Spider Man: Jamaican Folk Tales (1954) [Internet Archive]; Ananke: The Web of Life in Africa (1958) compiled and retold by Peggy Appiah; West African Religion (1949) by Geoffrey Parrinder; African Mythology (1967) by Geoffrey Parrinder; African Religions and Philosophy (1969) by John S. Mbiti; Nyame ne Aberewa: Towards a History of Akan Notions of ‘God’ (2013) by Jan G. Platvoet [Web]
Description Onyame, Nyankopɔn (Onyankopɔng) or Ɔdomankoma is the supreme god of the Akan people of Ghana, who is most commonly known as Nyame. The name means “The one who knows and sees everything”, and “omniscient, omnipotent sky deity” in the Akan language… Odomankoma is an epithet referencing the creative traits, corresponding to reason, reality and the Absolute, is the spirit of the Universe and is one of the most dynamic and complex modalities of the trinity. Odomankoma is consistently cast in the role of creator. This creative function of Odomankoma is embodied in several maxims. One saying of the Akan surrounding Odomankoma is “Odomankoma boo ade”, meaning Odomankoma created the “Thing” (the universe). Odomankoma created not only the “Thing,” i.e., the universe. He also created life and created death as well. Mysteriously Odomankoma himself succumbed to death… It is said that he talks through a drum and has a drummer for that drum called Odomankoma Kyerema… Odomankoma is also represented by two animals namely: vultures and spiders…
