Deity · Yoruba · c. 1900 CE
Ogun
Also called Ogum, Oggún · also recorded as Ogoun, Ogum (per Wikidata)
Orisha of iron and of the tools made from it — patron of smiths, surgeons and soldiers alike, since all three cut.
Single lineage
The orisha of iron, and therefore of everything iron does — the blade, the forge, the road cut through bush, the surgeon's knife and, in the twentieth century, the lorry and the rifle. That is not a metaphor for expansion but the mechanism of it: a god whose domain is a material rather than a sphere acquires new territory whenever the material does. Oaths are sworn on iron in his name, which gives him a place in courts as well as at forges, and his worship is organised around occupations rather than around a shrine. Of the orisha carried across the Atlantic he is among the most widely reworked, and the versions that came back are a live part of the tradition rather than a diaspora curiosity.
Identity
Where does the name come from?
Where it was actually worshipped
Ire-Ekiti, which claims him as its own; and every smithy, since the anvil is his altar and iron is where he lives.
A figure with temples and a figure that only ever existed on a page are different kinds of thing, and the difference is easy to lose once both are entries in a list.
At a glance
Vitals
Vitals
Also known as
- Rank
- Orisha of Iron
- Pantheon
- Yoruba
- Order
- Yoruba pantheon
- Base of operations
- Ire-Ekiti, which claims him as its own; and every smithy, since the anvil is his altar and iron is where he lives.
- Era
- c. 1900 CE
- Traditions
- Yoruba & Diaspora
Traits
- Domain
- Iron, war, tools, clearing the path, oaths
- Traditional form
- Armed with a machete; associated with iron and the forge
1 site
Where was it worshipped?
Attested cult sites, located against the Pleiades gazetteer of the ancient world where it reaches and against Wikidata everywhere else. An absence here is not evidence that no cult existed: a good number of figures never had one, and the entry above says so where that is the case.
The town that claims Ogun as its own.
7.745, 5.394 · Wikidata Q30593795
4 attributed
What is it said to do?
Where these powers cluster
The 4 offices attributed to Ogun, grouped by kind. Segment width is the share of powers falling in each category.
A bar dominated by one colour means a specialist; an even spread means a figure the sources credit with almost anything.
- knowledge1
- martial3
1 mark
Which marks is it attached to?
A mark a figure carries and a mark used against a figure are opposite claims, so each link says which it is.
2 texts
Which texts say so?
When these texts were written
Each dot is one of the 2 texts that names Ogun, placed at that text's approximate date.
A wide spread means the figure was carried across many centuries and traditions; a tight cluster means a single period produced the whole record.
2 texts, all inside a single century
The god of iron described through the practice attached to him — the oath sworn on iron, the trades that keep his observances, the war-making his name governs. What Johnson adds to the divination corpus is social range: an orisha whose worship is organised around an occupation rather than around a shrine.
Clears the path with his blade; oaths are sworn on iron in his name.
Connections
What is it connected to?
Answered from the sources
Common questions
Which texts mention Ogun?
Is Ogun the same as Mars?
What rank is Ogun?
How else is Ogun spelled?
What is Ogun said to do?
How old is Ogun?
Nearest in the corpus
If Ogun is what you came for, these are next
Chosen by proximity rather than by popularity: the same pantheon first, then the same rank, then the same kind of figure.
Eshu
Divine Messenger · Yoruba
Messenger between humanity and the orisha, addressed first in any rite. Missionaries met a trickster at a crossroads and called him Satan, and the mistake has proved very hard to undo.
Obatala
King of the White Cloth · Yoruba
The Yoruba orisha who moulds human bodies before birth, and who made the disabled ones while drunk on palm wine — which is why he is owed to them and why his worship forbids the drink.
Olodumare
The Supreme Being · Yoruba
The Yoruba supreme being, who has no images, no temples and no priests of his own — the orisha are the ones addressed, and the corpus's clearest example of a high god who is not worshipped directly.
Orunmila
Witness to Destiny · Yoruba
The Yoruba orisha of divination, who was present when each person chose their destiny and is consulted to find out what was chosen — the figure the whole Ifá corpus belongs to.
Oya
Owner of the Wind · Yoruba
The Yoruba orisha of wind and storm, wife of Shango and keeper of the gate between the living and the dead — the one who goes ahead of the thunder.
Shango
Orisha of Thunder · Yoruba
Thunder-orisha and a remembered king of Oyo — a historical ruler who became a god, which is euhemerism running the other way.
The books behind Ogun
Every claim on this profile is attributed to one of these. They are public domain, listed oldest first, and each links to a full text where one is freely available.
The History of the Yorubas
Samuel Johnson; edited by O. Johnson · Written 1897, published 1921 · English
Read The History of the Yorubas in full ↗The Odu Ifá
Oral; transmitted by babalawo · Oral tradition, first transcribed 19th-20th c. · Yoruba
Read The Odu Ifá in full ↗Cover: Public domain · Toluaye · Wikimedia file page
Corpus last revised 29 August 2026. A reference site’s credibility rests on being maintained, so this is the date the sourced records last changed — not the date the page was rebuilt.