Mysian Greek Zeibek warriors in October 1919, due to the lawless nature of World War I, some committed to serving Greece, other remained loyal to the Ottoman empire, but the majority avoided getting involved and stayed loyal to their local community and defending it. This is because the Zeibeks were warrior farmers & shepherds that had a proud warrior tradition dating back to ancient times. Often called upon to administer local customary law and arbitrate in disputes, their decisions were respected and enforced by the community and by them. This was especially true where law courts and civic authorities could not resolve or manage local matters, or if people sought to avoid going to civic authorities for decisions. Thus the Zeimbeks were often called upon to ensure law and order, as well as defence by civic authorities and were utilised by the Attalids of Pergamon, the Romans, the Byzantines and the Ottomans. Their origins and development is shrouded in the mystery of time, and are closely linked to the various regions of Western Anatolia, including Mysia. Zeibeks could either be Greeks or Turks and they had variations in their clothing and weapon apparel that often indicated their regional origin, ethnicity and religion.
The Zeibeks are also known for a dance which is known in both Greece and Turkey as the "zeimbekiko" or "zeybegi", the dance reflects their complex origin and development as it became a common heritage between Greeks and Turks, as the zeimbekiko comes from the ancient Anatolian Greek dance of the eagle and the Turkic folkloric dance of the hawk that comes from Yoruk traditions. The settlement of Turks in Western Anatolia saw the merging of the local warrior code and traditions with the Turkic folkloric traditions of the refugee Turkic settlers from Central Asia. The zeimbekiko/zeybegi was a series of physical exercises of bodily control, tests of strength and endurance combined with stretches and snap movements which were part of the training in preparation for war. Interestingly, there is another historic form of the dance, which was only performed at weddings, and sort of symbolised the groom capturing the love and affections of his bride. The modern day "club" zeimbekiko" dance diverges considerably from these two historic forms of the dance and develops from rembetiko tradition that occurs after the 1922 Asia Minor Catastrophe. The above photo that was sent was very difficult to reconstruct, as there are two photos of the standard-bearer holding an Ottoman red flag of the crescent moon and the 8-pointed star, which was the official flag of Byznatine Constantinople and adopted as a banner of authority by the Ottoman Sultans. The other picture shows the standard-bearer with a flag utilised by Greeks of Anatolia which was similar to the Northern Epirote flag. However, due to difficulties of restoration as the faces were not exactly clear, we sacrificed the accuracy of the flag to ensure we could get clearer faces in the picture.
