Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post - T-handle Yatagan-zeybek for comments

ariel · 30th October 2016, 12:45 PM

The date on the blade is 1292, which is 1875-6.
AFAIK, calling them "pirates" might be incorrect. They were landlubbers, operating as small bands within and between villages. Kind of Turkish Robin Hood- like foot irregulars, bashibazouks ( "crazy heads") , poor as church mice and having rather uncertain relations with any organized government. They particularly distinguished themselves as guerilla forces during the Greek invasion of Anatolia in 1919.

I have never seen a Zeybek yataghan with a wootz blade or even with a Damascus one. All, in my experience, were monosteel, very thick, narrow, long, curved downwards ( no recurving), with integral bolsters, cheap horn or wood handles crudely imitating classical Ottoman "ears", and with simple decorations and cheap primitive tunkou. The work of a village blacksmith, not of a sophisticated professional armorer.

Getting one with the original scabbard is great.

30th October 2016, 12:45 PM	#6
ariel Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Ann Arbor, MI Posts: 5,503	The date on the blade is 1292, which is 1875-6. AFAIK, calling them "pirates" might be incorrect. They were landlubbers, operating as small bands within and between villages. Kind of Turkish Robin Hood- like foot irregulars, bashibazouks ( "crazy heads") , poor as church mice and having rather uncertain relations with any organized government. They particularly distinguished themselves as guerilla forces during the Greek invasion of Anatolia in 1919. I have never seen a Zeybek yataghan with a wootz blade or even with a Damascus one. All, in my experience, were monosteel, very thick, narrow, long, curved downwards ( no recurving), with integral bolsters, cheap horn or wood handles crudely imitating classical Ottoman "ears", and with simple decorations and cheap primitive tunkou. The work of a village blacksmith, not of a sophisticated professional armorer. Getting one with the original scabbard is great.