Izmir (Smyrna) - Turkish Wrestlers
Wrestlers at Izmir, Turkey. Yagli gures (Turkish wrestling) is the Turkish national sport. It is commonly known as oil wrestling (sometimes as grease wrestling) because the wrestlers douse themselves with olive oil. It is related to Uzbek Kurash, Tuvan Khuresh and to Tatar Koras. The wrestlers, known as pehlivan (from Persian meaning hero or champion') wear a type of hand-stitched lederhosen called kisbet (sometimes kispet), which were traditionally made of water buffalo hide, but now also of calf leather
Picture No
10279803
Media ID
46570287
Size
4698px x 3036px
(2.2MB)
Credit
Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection
Source
Unattributed postcard
Date
circa 1910s
