The Dance of Zalongo refers to the mass suicide of Greek women from Souli and their children during that occurred in the aftermath of an invasion of Ottoman troops on December 16, 1803.
The event is commemorated in Greece in the context of the Greek War of Independence.
A number of 60 women were trapped near the village of Zalongo in Epirus, modern Greece, then Ottoman Empire and decided to turn towards the cliff's edge and die with their infants and children rather to submit to the Ottoman troops chasing them.
According to tradition they did this one after the other while dancing and singing.
Painting: Les Femmes
Souliotes by Ary Scheffer (1795-1858).
