The Koryos: the Indo-European Warband that Changed the World

In prehistoric Europe and Western Asia the people of the steppe waged war against one another and settled peoples in the form of the raid. Bronze Age warfare was like that.

There were no armies in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Conflict between groups was waged by small warbands stealing cattle and abducting women with which to strengthen their own tribes.

The youths would undergo a long and complex warrior initiation on their path to manhood and the koryos was the climax of that process.

To quote from The One-Eyed God by Kris Kershaw, these warbands were primarily "the business of the adolescent boys, who functioned as highly mobile guerrilla bands and at the same time learned hardiness, self-control, stealth and strategy, and other warrior qualities."

In my novel series Gods of Bronze the heroes are part of a koryos.

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[DanDavisHistory]

Thanks for watching. Please do hit "like", it really helps us out.

[ceoofthebaseddepartment]

*Raids a friendly clan
Them: What are you doing Steppe-brother?

[varun]

Not even kidding, during death ceremony in India, we earlier had to recite 10 generation ancestor names, but nowadays the priests have sort of made it simple and bare minimum you need is 3 generations now. The ancestor worship is so clear by what you said in the start of your video.

[caitryan]

The last thing the village needed was a large age set of 13 -18 year old males with nothing but time on their hands. Thank you for these brilliant fascinating videos!

[herbertgearing]

The youngest and least wealthy soldiers in the republican Roman citizens army were lightly armed skirmishers called Velites who wore wolf pelts instead of armor and threw javelins and darts in the initial stage of battle. They would typically retreat before the heavy infantry engaged and sometimes perform other duties which required speed or stealth like dealing with enemy elephants, and chariots, screening the main force, or laying ambushes.

[hereisyoursign]

Always wondered what prompted the Indo-Europeans to expand over such a vast region over thousands and thousands of years. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best one and it seems the Koryos probably was the driving motivation for such consistent aggression and subjugation, with revolutionary technologies and a good geographic placement encouraging the success of these ancient young men

[kendelvalle]

I joined the military a month after my 17th birthday. By the time I turned 21 I had spent a total of 25 months in Vietnam applying guerrilla warfare tactics. I was wounded severely enough to be hospitalized three times. Got out on my 21rst birthday and worked as a mercenary and body guard for twelve years. Made enough money to go to college and law school during those years.
This may not be the bronze age... but some things never change.... they just happen in a modern setting.

[NicoleCreates]

I was researching Koryos as the prototype for werewolf mythology and this was fantastic to listen to. Checking out the rest of your work!

[duckfeet]

If any story deserves film adaptations it's this one.

[miketacos]

Imagine the internal drama of deciding to start a new clan yet missing home, or realizing you’d be responsible for maintaining your traditions so far from home.

[Survivethejive]

Real Männerbünde hours - press F for fido

[frogocric]

I've listened to this video several times now.
Excellently worded. It's like it comes alive in the imagination.
Going to try the novella now.
Thanks stj and the author

[jacobb]

I've seen this structure play out in real life, young dudes join gangs get taken under the wing of an older member who just can't leave the life behind, schooling them up. Like they say there's nothing new under the sun

[Thor-Orion]

Your work means the fucking world to me, man. Thank you.
I’ve been a fighter since shortly after I could walk, warrior culture is who I am. But this concept that fighters are British and unintelligent couldn’t be further from the truth, I love history and spirituality and especially astronomy and physics. I bow hunt, and all the people that think that fighters are stupid would likely starve if they couldn’t purchase food raised to be slaughtered or that was highly processed in a factory. I can horseback ride, but sadly it’s prohibitively expensive to own horses in the modern world and I’m not big into thievery.
Anyway, enough about me, your storytelling ability is so captivating, you really bring this history to life in a way that feels deeply personal and yet omnipresently universal as well. Such a fan of your work, I’ll buy one of your books next time I’m book shopping, I just bought some new stuff to work through, so it’ll be a month or two, but I’ll definitely support your literary work so long as you promise to keep making these videos!

[pariharabhimanyu]

Apart from ‘fall of civilizations’ this is the only history podcast I love listening to..thank you Dan; you really make us reimagine the bygone era

[aryofristas]

This reminds me of the "velites", the youngest, landless, men in the Roman army who would wear wolf skins and throw javelins. You can see how ancient military tactics evolved from these old practices. Actually, the entirety of Roman expansion can be seen as a continuation of this tradition in which young men would go out, fight, and settle lands in the west like Spain and Gaul. In fact, most Roman colonies outside of Italy were established in Spain and Gaul.

[gadpivs]

I've always wondered if any of these young men found hunting and gathering to be more plentiful than raiding, and ultimately decided to permanently give up living among society to return to a more prehistoric way of life. Regardless, it seems that this tradition was basically taking a far older hunter-gatherer way of life involving animal shamans who'd previously done hunting magic and placed it into the context of herding societies, where hunting magic gradually became war magic.

[ИгорьКузьмин-эя]

Very wise channel! I signed, liked and shared.

[aslanlovett]

The connection to the Roman Velites is uncanny and pretty awesome. Good stuff.

[gregorynixonAUTHOR]

Getting male adolescents under control or sending them far away is a necessary part of most cultures. Boys or Men are crazy at that age.