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

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thanks for watching. Please do hit "like", it really helps us out. Get Godborn and all my novels from Amazon ➜ amzn.to/3xngwz5 And if you enjoy these kinds of videos please consider supporting the channel on Patreon ➜ www.patreon.com/dandavisauthor Watch all the Bronze Age Warfare series here: kzbin.info/aero/PLUyGT3KDxwC8xD2S2Q1IqH_S_ocWwXWHv

[@Lora_M_NY]

Dan I LOVE to listen to your KZbin clips read so brilliantly! And that it’s derived from what is known about that period of ancient history ….well, I’m hooked! This seems like a very unique way to engage new fans. I took an audible membership to get your Godborn. Thanks for all the ways you have touched us!

[@DanDavisHistory]

@@Lora_M_NY thank you so much Lora. I hope that you enjoyed the story!

[@tonymaurice4157]

@@DanDavisHistory this may be the greatest KZbin channel ever! 👍

[@caitryan8262]

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!

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you very much.

[@LooniJoose]

I kind of feel like we could benefit from this now. 🤷‍♂️

[@michaeleager4635]

It wasn't that the village didn't need them. It needed them transformed, in touch with their savagery, or the village would be vulnerable

[@wfcoaker1398]

Where I come from, a boy of 15 would have been fishing with his father and brothers for three or four years, and, if he had been to the ice already, which most adolescent boys did, he was starting to build a house and had found a girl to marry. A 16 year old had no time to be idle. He was a man.

[@65stang98]

@@wfcoaker1398 where u live the with the inuits

[@ceoofthebaseddepartment4979]

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

[@fartz3808]

This comment is cursed lmao

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

LMAO! Good one

[@rishikeshwagh]

Underrated

[@martjnmao6808]

anarcho survivalism

[@herbertgearing1702]

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.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

so cool any channel talks about them?

[@sigmachadtrillioniare6372]

This was in total war rome

[@tresojos]

@@sigmachadtrillioniare6372 lol this was in real life too buddy

[@varun794]

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.

[@kendelvalle8299]

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.

[@zagortenay33]

"worked as a mercenary" "This may not be the bronze age... but some things never change.... they just happen in a modern setting." Yeah, people like you are just tools.

[@killjoy-3-5-89]

Would you mind telling more about your life? Sounds really interesting

[@daciaetransalpinae9039]

"Mercenary" meaning you probably killed bacteria mopping floors after realizing you're actually not a warrior for being an army reserve trainee who barely got through the guerilla warfare theory course

[@donarthiazi2443]

​@@daciaetransalpinae9039 Exactly. On other videos ken plays shortstop for the Mets. The anonymity of KZbin allows us to be pretty much anything we care to be.

[@bennydufresne8994]

@@daciaetransalpinae9039 do you even know what went down in Vietnam?

[@hereisyoursign6750]

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

[@DanDavisHistory]

Yeah it's highly likely as this was a practice that continued until historical times in modified forms so it was clearly integral to their societies. But as with anything historical there were of course a number of factors. You could point to the power of the horse and the ability to turn thousands of miles of grasses into calories and the fact that early copper mining was possible in central asia and all kinds of other factors too. But yeah I believe the koryos and social factors provides an extra key ingredient.

[@hereisyoursign6750]

​@@DanDavisHistory Absolutely. On an unrelated note, and with much speculation and a lack of in depth knowledge, I'd suggest the factors contributing to Yamnaya spread and the rise of the Norsemen across Europe to be reminiscent of each other. Overpopulation due to a population boom, lack of women relative to the number of young of men, and technological improvements are probably shared factors in the expansion of both peoples. Again, this is entirely the speculation of an unqualified individual, however I'd suggest the advent of horse riding and the rise of pastoralism probably contributed to an initial population boom, which even though the Yamnaya could now harness more calories from their land, were still unable to sustain themselves. If the Yamnaya were polygamous then to a young man, who could have been the second son of even a high status father, living directly after this population boom, there would be little to no chance of him attaining status or the means to live. The only option available was warfare. Perhaps it is under conditions like these that the Koryos as you know it came to be in the first place. Before the advent of horse riding, Yamnaya would fight along the riverways and conflict would be constrained to a limited geographic area (as were the people themselves), the Koryos was the tool by which clans arranged hierarchy and status. However, with the rise of the horse, the Koryos was turned from a tool of equilibrium, to a weapon of subjugation and expansion which would see the Yamnaya and their descendants engage in a process that would seem them conquer the world thousands of years later.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Yeah I think something like that is almost certainly the case.

[@LooniJoose]

How sad that so many people fell prey to teenagers. 😅

[@ingold1470]

It makes me wonder how it could have sustained itself for so long. A culture where every free man is expected to spend his youth raiding his neighbours would soon run out of soft targets, unless it was a small warrior elite like medieval knights. There must have been some interesting diplomatic innovations to prevent these cultures from escalating their raids into wars of annihilation.

[@miketacos9034]

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.

[@gunarsmiezis9321]

There is nothing stoping you from going to visit home some day. Nomads dont find traveling all too difficult.

[@Svensk7119]

@@gunarsmiezis9321 Except life. You have to find food and care for your household. Basically, work and family could still get in the way of vacation.

[@bennydufresne8994]

@@Svensk7119 it wouldn’t be a vacation because there would be important reasons for returning home

[@Svensk7119]

@@bennydufresne8994 Still, my point is the same. Life gets in the way.

[@verdi2310]

Male lions face it every day in the savannah.

[@duckfeet3912]

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

[@DanDavisHistory]

I agree!

[@RageTyrannosaurus]

Please don't take this the wrong way but I'm unsure about the film version being very popular. How many people like stories where the protagonist is a murderous, thieving, abductor, and predator? Also groups like Fox News would accuse it of demonizing white people and probably call it "political correctness" gone mad, which would potentially reduce viewership. But it would certainly be interesting and informative.

[@duckfeet3912]

@@RageTyrannosaurus Any time the news covers a movie it just gets the movie more views. If you are historically accurate then the viewers won't see them as villains unless they already view Europeans as villains. Movies like Taxi driver show case a messed up person and it is critiquely acclaimed

[@RageTyrannosaurus]

@@duckfeet3912 The 1976 Taxi Driver? From what I know the main character had bad thoughts and got verbally abusive at times but he only killed one person unjustly, with the other two being the kind of people who deserve life in prison. He wasn't nearly as bad as the main character of this film would be. The closest comparisons I have to this are A Clockwork Orange and American Psycho. On reflection, people like those films even if they despise the main characters so it could work!

[@bonefetcherbrimley7740]

@@DanDavisHistory good video, I enjoyed it a whole bunch!

[@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!

[@DanDavisHistory]

Wonderful, glad you enjoyed it. I have a few videos on the koryos in a koryos playlist you might find useful. And a great written source is Kris Kershaw's book The One-Eyed God. Welcome to the channel.

[@Survivethejive]

Real Männerbünde hours - press F for fido

[@DanDavisHistory]

press E to eat Fido

[@SethComedyFan]

Love you Jive!

[@LooniJoose]

F

[@TempleofBrendaSong]

EEEE EAT FIDO YVMM

[@Thekoryosmenstribepodcast]

We need to teach this to soy boys. The west needs a warrior wake up call.

[@jacobb1565]

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

[@bobaldo2339]

Gosh! This sounds even worse than high school!

[@DanDavisHistory]

lol

[@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

[@DanDavisHistory]

That's wonderful, thank you so much. I hope you enjoy the stories!

[@ajithsidhu7183]

@@DanDavisHistory how can we make a morden day koryos

[@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.

[@MrBottlecapBill]

I doubt it. A single person cannot survive well on their own. That's why exile was often a punishment for crime. It was near a death sentence. Division of labour is too important. Living on your own in those days was living pretty rough. There isn't enough time in the day to feed yourself and make clothing and gather enough fire wood and maintain a supply of weapons and tools and build new shelters as you move from place to place. Heck just dropping a large animal and trying to process it all alone before it rots is near impossible. Nobody wanted to be alone.

[@billypoppins9138]

We are pack animals.. Tasmania, Australia is my country.. Palawa are peaceful and young males are taught to catch and kill our own...

[@anon4854]

Hunting and gathering to feed that many mouths would actually be pretty labour intensive compared to raiding. One good raid could set them up for months, even longer if they knew how to smoke meat, and could also equip them better to fight future raids.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

you couldn't do that, it wasn't how you were raised life without honour was death

[@tresojos]

@@szymonbaranowski8184 You misunderstand the whole point, in my opinion. This has nothing to do with honour. These koryos men were BEYOND honour and society. Their only honour was within their pack and to survival.

[@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!

[@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.

[@king_halcyon]

Which romanized them within 500 years

[@pariharabhimanyu4503]

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

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you.

[@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.

[@ИгорьКузьмин-э6я]

Very wise channel! I signed, liked and shared.

[@knjiggaofficial7733]

Basically the bronze age variety of a summer abroad in Magaluf or Ierapetra with your mates from class just before you go to uni

[@r.ladaria135]

The police always win the fight.

[@barkershill]

Reminds me a bit of sending my own son off to university . He lived exclusively with other young men his own age , lived for the most part on food he acquired quite randomly mated with several females and was often a source of disturbance to more settled members of society . He gradually acquired wealth through a job in IT , and has now formed a little tribe of his own in a three bed semi in North London . I guess some things never change

[@jean-pierredelorraine6161]

Lovely story Dan. That's that way it used to be. In pre-Roman antiquity, a boy was considered a man when he turned 14, a girl a woman when she had her first menstruation. Since times immemorial, the land between the Black and Caspian seas agglomerated peoples of different ethnic origins: Magyars, Avars, Slavs, Germanic, Mongolian, Bulgars, etc. After the Huns raided Europe, they retreated back to this area. When the Magyars (Hungarians) raided Europe centuries later, they remained in the Carpathian basin, in the Danube river valley where they are still today, but some did go back further east. Cheers.

[@lilianasoare2524]

The thracians, getae, dacians and many others are turning into their grave....

[@lah1743]

Thank you for these history lessons. I've been in the process of developing lessons for ancient history for middle and high school students and noticed a big gap in the way we teach about our ancient civilizations. The story of how we settled and spread is more complex than our emphasis on river valleys, farming and trade. Being more aware of human activity and psychology of people's in the sea, plains, mountains, and between the river valleys better helps us interpret why we build, expand and continue conflicts in territories throughout our globe today.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

because atheists and converted monoteists teach you our ancestors can't anymore tell what was in our heads naturally thousands years ago

[@Badpoison1]

Actually, my book club is now reading your book. I'm about a 3rd of the way through, and it's damn good.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Wow that's awesome, thanks!

[@patriciapalmer1377]

The beginning sounds extremely similar to Spartan training, leaving the home at 7, a cadre of boys your age, having to live off the land, stealing what you need and more, yet it is three thousand years prior !! Amazing.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Yes there were similar practices in lots of places. The age differed in various cultures but 7 seems to crop up a few times. It was usually 7 when a medieval boy started as a page on his journey to becoming a man-at-arms and a knight.

[@aslanlovett4059]

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

[@fanman8102]

I've been enjoying your novella on Audible and it reminds me of the idea/process/institution of "second son" in the Viking/Norman culture. Second sons settled in Russia, Italy, no doubt were involved in the several invasions of England, served as imperial guards in the Byzantine Empire and some claim that Norman second sons made up the majority in the First Crusade. "For glory and honor" may be an idea that is lost to modern mankind, there is no doubt it did exist.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

You forgot about all the Spanish lords with countless children and only one son inheriting it was natural necessity and only choices was war or monastery even in England and Scotland many soldiers and sailors later advised in Russia 😂 Cochrane was also example of such hero

[@AK-rj5ss]

he Yamnaya Kernosovskiy idol, depicting a naked warrior with a belt, axes, and testicles (mid-3rd mill. BC); and the Celtic Warrior of Hirschlanden (6th c. BC), wearing only a helmet, neckband, belt, and sword.[57][58]

[@ariochiv]

The Maasai in East Africa have similar child-bands... so it's possible that such organizations are a natural result of the nomadic lifestyle, and not specifically inherited from the Yamnaya.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Yeah researchers have looked at contemporary herding societies to better understand and reconstruct social structures. But the cultures descending from the late neolithic steppe herders that continued this tradition into historical times were by no means all nomadic. Most of them weren't. And the similarities in the nature of the warbands are too overwhelming - the linguistic evidence alone - for it to be some emergent property of herding cultures. It's not just the fact that groups of young men went out raiding. Of course that's practically universal. It's the sacred element, the swearing to the god, it's the sacred leader, and so on.

[@metalman7791]

I haven't checked out the story yet, but I definitely will. I've been an avid history lover since I was a child. I had never heard of this before. Thanks for giving me something else to study!

[@DanDavisHistory]

Awesome, hope you enjoy the story, thanks for watching.

[@ZecaPinto1]

Karios, Corios, Kardos, Cardoso... From ancient names to modern words and names, the warriors never died

[@buciuojamosakysuzsimerkia]

Karas-war, kardas- -sword, karyba, kariauna, kariai, etc

[@jonaskazlauskas5117]

Karauraris, or Karionis was the God of war horses and war .

[@Son-of-Tyr]

This brought tears to my eyes

[@keydoh4870]

In my youth it was custom for band of young man to go out on new years eve and 'relocate' objects (like carts, large pots) that were left out on farm yards. Could this be an echo of the Koryos? ( I live in the northern part of the Netherlands)

[@DanDavisHistory]

It's possible because many traditional practices fragment and become unmoored from their earlier meanings so that the forms continue in some way while no one really knows why they're doing it. However such fragments could have come from some other tradition or it could have begun for other reasons and could have started quite recently.

[@keydoh4870]

@@DanDavisHistory Thanks for your reaction. I realise it could have begun for other reasons. It just struck me that some local folk ritual that I had never thought about though I witnessed with my own eyes now got a possible explanation. It also gave me a new appreciation for the fading folklore. So yes, thank you for the video.

[@newq]

Hell, for that matter, what about, say trick-or-treating? There's a lot of this tradition in it. The liminality of the autumn season (during the eve of the feast of all souls, where death itself is inverted), the youths engaging in nocturnal mischief that normally wouldn't be sanctioned, donning the persona of some other creature. Makes me wonder if it drew from ancient, fragmented traditions hearkening back to the koryos.

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

I can also say that the Normans were just like that, sending their sons to find a new kingdom to conquer and rule/ But yes the Spartan Tradition of the Agogee is the first coming to mind

[@adylevene4318]

Corios - Agogi very similar still going on in Africa and Madagascar cattle raiders.

[@Kenshiroit]

This habit is international. I wonder if the PIE people had something similar but to a smaller scale? The Etrurians and the Minoians....both Pre IndoEuropean people, had martial knowledge. The Minoans had a large navy perhaps the biggest in the mediterrenean the Etruscan army gave the foundation to the Roman legions. So they were not ignorant in warfare.

[@oltyret]

How do you suppose the 'koryonos' was chosen? Are there any good theories or evidence on the subject? Was he a boy like the others in the koryos? Or was he an older proven warrior? If a boy, could he have been one chosen based on merit? Perhaps he was chosen based on his descent from the leaders of the clan - that is, a higher ranking boy. Perhaps, too, he may have been chosen by the gods in a rite. Whoever he was, the success of the Koryos and the survival of the clan's sons depended on his judgement.

[@DanDavisHistory]

This is an excellent question and I will make a video just on this subject. Kris Kershaw spends a great deal of time addressing this in her book. Using comparative history, mythology, linguistics and archaeology she concludes the koryonos was chosen through a kind of sacred dice game. She also talks in her book about those older proven warriors you suggest. I added a character like that to my novel. The adult man who stays dedicated to the god of the raid and never becomes a man of the clan. An important figure for the transmission of knowledge and skill. Kershaw has examples from historical times. I will also do a video in this Bronze age warfare series just on that. Thanks for the great questions.

[@ErokLobotomist]

Man, super cool videos! This is exactly what I've been looking for on YT. Thank you so much for shining a light on these cultures and peoples that most people never hear about! Cheers from Canada and keep up the fantastic work!

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you! I appreciate that enormously.

[@raphmaster23]

Just wanted to tell you your videos are phenomenal. I kinda got a glimpse of this in modern day being the only female out of 8 male cousins. Growing up in rural area, whose parents were like get outside and play and don't come back until dark. Have to say a wild wolf pack was fairly accurate with them lol

[@shanegooding4839]

Though many recognize a connection between Odin's wolf-band the einherjar and the koryos, it is interesting that Loki is also associated with both wolves and binding.

[@teyanuputorti7927]

great video it was well narrated and I could easily picture himself among the Koryos.

[@gilgameschvonuruk4982]

I doubt that 13 teenagers can subjugate a tribe, I think it's more plausible that most Koryos stayed together after their initiation ritual and formed an elite corps of their tribes army, fighting side by side with many other warriors. Perhaps the braking apart into different tribes happened after the conquest, similar to how Alexander the Greats empire fell apart after his death and was divided up amongst his companions.

[@AxionXIII]

Kóryonos, the greatest calibre of leadership in human history.

[@ariomannosyemo9090]

Free copy?? Fuck that, I'll happily pay for your stuff.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you. The novella is free, you have to pay for the main novels. Book 1 in the Gods of Bronze series is available in eBook, paperback and from February 2021 in audiobook. All my novels are available from Amazon. Cheers!

[@binoybhusanari1703]

@@DanDavisHistory sir, your book is very costly, please provide second hand copy for my study if it is available with you.

[@yensid4294]

Leaving your mother at 7 & having to survive with nothing & no aid by stealing as a young teen sounds very Spartan-like

[@DanDavisHistory]

Yeah by the time of the Spartans the tradition had developed and evolved but many of the core elements remained. The age of about 7 seems to occur repeatedly (even in the middle ages when a boy started his service to eventually become a squire and a man-at-arms and a knight). It was a long process with many steps along the way. They were not expected to survive in the wilderness from age 7, that was the start of the process and being ejected and finding their way back was the end, perhaps 10 years later after they had learned to hunt and ride and fight and everything else.

[@Wazir.Akbar.Khan.wardag]

Well the Spartans did descend from the scythians and the likes

[@lottesrensen8004]

I'm happy I found your channel here it's so interesting. Love the way you work and tell the stories and the amount of informations in them. Thank you

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you so much.

[@eacalvert]

This was so cool ty for making it 😊. It does remind me not only of the similar practices still go on in tribal parts of Africa but a little of vision quests of the 1st people of the Americas. However, one huge difference is it was usually one boy (and some tribes/nations girls as well) being expected to survive anywhere from 1 week to 1 month or more w/no food or water (altho girls were usually given a small amount of each) on their own to find their spirit guide and/or animal.

[@lancehiltbrand8630]

This was nice. I have been looking at continuity of pantheons for a minute.

[@ariomannosyemo9090]

You were recommended to me by Survive the Jive.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Awesome, that's very kind of him. Where / how did he recommend me?

[@ariomannosyemo9090]

Through his telegram

[@DanDavisHistory]

Ah, didn't think of that, cheers.

[@bigbossgreek]

Ditto

[@taylorburke5388]

The Golden One sent me. I recommend Asha Logos

[@rnedlo9909]

Thank you for articulating the origin of the Indo-European culture of which we, who are their decedents, owe our lives to.

[@jeaniehammer9404]

Yes! excellent comment

[@perplexedpapa]

I loved the whole series! Thank you!

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thanks!

[@buddhastaxi666]

Reference the Anglo Saxon alliterative poem The Wanderer which reflects the psychology of the warrior death cult. Where trauma is compartmentalised by the desensitised warrior. Where he misses his service to a Lord. Combines ptsd with homoerotic themes. Warrior gangs likely emerged as regions outgrew resources from hunting or from farming. I know if some guy told me to murder my dog would liberateme i would draw the line there....if he persisted then it would reinforce my picture of him as dysfunctional....mad...and it would result in conflict.

[@yesfredfredburger8008]

This is absolutely phenomenal content!

[@baileywebb1]

Read the book he mentioned by Kris Kershaw The one eyed God. Odin and the indo european mannerbund. Thanks @survivethejive for the video tip.

[@DanDavisHistory]

It's a really great book.

[@gweiloxiu9862]

Yes!

[@OmarWannaHike]

Great videos. I read "The Horse, the Wheel, and Language" and will pick up your books as well.

[@nylina3646]

I just finished "Godborn: Gods of Bronze" audiobook and cant wait for the next one. Im really enjoying the story and the settings. Well done! :)

[@maud3444]

This is my new favorite channel... interesting stuff, told by a pleasant voice. I've always been really into the bronze age but there isn't a lot of good information about these times out there

[@fleetskipper1810]

A huge advantage of the Kouryos would be to keep the gene pool vibrant and avoid the kind of inbreeding or line-breeding that would have inevitably resulted, had everyone stayed in the same place. It also would mean that the original village group would not be wearing out the land around them as fast. And it certainly would pare down the number of young men to a manageable number.

[@tobyplumlee748]

Very interesting narrative of bronze age Yamnaya young men. This is more than likely how R1B and step culture spread eventually into Western Europe. I believe the British Isles and Atlantic cultures remained isolate for a time allowing Celtic culture to actually develop first in the west and not the east. Though thier male founders being R1B "Indo European " with very little influence from other male sources of other halogrops were still today Western Europeans have the highest percentage of the step halogrop. Celtic culture then went through an expansion period rapidly increasing trade and settlements further into "Gaul" , Central and Southern Europe by use of wagon and Rivers. At the same time they were trading up and down the Atlantic coast from Iberia to Scotland. As you stated before R1B (Yamnaya Halogrop) was already dominant in the British Ises within the Celtic culture so when Vikings, Saxons, Anglos, Jutes, Friesians and Norman's invaded and/or settled they just increased this step Ancestry mostly thru the male lines. Also though Roman soilders were not all Italian and from all over the Empire carrying many halogrops many did indeed also carry R1B. My ancestors came almost exclusively from the British Isles though I'm a 9th generation American. I'm roughly about half English and Scots . My fathers halogrop R1b (Plumley) my mother's Montgomery halogrop interesting is actually J2 .

[@ЈугославНиколић]

Vikings didn't increase percentage of steppe haplogrouops (R1B). Western Europeans are not "Indoeuropeans"😊 Those R1A from the Danube valley that went North before R1B entered Europe and/or those of R1A that went north through the forests northern of the Caspian sea, they made "Indoeuropeans" after being pushed from Europe by those steppe people of R1B that entered up the Danube to modern Austria, Switzerland and south Germany and later the rest of Europe. That is how peaces of reconstruction I collected make the whole picture. Think that those people came from Europe to India, R1A. The language, to be named "Indoeuropean", it is more problematic, to me than the people that went to India, which seems obvious. Did "the language" come from the steppe, with R1A? Or, prior to that, from South-Eastern Europe to the steppe? Did it originate mostly in the Southeastern Europe, or had been brought to it by the migrations by the southern way, south of Caucasus, through the Anatolia to the Southeastern Europe? It was the language of "Indoeuropeans" but originated much before those Europeans went to India. Perhaps R1A brought it to (Southeastern)Europe from India across Anatolia, "southern way" much, much before Europeans went to India to close the circle?

[@davebowman9000]

Beautiful narration!

[@KAMIKAZEinbound]

I can't explain how I strongly I feel having been in the cold night forrest around fire ready to go and kill men.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Awesome, glad to hear it.

[@blaircolquhoun7780]

The Native Americans had the vision quest in which the boy left the tribe for the wilderness to receive his vision and his name.

[@blaircolquhoun7780]

@Heavy Metal Pulp No, they were sent on a vision quest.

[@veljkozagorac9790]

In Serbia, we often call wolf/wolfs, "kurjak/kurjaci", and a dog- "ker". Also "kuražan" means brave, like courage in english. "Kur" also have connections with male sexual organs...

[@veljkozagorac9790]

Also, behavior like this we can see in a wolfs community, when a young wolf leavs the old pack, to form a new one.

[@1302VL]

Great video! I enjoyed the novella as well (and will order your novels). More content about the Indo-Europeans would be amazing.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the story and hope you enjoy the rest too. We will keep adding to the "People of the Bronze Age" video series but not all of them will be about Indo-Europeans. There will be videos on the Bell Beaker people and the Sintashta and other eastern IE peoples eventually.

[@1302VL]

@@DanDavisHistory I'm sure they will be interesting as well! Any chance you will talk about the "Old Europeans" or pre-Indo-European inhabitants of Europe? They are possibly even more mysterious than our ancestors from the Steppe.

[@DanDavisHistory]

yeah watch my videos on the Funnelbeaker and the Pitted Ware. I will also be making videos on the Cucutani and the Megalith culture soon.

[@fatman9196]

Ur books would b perfect comic books

[@just_golds]

I've got to read this book of yours,that intro got me hooked 👍

[@levongevorgyan6789]

Armenian folktales speak of two Kings: Hayk, who fought off invaders in the form of a giant tyrant named Bel, and his descendant Aram, who lead a group of young men, Manuks or Norati, to expand the boarders of Armenia. One fought in the heartlands and established the nation, the other fought on the borders and expanded the nation.

[@lah1743]

My son's father is Armenian. His family only speaks of Noah, Jesus, Turkey and genocide. We now look forward to exploring other aspects of his heritage.

[@levongevorgyan6789]

@@lah1743 There is more. Ara the Beautiful and the Queen of Assyria. Vahagn the Dragon Slayer God. David of Sasun. But this Aram and his Manuks I pointed out, were the ancient Armenian version of the Koryos.

[@grel1604]

Beautiful ideas, fascinating. It's truly the insight for 30+ amateur-linguist-anthropologist, thank you!

[@jacobandrews2663]

I find it Interesting how in some mycanaean art, Hermes (who was heavily associated with wolves) was often depicted guiding the spear of warriors -- just as Odin and Lugh were (The two having clear patronage over their own cultures' version of the Koryos). I have a little hypothesis that perhaps Hermes -- Being patron of thieves, and by extension probably raiders -- was directly decended from the same IE God that Germanic Wodanaz was, in a similar fashion as Zeus and Jupiter were related to each other... And so the Roman writers that wrote about Interpretatio Romana and equated these gods were actually right.

[@divide_art]

Makes sense, Honestly I can easly see the name jump from from Koryos to Hermes, you just need to prononcue differently the original name (Korios to Horios, basically) and you slowly move from there to the hermes of the beginning

[@jacobandrews2663]

@TheAldanaar That's an interesting idea, although instead of the two words/concepts being related etymologically, they might instead be related semantically (meaning-wise); the thing is, the noun "Hermes" is most likely descended from the Proto-Indo-European root "*ser-" which has a wide range of meanings, included but not limited to: 1. To guard. 2. To flow. 3. To bind, to tie together. - and more relevant to your particular idea - 4. To take, to seize, to steal, booty, or plunder; whereas the noun "*Kóryos" seems to come from the noun "*koro" meaning something like 'division' or 'cutting', as in a Military division.

[@divide_art]

@@jacobandrews2663 I see. Awesome. Could hey be two figures overlapping? Like.. the Ser- was in charge to "to guard the stuff, the youngs or the prisoners" while other figures were more related to the attacking. To put it simple, after a while any warband tha becomes big enough starts to have specialized figures and groups, all of them with their sacral meaning. Something like the 2 kings of sparta, for example. I won't be surprised if any Koryos had 3 main figures with one of them being the proper leader. I'm just trowing out ideas here, it's clear that you've more knoledge than me on the topic and I really want a feedback ahaha

[@elicichocki4924]

For what it’s worth, Hermes/Mercury was generally also associated with Wednesday (“Wodans Day”, obviously.) Additionally, one of the most popular and well-known myths about Hermes depicts him impulsively stealing 50 cows from Apollo, which seems quite parallel to the activities of the Koryos lol.

[@jacobb9486]

Nice video, I always thought the scene with the wolf in 300 was a good symbolic look at the indo european initiation into manhood, whether they meant it to be or not who knows

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you yeah maybe so. I would like to see a whole film dedicated to the agōgē.

[@tassiek2450]

@@DanDavisHistory Αγωγή.agoge.from the verb ,αγω, it means I drive,I lead and agoge also means education.a very common word now and three thousands years ago.

[@Jamie-fl2im]

Excellent. Thanks.

[@IvanAlejandro99]

Indo-european teenage Warriors Indo-european teenage Warriors Indo-european teenage Warriors Heroes in the bronze age

[@almightyyt2101]

Sounds Spartan

[@candylandi5351]

Weird that I discover this based channel only now... subscribed.

[@perro4996]

The best explanation on the concept of the berserker i have heard. I think you might be into something here.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you. I am only repeating the conclusions of a great many learned experts.

[@free-can5609]

quite chilling actually

[@OmegaWolf747]

Perhaps it was through such raids that Indo-European language and culture spread through so much of the ancient world?

[@DanDavisHistory]

That's what I say in the video, yeah.

[@axpowrt3456]

The reason why we speak indo european today is because of them koryos

[@flopzor931]

When I listen to your videos really makes me live it up , keep it up , love it.

[@DanDavisHistory]

That's awesome, thanks!

[@HistoryBro]

I wonder how far back that tradition goes?... Deep into the long, long ago, I suspect.

[@DanDavisHistory]

We know roughly because of the associated expansions from the steppe which are detected in archeology, linguistics, and genetics. The Sredny Stog steppe people were around from 4500 BC and they had much of this cultural package but it was the Yamnaya that expanded from about 3300 BC so perhaps we can say it was around then that this was fully developed.

[@baileywebb1]

Read the book he mentioned. It's a life changer. Kris Kershaw " the one eyed God - Odin and the indo european mannerbund"

[@DanDavisHistory]

Yeah it explains so much and warrants repeated reading.

[@TesseractPleiadesOrion]

@@baileywebb1 £72.65 on Amazon eeek!

[@DanDavisHistory]

Yeah there aren't many paperback copies around because it was never intended for mass market. It would be good if someone did reprints because it's rightly become an influential text.

[@lumberpilot]

It's interesting to note that the raiders found villages that would fight back and other groups that would offer tribute. It seems to be the terrain. If you think about the most fierce North American Indian tribes, they are from the plains whereas tribes in the mountain and coastal areas were more conciliatory.

[@NepherionDraconian]

The Cherokee may have ties to the ancient greeks, and other native american tribes may have ties to the hittites in which the hittites were another indo european tribe

[@chad3779]

Easier to attack plains people's because of the terrian. It was either get strong or get conquered.

[@szymonbaranowski8184]

mountainers are never consiliatory but they keep their laws and word all fierce people stay in mountains that's where all last defenders were surviving through history Basque later last Catholics in Spain

[@ChrisSmith-lo2kp]

ancient scouting

[@goodlookingcorpse]

You'd think that, if there were warbands wandering all over the place trying to take over, someone would think "Let's not send our own sons out. Let's keep them for when someone tries to take us over". But perhaps they were worried that, if they did so, their young men would just kill them and take over.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Yeah it's hard to imagine how it worked isn't it but anthropologists and historians have studied these kinds of mobile herding/raiding societies from Mongolia to Africa to North America and found many commonalities. Raiding is not just a free for all, there are certain limits, people don't tend to exterminate one another all that often, it's a seasonal activity, and they're careful not to leave their woman and children vulnerable. With the koryos they would have sent away their adolescent boys for 6 months while all the rest of the men stay with the women and children as normal. Other bands of boys will try to raid them perhaps and it's the men's duty to fight them off. I will have to do more koryos videos because the details are all so interesting aren't they.

[@kyletoelle]

Aaaannnndd subscribed, brilliant and inspiring.

[@10yearsgone10]

I really like your stuff man.. I don’t have much of a presence on social media as I was looking to message you with a few questions one of which includes a possible collab in one or a couple ways.. Also your book is it on audible? And if so do you do the narration?

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you. Yes my books are on Audible. No I don't do the narrations - Immortal Knight is by John Lee. And Gods of Bronze is by Alex Wyndham. My contact details are on the About page if you want to get in touch.

[@andersaxmark5871]

Very well done

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you, I appreciate it.

[@qetoun]

Fascinating. Apparently, the origin of the name of the ancient English town ''Wroxeter'' comes from the Latinised Brythonic ''Viroconium'' which has been reconstructed in the common Brythonic as ''Wiroko'' -*man-wolf. So, Viroconium was the 'city of the werewolves' or city of the Koryos. There is also the name of a Celtic tribe from Scotland called the Corionototae, which had been translated as meaning *people of the Koryos.

[@calumcain2355]

Werewolfs are anglo saxon though not brythonic

[@timwhite5562]

I started reading Godborn today. That genre of historical fiction and some of the more fantasy based quasi-historical fiction are really hit or miss with me. I find a lot of them to be either like the literary version of B-films, or they read like a modern adventure story set in the past, but could have been just as easily be dropped into any era or setting and it wouldn't make a difference. I've certainly started a lot more of them than i ever finish, which is pretty unique to that genre. That said I'm about 40% though it, which is rapidly l equally rare. It's paced well and i liked how it handles the the setting. To be honest, I'm not all that familiar with the Hercules story, beyond the broad strokes of the story. Once i got a handle on the antagonists, i immediately thought of the the prologue for Roma by Steven Saylor with Heracles fighting Cacus.

[@dariussutkus8401]

"Koryos" (indoeuropean). "Kouroi" ("The Youngsters" - in Greek) "Kariai" ("The Warriors" - in Lithuanian).

[@LooniJoose]

The author actually has an understanding of the High One.

[@almightyyt2101]

Bet life had to suck for those young people sent to the school of hard knocks but probably worse sucking had to be the lot of the farmers, tribes small villages - who knows what these cats got up to in that time - maybe they found jobs, became pimps and just hustled like people do today

[@HappyLilJimmy]

“ if you are cooked , they may kill you” *looks in mirror , starts sweating*

[@flamencoprof]

May I presume there is a connection between "Koryos" and the statues modernly called "Kouros"? Also, some of the behaviours you describe are very Spartan. I appreciate you are describing a Novel series and not History.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Yes Kouros means noble youths or something like that. I am describing history, the koryos really existed.

[@mysticonthehill]

It is interesting how similar life experiences create similar peoples. The Koryos isn't dissimilar to East African age set warbands.

[@jessiepyles2423]

2nd time listening. Powerful

[@mihaisfira7612]

Is the cure to male loneliness swearing an oath to the wolf god and starting a koryos with the boys?

[@mihaisfira7612]

@@PaleoSiberianMogger happy for you man, but I was making a funny

[@veronicalogotheti5416]

Thanks

[@makerstudios5456]

Just found this channel. Great content.

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thank you, glad you found us.

[@Adymus]

It's just like Hermes raiding the cattle of Apollo when he was just a baby.

[@derwaynejohanson2316]

That is amazing!

[@DanDavisHistory]

Thanks

[@rishikeshwagh]

The Kurus were an ancinet Indo-Aryan warrior tribe who ruled over the Kuru kingdom (around modern day Delhi) in 1200 BCE. I wonder if they were the descendants of these Koryos. Also I wonder if the word 'coronation' has anything to do with this coming of age ritual/culture.

[@armandonobrega5282]

Coronation is from corona (latin),itself from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”). Koryos is from Proto-Indo-Iranian *kā́ras, from Proto-Indo-European *kór-o-s, from *ker- (“army”) +‎ *-os.

[@greaterbharat4175]

​​​@@armandonobrega5282 It total Sankrit nirukta word from kar/ kri according to rigveda ,kuru were armyband of people as union of puru clan and bharat clan Kuru was created by puru Bharats just to defend both the tribe And in Sankrit it etymology is from kr / kar ( meaning doing, duty ) So original etymology was actually "kar" duty

[@greaterbharat4175]

​@@armandonobrega5282kuru was used after Sankrit people not by proto indo Iranian or proto indo European which is itself is bogus thing Sankrit itself has nirukta ( subject deal with etymology of words ) which totally copied by scholar 😂and used in fake proto indo European word The term kuru used by iranic and then other Sankritized influenced people Because kuru itself created kingdom and empire Which far spread like Kyrgyzstan region ( Which is called uttar kuru in Sankrit Or ottara -korai in Greeks )

[@armandonobrega5282]

@@greaterbharat4175 I know the theory about Sanskrit supported by Hindutva. This so 'true' as the dacian theory about " the mother of all languages " by some anti-latinist romenians.