The Kóryos, and the Bronze Age Need for Murderers

The Bronze Age was a time of immense upheaval for Indo Europeans. As these people came together and took giant steps towards society and civilization there was much to be learned, and many problems to be resolved.

The discovery of metallurgy, which supercharged the Stone Age agricultural revolution, changed the world forever. Gone were the primitive days of subsistence living on a species-wide scale. Gone also was the old hunter gatherer culture, and in its place was something wholly new.

The birth of agricultural abundance led to far greater concentrations of people than ever before, sustained by this new abundance of food grown wherever it suited us. With grain came towns and cities, and from these new permanent gatherings of people came everything else.

There may well have been a golden age of European pastoralism which came from this new way of life. Mankind was able to build a home for itself for the first time, and from this came culture, art, and a new appreciation of our surroundings.

But in this move towards abundance and permanency came new problems. The new surpluses may have driven population growth that homo sapiens had never before seen, but the resources were ultimately, and unavoidably finite. Tribalism, warfare and competition for these scarce resources could now be conducted at a scale never before seen, and mankind faced of a new reality of conflict in a world which we no longer simply inhabited, but which we bent to our will.

Our knowledge of prehistory is limited, and we do not know how these first steps into cultural clash and intertribal warfare were taken. But it is a safe guess, based on the legends that came later, that some communities solved this problem by looking to a section of society to do the unthinkable in defense of their homes.

They looked to the Kóryos.

Brotherhood of the Wolf

In a hunter gatherer society, the role of young men was clear cut and central. These would be the hunters, the strongest and the quickest of the tribe sent out to bring home enough food for everyone. These were the most important members of the community, but in this new reality of agriculture they found themselves newly disenfranchised.

Their aggressive tendencies and physical strength, prime attributes for millennia, suddenly had no place in their new world where sufficient resources could be found from crops, not at the point of a spear. These young men were newly problematic, as well: effectively bred for the hunt, their innate need for violence had no useful outlet.

Hints from mythology across multiple Indo-European cultures tell us how this new class of disaffected youth were managed. These men were recognized for what they were: an unruly and potentially dangerous part of society. And, as such, they were ostracized for it.

Such men would remove themselves from society for a time. Living apart they would trade their place in the community for a role which had no place there, but which was nonetheless vital. They would protect their homes by doing what must be done, alone and far from the others.

Strong, powerful, agile, they were likely given the role of protector of their communities. As cultures grew and became more established there would always be those who sought to steal what they had, predators on the fringes of society, and these young men would no longer be hunters, but protectors.

Known as Kóryos, meaning “people under arms” they would form a primitive war band and stand apart from their society, attacking any who threatened their homes. To live separately was a necessity for, in performing their roles, the Kóryos gave up their humanity and became the first professional murderers in history.

It was clear that they recognized the loss of their humanity that there new role entailed. Casting off their humanity in their separation, they identified with the animals they saw as powerful, most commonly the wolf. Like wolves they expressed themselves through the savagery of the hunt, and like wolves they hunted in packs.

Shapeshifting became an important part of the mythos which built up around these bands of men. Wearing wolf skins would have become common, and the truth of what they did while away from the tribe would be kept largely secret, further enhancing the legendary nature of such people.

Form recognizing themselves for the murderers they were, the Kóryos would see themselves free of all social taboos. Their behavior would be unacceptable in their society, to be sure, but they were able to act as they chose outside its bounds, and when they returned home they felt no remorse for their actions.

We do not know how these first groups were formed, but we know from later civilizations that the Kóryos became a formal rite of passage for such young men. Aged from about 12 to 18 years old and grouped in bands that rarely consisted of more than a dozen individuals, these bands of young men can be found in later cultures with a role much formalized.

Young men, usually from elite families, would undertake a trial of hardship before entering the ranks of the Kóryos. Living apart in the wilderness, they would work as a cohesive fighting unit, attacking those who threatened their society. Typically one would only leave the Kóryos upon marriage.

Many have argued that this new aspect of Bronze Age society was one of the key drivers in the enormous success of Indo European culture, driving its great migrations into Europe as well as eastwards. The Kóryos could be useful on the attack as well as defense, carving out new territories for their mother culture as they turned predators and attacked those around them.

From societies as far apart as India, Iran and Greece we see such bands of brothers. All warrior cultures, from Greek hoplites to Viking berserkers to medieval knights on horseback come from these first fighting bands of young men.

But, at the heart of this mythos there is an unanswered question. Were these people send out from society due to human decency, a need to excise a part of the tribe prone to violent destruction, a model found to be the best way to foster a healthy and growing culture?

Or were these bands of fighting men, and the cultures they came from, simply the winners in this first age of warfare? Were the Kóryos, this proto-army on which all subsequent fighting forces were built, simply those who figured out how to win first? 

Was it the need for victory, and not the need for a peaceful home, which hardened the first men into warriors?

Top Image: The Celtic “Warrior of Hirschlanden” is believed to depict a member of the Kóryos (Harke / Public Domain)