“Who do you rank as all-time bad-ass James?'
Viking Age Barbarian
To test my scoring system, I will rate men from an age which I have a comprehensive knowledge to see if the historic fear with which these men were regarded matches the outcome, before applying it to a procession of killers who stalked their future and our past.
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Combat Presence
The scoring system will work like this. The top ten killers will be listed from #10 to 1, with #1 receiving the only 10 point award and #10 receiving one point. This will be multiplied by 5.
Combat Multiplication
Then the top ten military commanders from among those men, rated purely on sanguine level of slaughter by their men, will be rated the same way and the score multiplied by three.
Combat Nullification
Then they will be rated according to how many submissions they achieved through intimidation and and other means, like trickery.
The outcomes from these three lists will be added to generate a top ten most terrifying ancient Hellenes.
A battle and a duel will be treated equally. Casualties and terror inflicted are the criteria, not victory. For those who were battle commanders the general level of the ferocity of combat will be used to rate the terror they inspired. Olympic victory, since it was a holy contest, will be rated as a battle as well, but considered only if the man was also a duelist, killer or military combatant.
Example:
I will use Dioxiphos, Heavenly-reaper, as an example.
With two Olympic victories, the battles of Granicus, Issus, and Arbela, the sieges of Tyre and Gaza, and the duel against Koragus, which he won, Dioxiphos scores the highest combat ability, the most fearsome individual combatant in this survey, an Olympic Victor who was also a soldier and a duelist.
His Combat Presence score, how likely you would be to shit yourself if you had to go up against him with cold steel, is 10 x 5 = 50
The highest possible overall score is 100 and are purely comparative and subject to scale and frequency of operation.
To be considered as an agon victor, a fighter has to have engaged in military combat and or slaying of some notable kind.
Combat Presence
This is the one-to-one hierarchy, indicating the probable victor in a duel or face-to-face battle clash.
#10 Stomius 1 X 5 = 5 [ Pentathlete, duelist, army commander]
#9 Astyanax 2 x 5 = 10 [pentathlete, pankratiast, ambassador]
#8 Promachus of Pellene 3 X 5 = 15 [pankratiast, front-line-fighter]
#7 Polydamas of Sokutussa 4 x 5 = 20 [pankratiast, duelist, ambassador, lion-killer]
#6 Brassius of Sparta 5 X 5 = 25 [army commander, ambassador]
#5 Leonidas of Sparta 6 X 5 = 30 [army commander]
#4 Alexander of Macedon 7 X 5 = 35 [army commander, ambassador—assisted by his vicious horse named Oxhead.]
#3 Dorieus of Rhodes 8 X 5 = 40 [boxer, pankratiast, naval commander]
#2 Milo of Kroton 9 X 5 = 45 [wrestler, front-line fighter]
#1 Dioxiphos 10 X 5 = 50 [pankratiast, front-line-fighter, duelist]
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Combat Multiplication
#10 Astyanax 1 X 3 = 3 [once KO'd 7 Persian soldiers at a banquet.]
#9 Polydamas 2 X 3 = 6 [killed a lion, killed three Persian Immortals in a 3-1 death match]
#8 Dioxiphos 3 X 3 = 9 [disarmed and defeated an armored foot companion in a duel suing only a club and fighting naked]
#7 Stomius 4 X 3 = 12 [small town cavalry commander and duelist]
#6 Promochus 5 X 3 =15 [single-handedly won a hoplite battle]
#5 Dorieus 6 X 3 = 18
#4 Milo 7 X 3 = 21
#3 Leonidas 8 X 3 = 24
#2 Brassius 9 X 3 = 27
#1 Alexander 10 X 3 = 30
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Combat Nullification
For men who were not military leaders, their effectiveness as ambassadors and the unwillingness of other champions to fight them, such as the Macedonians murdering Dioxiphos rather than advancing another champion, are taken into account.
#10 Promachus 1 X 2 = 2
#9 Stomius 2 X 2 = 4
#8 Astyanax 3 X 2 = 6
#7 Milo 4 X 2 = 8
#6 Polydamas 5 X 2 = 10
#5 Dorieus 6 X 2 = 12
#4 Dioxiphos 7 X 2 = 14
#3 Leonidas 8 X 2 = 16
#2 Brassius 9 X 2 = 18
#1 Alexander 10 X 2 = 20
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Most Feared Fighting Men of Hellas
In the case of a tie in scoring, the man that was most feared by more people due to the fact that his social sphere was greater, moves ahead. Therefore, even though Dorieus, Brassius and Leonidas have the same score, since the number of Leonidas enemies were greater, he would be more feared, and since Dorieus only commanded in one battle where Brassius commanded in many, they sort by scale of operation.
#10 Astyanax 19
#9 Stomius 21
#8 Promachus 32
#7 Polydamas 36
#6 Dorieus 70
#5 Brassius 70
#4 Leonidas 70
#3 Dioxiphos 73
#2 Milo 74
#1 Alexander 85... The boy king did win every battle he fought, took some 20 cities, committed a dozen or so genocides. So, even though he with his sword and should had to be rescued from a lion he picked a fight with, when Polydamas dispatched such a beast in Heraclean fashion, Alexander remained the single most feared man of his age, an age he shared with the rest, all of these men fighting between 550 and 250 B.C.
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So, the short vicious, maniac, genius king, on his man-stomping horse, according to this system would be the most feared man in Hellas to face in battle. And it was so, even though he would lose to the other 9 in an MMA fight, wrestling match or boxing match. He had the most military experience, was wounded in battle the most and was the most ruthless, intelligent and driven among them. I am satisfied that the numbering system lined up with the level of fear these men were regarded with in antiquity. I now feel confident that this system can be applied to men of later ages that did not share the same cultural sphere as did these men.
In Part 3, the men on this list will be compared to the top 10 of later ages to see where they fit in. It seems that all men who score over 50 on this scale should be listed on a final summation.
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Ragnaroking by Viking Age Barbarian
