Pirates Of The Mediterranean

Although today we think of pirates as men wearing puffy shirts with parrots on their shoulders, the crime of piracy on the high seas has been around almost since people started sailing boats. In the Mediterranean, all of the great civilizations of antiquity were bedeviled by pirates.

This was for a few reasons: these civilizations relied heavily on maritime economies, such as fishing or salt; the rugged coastlines of the sea provided numerous hiding places for pirates; and tough times may have led to unscrupulous activities.

There is no archaeological evidence of pirates, but there is written, dating back to the 14th century B.C. Letters by Pharaohs indicated that there trade routes were beset by pirates. In the Amarna letters, written on clay tablets between Pharaoah Akhetan and the king of what is today Cyprus, mention is made of a group of pirates called the Lukka, who were based in modern day Turkey.

Later, in what sounds like something out of Lovecraft, there existed a group called the Sea Peoples, who attacked and plundered vessels off of what is now the coasts of Israel and Lebanon around 1000 B.C.. Accounts of battles between these people and the Egyptians under Ramses III are found in his temple at Medinet Habu. No one, even today, is quite sure where these people came from.

Pirates were also around during the heyday of the Greeks. They are mentioned in Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey, which were composed circa 750 B.C. They had some of the appeal that Robin Hood would later have, as Thucydides wrote they served both their own cupidity and the needy, with no disgrace being attache to their actions, and sometimes glory (this seems to correspond with how pirates from the golden age, roughly 1650 to 1730 in the Americas, glorified by Hollywood movies, are regarded). It got to be so bad that steps were taken to eradicate it. Alexander the Great was the first to create an alliance of city states to stop the brigands.

After Alexander's death, pirates had free reign, and we see the beginning of the dual nature of pirates. Famous pirates today, such as Sir Francis Drake and Henry Morgan, walked both sides of the law. Demetrius I of Macedon used pirates in his naval forces.

Rome, which conquered all of the areas surrounding the Mediterranean around the changing of B.C. to A.D., was also beset by pirates. This was when the Cilician pirates, from modern day Turkey, were scourges. They targeted grain ships, and also took passengers as hostages for ransom. One of these ransomed passengers was a young Julius Caesar, kidnapped in 75 B.C. He was held for 38 days, and was not panicked about him. He told his captors he would get his revenge. The pirates thought this was very funny, but after he was ransomed he tracked them down and crucified them (this might make a good movie).

As Rome's power grew, piracy waned, especially under Pompey, who employed many actions against them. But as Rome declined, piracy started up against, and affected the Byzantine civilization.

As long as ships sail the open seas bearing things that have value, there will be pirates. Today they may use semi-automatic weapons (as the Somali pirates in Captain Phillips) but the motives are pretty much the same.