Pirates the scourge of seas.

[Lion.Kanzen]

 

[Lion.Kanzen]

The Greeks’ liberal approach towards piracy does not mean that they always tolerated it. But attempts to curtail piracy were hampered by the Greek city-states’ limited power and the large number of pirates operating in the Mediterranean. For that very reason, through the fifth and fourth century BCE, Greek cities employed small-scale measures, including sporadic campaigns to lower the pirate threat and short alliances designed to fight against maritime banditry. They constructed naval bases in the areas known to be dangerous, and used naval escorts to protect vital trade routes.

 

 

 

Not surprisingly, all efforts to stop Mediterranean pirates failed. The only significant attempt was undertaken by Alexander the Great. To secure his merchant shipping, vital for the Persian campaign, Alexander created the first international coalition to combat Mediterranean piracy. However, his sudden death in 323 BCE brought an end to the plan, while his successors failed to organize a similar endeavor. In fact, instead of combating the piracy, Alexander’s successors employed pirates to fight against their enemies, going so far as to incorporate them into their own navies as auxiliaries.

 

https://www.thecollector.com/ancient-mediterranean-pirates/

 

Edited February 12, 2023 by Lion.Kanzen

[Lion.Kanzen]

9 minutes ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

The Greeks’ liberal approach towards piracy does not mean that they always tolerated it. But attempts to curtail piracy were hampered by the Greek city-states’ limited power and the large number of pirates operating in the Mediterranean. For that very reason, through the fifth and fourth century BCE, Greek cities employed small-scale measures, including sporadic campaigns to lower the pirate threat and short alliances designed to fight against maritime banditry. They constructed naval bases in the areas known to be dangerous, and used naval escorts to protect vital trade routes.

 

 

 

Not surprisingly, all efforts to stop Mediterranean pirates failed. The only significant attempt was undertaken by Alexander the Great. To secure his merchant shipping, vital for the Persian campaign, Alexander created the first international coalition to combat Mediterranean piracy. However, his sudden death in 323 BCE brought an end to the plan, while his successors failed to organize a similar endeavor. In fact, instead of combating the piracy, Alexander’s successors employed pirates to fight against their enemies, going so far as to incorporate them into their own navies as auxiliaries.

 

https://www.thecollector.com/ancient-mediterranean-pirates/

 

In the eastern Mediterranean, Cilician pirates presented a similar threat to Roman interests. Attacking from well-hidden and protected bases located on the southeastern coast of Anatolia, the notorious pirates had been the bane of any passing ship. During the third century BCE, one of their main targets was the wealthy island of Rhodes. Fed up with losses, Rhodes undertook a major initiative against the marauders. They armed their merchant vessels and built warships to patrol the major trade routes. To prevent raids, the Rhodians fortified their major ports. The result was a significant decrease in pirate activities. Some of the pirates changed sides, even becoming Rhodes’ allies. The collapse of the Rhodian naval power in 167 BCE, however, brought piracy back in force.

[Lion.Kanzen]

not precisely in the province of Cilicia.

 

https://es.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kekova

But it had caves like the pirates'.

[Lion.Kanzen]

Plutarch also linked the worsening of the piracy problem to war and did so in more specific terms. The Third Mithridatic War (73–63 bce) against king Mithridates VI of Pontus (in modern northern Turkey) played a part in giving the pirates boldness because piracy lent itself to Mithridates’ service. This suggested that Mithridates fostered piracy as a means to weaken the Romans. Plutarch also thought that with the civil wars in Rome the Romans left the sea unguarded, which gave the pirates the confidence to lay waste islands and coastal cities in addition to attacking ships at sea. Piracy spread from its original base in Cilicia (on the southern coast of modern Turkey). The pirates also seized and ransomed some towns. Men of distinction also got involved in piracy. Plutarch claimed that pirates had more than 1,000 ships, that they captured 400 towns and plundered temples in Greece and sacred and inviolable sanctuaries, listing fourteen of them. He cited the praetors Sextilius and Bellinus and the daughter of Antonius among the important Romans who were seized for a ransom. The pirates also mocked their captives if they were Romans. Piracy spread over the whole of the Mediterranean, making it unnavigable and closed to trade. This caused scarcity of provisions.

 

Appian attributed the escalation of piracy to Mithridates plundering the Roman province of Asia extensively in 88 bce and the rest of the First Mithridatic War (89–85 bce). The destitute people who lost their livelihood became pirates. At first, they scoured the sea with a few small boats. As the war dragged on they became more numerous and used larger ships. When the war ended piracy continued. They sailed in squadrons. They besieged towns or took them by storm and plundered them. They kidnapped rich people for a ransom. The ragged part of the Cilician coast became their main area for anchorage and encampment and the Crags of Cilicia (the promontory of Coracesium) became their main base. It also attracted men from Pamphylia, Pontus, Cyprus, Syria and elsewhere in the east. There were quickly tens of thousands of pirates and they dominated the whole Mediterranean. They defeated some Roman naval commanders, even off the coast of Sicily. The sea became unsafe. This disrupted trade and some lands remained untilled, leading to food shortages and hunger in Rome. Eliminating such a scattered and large force from no particular country and of an intangible and lawless nature seemed a difficult task.

[Sostenedor del Cielo]

We could hire band of pirates in sea maps.

That makes me wet.

[Lion.Kanzen]

47 minutes ago, Sostenedor del Cielo said:

We could hire band of pirates in sea maps.

That makes me wet.

if it is a water map it is obvious that you are going to get wet.

[Lion.Kanzen]

14 hours ago, Lion.Kanzen said:

if it is a water map it is obvious that you are going to get wet.

I pretended to be innocent.