Cultures > Cilician Pirates

Cilician Pirates

Background

The Cilician Pirates were notorious maritime raiders who operated in the Mediterranean Sea, particularly in the region of Cilicia on the southern coast of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), during the late Hellenistic period and early Roman era. Their activities had significant economic, political, and social impacts on the ancient Mediterranean world.

Origins and Geography

Cilicia:

Rise of Piracy:

Activities and Impact

Pirate Operations:

Economic Disruption:

Political and Social Influence:

Roman Response

Early Roman Efforts:

Pompey’s Campaign:

Legacy

End of Major Pirate Threat:

Historical Significance:

Cultural Impact:

The Cilician Pirates, through their audacious activities and the subsequent Roman response, played a significant role in shaping the political and economic landscape of the Mediterranean during a critical period of transition from the Hellenistic world to the Roman Empire.

Sources

Plutarch, Vita Pompeii 24.7-8., 24.5.

R. Turcan, The Cults of the Roman Empire, Blackwell, 1996; pp. 201–203

The History of Rome, Book IV by Theodor Mommsen

The Decline of the Roman Republic, by George Long

de Souza, Philip. Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World. Cambridge University Press, 2002. Limited preview online.Mattingly, Harold B. "C. Verres and the Pirates." Reprinted in From Coins to History: Selected Numismatic Studies. University of Michigan Press, 2004.

Ormerod, H.A. "The Campaigns of Servilius Isauricus against the Pirates." Journal of Roman Studies 12 (1922) 35–56.

Ward, Allen M. "Caesar and the Pirates." Classical Philology 70 (1975) 267–268.

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