Piracy was present in the ancient world much more consistently than we might think, that is, it wasn't simply a matter of marginal groups. The reason behind this change in historiographical perspective stems from significant advancements in recent years by leading professionals. Among them, we could highlight Philip de Souza (2002 [1999], p. 28) or Vincent Gabrielsen (2005, p. 399), who have delved into the complexity of defining ancient pirates. To fulfill their role, it was necessary to reinterpret classical sources and work particularly on the concept of legitimacy. If we examine classical works carefully, we can observe that we only find a "partial" view of events. Bias and barbaric attributions have prevented us from seeing figures like Odysseus, Jason, or the actions of the Achaeans during the siege of Troy as agents and acts of piracy based on plunder.
“Strangers! Who are you? Where did you come from, sailing over the wet paths? Do you come for some business or wander on the sea at random like pirates who roam and expose their lives and produce harm to men of strange lands?”
Homer (The Odyssey, Book III, 69).
However, this is only the tip of the iceberg in the study of ancient piracy. There are more difficulties that enrich and complicate this phenomenon. Pirates were involved in various activities in the ancient world. The most notable was the slave trade, a lucrative business whose merchandise came from conquest campaigns or commercial agents (De Souza, 2002 [1999], pp. 99-100). Within this second group, we would find pirates who sold material and human goods resulting from their acts of plunder (Domínguez Monedero, 2013, p. 75). An event described by Diodorus Siculus allows us to verify this dual aspect of pirates. At the beginning of the fourth century BC, during the siege of Rhodes by Demetrius, a large number of ships were needed for blocking the island. According to Diodorus Siculus, merchant ships lined up alongside pirate vessels, establishing a similarity between both groups:
“...and with all of them, the pirate ships and the cargo carriers of merchants and traders who were so excessive in number that they filled the entire space between the island and the opposite coast with their vessels”
Diodorus Siculus (20.83.1).
The slave trade continued in subsequent centuries, and the profits generated allowed an increase in the scale of pirate activities as well as their implications at local and regional political and economic levels (Rauh, 1997, p. 280). Projects like Rough Cilicia Regional Survey Project (2009), directed by Nicholas Rauh, have highlighted the possibility that piracy profits were a significant factor in studying urbanization processes along the Cilician coast (Rauh, 2009, pp. 272-273). To obtain these benefits, they carried out amphibious attacks ranging from small coastal settlements to sanctuaries that accumulated great wealth, which involved a certain logistical and informational support (Tarwacka, 2012, p. 61). In this way, they provided riches and goods for resale in Mediterranean ports (Ortiz Córdoba, 2015, pp. 88-89).
“The export of slaves was what incited them to criminal acts, for it brought great profit... The Romans, who became rich after the destruction of Carthage and Corinth, used many slaves, and the pirates, noticing the ease of gain, flourished in mass, engaging themselves in piracy and also trading in slaves”
Strabo, Geography XIV, 5, 2.
This type of activity obviously should have some permission from the great powers, who maintained a balance between the advantages and disadvantages of having pirates in their seas (Fernández Vizcaíno, 2015, pp. 421-422). On one hand, it meant the provision of cheap labor; they could defend the coasts if acting as mercenaries (a form of legitimacy) or even serve as a motive to attack or consolidate dominion over other populations based on their interests as naval prostates (Ortiz Córdoba, 2015, pp. 95-96). Consequently, the figure of the pirate becomes more diffuse or, conversely, appears clearly defined as an enemy, always depending on the political context.
The most evident example is Rome, who until the first century BC had not executed an effective policy to combat piracy. Once instability set in with civil wars and internal crises, piracy became an opportunity for various personal situations (Vives Ferrer, 2015, p. 188). On one hand, vulnerable people turned to both piracy and banditry. The number of members composing criminal organizations increased (Lewis, 2019, pp. 82-83). To this fact, we must add the rivalries within the Republic that led to alliances with different agents, including pirates. Similarly, various peoples or mercenary groups closely tied to the sea multiplied their actions throughout the Mediterranean.
“Men already powerful by their wealth, of noble lineage and considered superior for their intelligence, entered pirate bands and participated in their enterprises”
Plutarch, Pompey, XXIV, 3.
“To such a degree of misfortune did this war come for the Romans and Italians all, and also for the totalities of peoples beyond Italy, partly devastated by war with pirates, Mithridates, and Sulla, and partly drained by many taxes due to the public treasury being exhausted because of civil revolts”
Appian, Civil Wars, 102.
It was only a matter of time before it spread to unsustainable levels. As a result, the delicate balance between piracy and Roman interests was broken (Fernández Vizcaíno, 2015, p. 421). Piracy would begin to be pursued through various means such as laws, figures or positions dedicated to maritime protection or propaganda use. After multiple attempts, it would be Pompey the Great and subsequently Octavian, future Augustus, who put an end to piracy. However, a dynamic so ingrained in the Mediterranean was difficult to eradicate completely. The policy of "cleaning the seas" really amounted to reducing it to tolerable limits (Álvarez Ossorio, 2008b, p. 93). In other words, it consisted of restoring balance that had been altered due to wars and instability. This explains why significant cases of piracy emerged both in the Principate and the Empire.
Conclusion
In recent decades, there have been a series of advances in the study of ancient piracy, allowing us to contemplate its complexity. It was a multifaceted phenomenon that spanned throughout antiquity. The social profiles it encompassed were diverse, from the lowest to the highest levels of society, bringing with them different implications at local and regional political and economic levels. Their actions were in tune with a balance between the benefits and losses they provided to great powers orchestrating Mediterranean politics. Through these powers, we have been able to extract biased and fragmented information about pirates, which, through correct reinterpretation, allows us to understand piracy as a phenomenon conditioned by the degree of legitimacy granted to it, closely linked to political and economic interests in the context.
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