He's a Pirate: Greco-Roman Pirates in the Eastern Mediterranean

Authors

Nathan Hill, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

First Advisor

Vanessa Gorman

Second Advisor

Angela Bolen

Date of this Version

5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Citation

Hill, Nathan. He's a Pirate: Greco-Roman Pirates in the Eastern Mediterranean. Undergraduate Honors Thesis. University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 2025.

Comments

Copyright Nathan Hill 2025

Abstract

For as long as people have traveled by sea, pirates have looked to rob and steal from them. This danger was especially true for travelers in Ancient Greece and Rome. While many ancient sources mention pirates, it is usually just in passing. However, even those few small references allude to a far more important role in history. Through the use of the ancient written sources, inscriptions, and archeological evidence, it becomes apparent that the pirates were an integral part of local economies and politics. Many city-states employed their own sailors in piratical raids against their enemies in and out of war. Yet, depending on the point of view of whoever wrote about the pirates, their actions could be either praised or demonized. The difference between the private pirate and state-sponsored pirate was also an important difference in how they were viewed. A common political tactic was also to label one’s enemies as pirates in order to justify aggression against them. There were definitely pirates in the Eastern Mediterranean, but they were also used by the city-states who hypocritically used their own piratical strategies to expand their power.