Continuation of Greaco – Roman Piracy

•Athenian Ambassadors visiting a Persian king

•Attacked and captured and Egyptian ship

•Brought to court in Athens

• Defense • Egyptians were at war with Persians and

the Athenians were allies of Persia.• Therefore attack legal• Court agreed but, • ruled that the ambassadors were official

representatives of Athens• Therefore the loot belonged to Athens

not the individual ambassadors• City state benefitting from Piracy (?)

Human Booty• As mentioned

earlier• One of favorite

targets for pirates were people

• Masses sold as slaves

• Important individuals could be ransomed

• Everyone was vulnerable

• Example: Plato

• Plato accepted job as instructor for the son of tyrant of Syracuse– Son was indifferent to education – Plato hated tyrant

• Plato announced intention to leave• Fearing what Plato may say about

him back in Athens tyrant arranged for his capture by pirates

• Again state using piracy for its own ends

• Saved by a friend who happened to be at the slave auction

• Gradually Athens able to rebuild its naval strength.

• New enemy arrived

• Philip II leader of the Macedonians

•Eventually Philip defeated the Athenians in the battle of Chaeroneia

•Forcing the Athenians to sign a peace treaty

• Included in the treaty were the lines:

• “those participating in the peace may sail the sea, and nobody may hinder them or stop any of their ships; and if anyone do this he is the enemy of all participating in this peace”

•Despite this statement–Effectively outlawing piracy

•Piracy continued in the Mediterranean –Philip still had one remaining enemy

•The Persians

•Philip’s son took the battle to the Persians– Alexander (“the Great”)

•Alexander put an end to the pirate attacks

•Secured all harbors

• Under Alexander, Piracy was controlled in the eastern Mediterranean

• Policy did not survive his death

• Successors fought for a piece of the empire

• Piracy reigned once more as a tool of profit and control

A few moments on assignments Due 11th March 800 – 1000 word paper based on the movie

Captain Kidd and the book by Robert Ritche I am expecting you to compare what you

have learnt about piracy of the era and Captain Kidd specifically and the way in which the story is told in the film

Motivation: to begin to understand the way in which pirates have been understood (and ‘tamed’?) in later eras

www.uidaho.edu/~chambers

Pirates are the most hated enemies of Rome, and not just

of Rome, but of all mankindCicero

Eastern shore of Adriatic Sea ideal location for pirate bases.

Many natural harbors and coves ◦ Offer security needed

The Illiyrian people took advantage

Merchants asked for helpNo Greek state had the power to take action

Rome not willing to take action

Only a few occasional merchants ◦Not worth the cost and risk

Illiyrian King took advantage of the situation

united many of the Illiyria petty kings◦again ‘states’ using

freelance seaborne warriors to their own advantage

After his death his queen, Queen Teuta, continued his policy

Queen Teuta used the pirates in different ways

To harass Illyria’s enemiesTo cooperate with her navy in ‘official’ war

Sometime to plunder (and of course to share the booty)

While of course always maintaining deniability

The pirates, like many before and after them, turned to trickery when needed

In one city they pretended to be merchants, idiotic merchants.◦ After attracting a large crowd by selling goods at

low cost They revealed their weapons and took

every one captive and sold them into slavery

On another occasion they came ashore carrying water jugs asking for permission to refill them

Hidden in the jars were short swords Plot detected and they were defeated

Eventually she used the pirates to conquer the entire coast

Hubris took hold Queen ordered capture of two merchant ships from Rome

After merchants complaints Romans sent two envoys to voice Rome’s concerns

“It is an ancient custom of the land of the Illyians and of its rulers that the queen does not interfere with the actions of her private citizens taking plunder on the sea”

Teuta’s response

Envoys reply “Queen Teuta, the Romans have an excellent tradition, which is that the state concerns itself with punishing those who commit private wrongs and with helping those who suffer them. With the gods’ help we shall do our utmost, and that very soon, to make you reform this ancient custom of your kings”

Queen was furious at these words

She arranged for the envoys ship to be captured by pirates

The envoy was then murdered

Not a smart move!

No matter what her motives

According to Rome she was guilty

Nothing happened Queen Teuta assumed she had given the Romans a sharp lesson

‘do not interfere’ She sent out fleets to sieze

◦Epidamnus and Corcyra Two most important trading stations for Rome/Greek trade

1st attack on Epidamnus failed Attack on Corcyra was successful

◦Illyians put Demetrius of Pharos in command They then returned to Epidamnus

At this moment when Epidamnus was about to fall

When all seemed lost ◦When no Greek power could stand up to Illyia

◦When it seemed certain that Queen Teuta would dominate and control the western coast of Greece

A fleet of 200 hundred Roman ships appeared

The ships headed to Corcyra Demetrius

◦realized resistance was futile ◦offered himself as an advisor

Fleet headed to Apolliana where it met with a second Roman Consul had an army of 20,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry

In short order the Romans defeated the Queen put Demetrius in command of the Illyrinas

The pirates of Cilicia and Rome

Piracy in Cilicia began under the auspice of Tryphon◦wanted to break the hold of the Seleucid

Empire Encouraged Cilicians to attack Seleucid possessions◦provided ships and paid crews

Tryphon was not a successful pirate himself

He was run aground put under siege and committed suicide

But he left the idea, a legacy of piracy

And a political situation in chaos

Cilicians organized into communities led by ‘Pirate Kings’◦led raids throughout the whole of the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean

Slaving was the specialty of these groups

They had a ready market slaves at Delos◦A no questions asked island emporium

Eventually Rome responded to complaints

Roman senate appointed Marcus Antonius (grandfather of Marc Antony) as governor of region that included Cilicia

Mission: Suppress the pirates

Antonius gained enough plunder and inflicted enough damage to be granted a victory in Rome, but he had not solved the problem

Rome issued statements stating that everyone

‘must be able to sail the seas in safety’

And appeared to have the might and desire to stop pirates

But then the Romans stopped fighting pirates and began fighting each other – Romans vs. Italians

And after that was settled they had to deal with a war with the king of Pontus Mithridates

Not until Pompey the Great arrived several years later that Mithridates was cornered and committed suicide

The pirates were isolated but not stopped

The Pirates of the Mediterranean continued to harass and attack Rome

It appeared that no region was safe

By 75 BCE the coast of Italy was declared unsafe

The major port city of Ostia was plundered

They burned a consular fleet

They also continued to take captives

Including a young Julius Caesar

The pirates demanded a ransom of 20 Talents◦ (About $200,000)

Caesar laughed at this and told them to demand at least 50 Talents

Caesar exercised and competed against the pirates

He recited poetry he had written if the didn’t appreciate it he told them they were “ignorant barbarians”

When tired he would tell them to be quiet why he took a nap

And, to their laughs, he told them that when free he would return and crucify them all

After he was freed, Caesar commandeered a fleet and returned to the pirates lair captured them all

When the local magistrates were a little slow in handing out punishment

Caesar took them and crucified them all But because of his ‘compassionate’

nature, once he had seen them on the crucifix

He quickly dispatched them by slashing their throats

Romans, like many nations after them, attempted to use public displays to scare people away from piracy

They publicly◦ Beheaded pirates◦ Crucified pirates◦ Fed them to wild beasts

A Turkish pirate was turned slowly on a spit for three hours and roasted to death

And as we shall see Captain Kidd was hung in chains on the banks of the River Thames

And…….

It is also from piracy of this era that we can find the possible antecedent of the myth of walking the plank

When capturing ships the pirates would ask if any aboard were Roman

If answered in the affirmative, the pirates, would feign fear, and dress the individual in the finest clothes on board

After cowering before the Roman they would announce

“oh, no, a Roman? We must see that you are delivered from off our ship as soon as possible”

Then insisted that the Roman climb a ladder and jump overboard

If unwilling, they would, ‘help’ the Roman

Piracy continued to grow Trade stopped and shortages hit Rome

Eventually Pompey the Great persuaded the Roman Senate to give him supreme command of all forces an led a concerted attack

He dispatched numerous fleets to different area to tie up the pirates in local conflict

At the same time he moved his main fleet from location to location destroying the now isolate pirates

In approximately four months Pompey Captured 71 Ships Accepted surrender of 300 more Took cities, forts, and places of refuge And was responsible for the death of

10,000 pirates He also looked to root causes Settled the remaining captives on land

throughout the empire

After the fall of Roman Empire the Mediterranean was once again open to pirates

However, the end of the empire also dramatically reduced the amount of trade

Therefore taking away the motivation for the pirates

The VikingsPirates to Empire Builders

A voyage to a far land with booty awaiting a man and this smell in his nostrils, is a good a lot as could be desired, and a sure cure for age and sorrow. It is strange that we Northmen, who know this and are more skillful seamen than other men, sit at home as much as we do, when we have the whole world to plunder

Toke

One possible reason for the commencement of piratical activity among the Viking

Was therefore the pressure from Charlemagne to the south

Additional motivation can be found in

Changing climate It was becoming drier and colder which affected agricultural production

At the same time the birthrate was heading upward◦Producing more men than the land could

support Local warfare gave men the opportunity to fight

When the conflicts were settled numerous young, battle hardened, warriors were forced leave their homes to seek their fortune

They turned to the sea and raiding

Technology was what allowed these young men to be successful

The best example of these development is the Gokstad Ship

The Gokstad ship was uncovered from a burial mound in south-western Norway in 1880

Built around 850 77 feet long 17 feet wide 6.5 feet deep After it had been used for several years it provided the setting for a royal funeral

Burial or funeral pyre were the chosen types of funeral

The ship was dragged just under two miles inland and lowered into a deep trench

The king was laid in the boat Mourners and/or family surrounded him

with weapons and personal possessions And a number of slaughtered animals

including◦12 horses◦6 dogs◦1 peacock

The king and the boat were then buried and the location became known as Kongshagen or King’s Mound

What made this ship, and others like it, so effective wasThe ships were small and easily

maneuveredThey were fast and could cross open

oceanThey could be portaged over short

distancesThey could be beached on any level

shoreThe two-prowed design allowed a quick

launchThey had a large sail and oar holes

The Gokstad ship had 32 oars but 64 shields

In 1893 a replica of the Gokstad ship was built and sailed from Bergen in Norway to America

To take part in the Chicago World’s Fair

Leaving on April 30th

A Crew of 12 with◦2 chronometers◦Spare rigging◦And 1000 bottles of beer

In four weeks it arrived in America

• Earliest report of Viking attack on England was in A.D. 787. “This year King Bertric

took Edburga the daughter of Offa to

wife. And in his days came first three ships of the Northmen from the land of robbers.” But a more famous

attack occurred in 793 At this time the

monastery of Lindisfarne ‘the holy island’ was attacked

Attacks reported in the Anglo- Saxon Chronicles

Originally compiled on the orders of King Alfred the Great, approximately A.D. 890

Maintained by anonymous scribes until the 12th Century.

Attack on Lindisfarne A.D. 793. This year came dreadful fore-

warnings over the land of the Northumbrians, terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery, dragons flying across the firmament. These tremendous tokens were soon followed by a great famine: and not long after, on the sixth day before the ides of January in the same year, the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by rapine and slaughter.

Lindisfarne one of several monasteries that prospered after introduction of Christianity by St. Augustine in the late 6th Century

They became locations of wealth◦Religious artifacts of gold and silver

Locations of religious◦Bones of saints in reliquaries

They were the sites of high learning◦illuminated manuscripts

Lindisfarne had produced the famous Lindisfarne Gospels in the 690s

Artist a monk called Eadfrith, Bishop of Lindisfarne 698 and 721.

The raid was a classic pirate attack◦Surprise◦Speed◦Devastation◦Quick retreat

It was also a complete shock and shattering to both local and wider community

Churches all over Europe had been built by the sea in the belief that they were safe from sea attack

Confirmation of this belief comes in a letter from the Scholar Alcuin, working at the time in the court of Charlemagne, to the king of Northumbria

Lo, it is nearly 350 years that we and our forefathers have inhabited this most lovely land, and never has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race; nor was it thought that such an inroad from the sea could be made [or such a sea-disaster could happen]

Obviously these ideas were now out dated

With new technology such as the Gokstad ship defense by the sea became defeat by the sea

If we know the mentality that led the monasteries to be built in such locations

Can we uncover the mentality that went along with the new technology and free time that prompted the Vikings to attack?

One possible way is to look the name ‘Viking’

For Europeans the word may have come to define a people but for those people it was an act or descriptor rather than a nationality

Possibly from an Old Norse word vik◦Meaning ‘bay or creek’

Possibly from Old English wic◦Meaning military camp or trading post

Therefore a ‘Viking’ was someone who kept a ship in a bay for raiding or trading

By 12th C Viking = pirate raid Landnámabók Book of Settlements

We can also look at the gods religion and mythology that informed the Vikings

The Norse gods orÆsir lived in a heaven called Ásgarõur

They had migrated to Scandanavia in ancient times as a tribe led by a chieftain Óðin

Óðin – the All-Father and the lord of the slain

The cult of Óðin was dark, sacrificial, and doomed

Whole armies would be sacrificed to him

On his shoulders were two ravens Huginn and Muninn (mind and memory)

Birds of carrion who scavenged the battlefield

In Ásgarõur he had a location Valhöll (incorrectly translated as Valhalla)

It was here that fallen warriors spent a lifetime feasting and fighting before the ‘Last Battle’ which would spell the Doom of the Gods (Ragnarök)

There were two other Gods in the Norse Trinity

Thór Frey

Thór The Thunderer (the most venerated god) Patron of seamen and farmers (as opposed

to the elite Óðin) Huge, red beard, red hair, and red eyes God of the sky, ruler of storms and tempests Weilder of thunderbolts Guard of the world, defeanding it from

Giants beyond civilization with a mighty hammer Mjöllnir

As well as a symbol of violence it was also a fertility emblem

Frey Frey often

associated with his twin sister Freyja

Frey controlled rain and sunshine

Therefore controlled the production of the earth

And in case you missed it in the first showing he was also the God of Fertility

Viking life cycle is also displayed in picture stones The Hunninge Stone Top: dead warrior

receiving free transport to Valhalla on Sleipnir, Óðin’s 8-legged steed

Middle: Viking Longship on a raid

Bottom: Norseman as farmer

Hávamál – The word of the High One

We can also find hints on mentality in sagas and poetry

E.g. Hávamál This poem contains numerous maxims to live by Self-help book for Vikings “Look carefully round doorways before you walk in;

you never know when an enemy might be there” “Never part with your weapons when out in the

fields; you never know when you will need your spear”

“wealth dies, kinsmen die, a man himself must likewise die; but word-fame never dies, for him who achieves him well”

Word- fame The idea that your deeds will live on

beyond you also introduced another aspect to Viking life ◦And to piracy beyond this point

Bjorn Ironside ◦never injured in battle

Eric Blood Axe ◦killed four brothers to become King

Sven Forked-Beard ◦ had a forked beard

Ivar Boneless ◦ never had any Children