Underwater Archaeology Field School: Presentation by Jake Weber.

2.  Typical 17th and 18th century pirates, during
the “golden age of piracy,” usually originated
as privateers (e.g. Blackbeard).
 But where did the first pirates come from?

3. Piracy was quite common in the ancient world:
“…both those on the continent who lived near the sea, and all those who
inhabited the islands…turned to piracy…as this employment did not yet
involve any disgrace, but rather brought with it somewhat of glory.”
Thucydides
The word “pirate” was an invective hurled at other nations by the victims
or their raids. Until the 4th century BC piracy was considered a legitimate
form of business.

4.  Pirates did not fight alone:
“For while the romans were occupied against their
enemies, they (the pirates) were flourishing, sailing all
over the place and joining together as groups, so that
some of them came to each other’s aid as regular
allies.” Cassius Dio, 3rd Century historian
 Often they would operate out of island towns, or
represent entire nations.

5.  The Illyrian people were famed pirates who
became prominent after the first Punic war
shattered the Carthaginian and Roman
navies.
 Their light ships outmaneuvered the heavier
triremes and quinqueremes of the Romans,
and eventually they adapted them.

6. Illyrian ships were named for their countries of origin: the liberna, pistis,
and lembus. The Libernae were later copied by the Romans, and played
a prominent role in the battle of actium

7. Roman copy of the Illyrian libernae,
on the column of Trajan.

8. Quinqueremes and Triremes formed a
large part of the Roman fleet originaly,
and were large and unwieldly craft with
3 and 5 banks of oars, respectively.
These were modeled after greek or
other eastern ships.

9.  Mostly by taking the pirates bases by land and confiscating their ships.
 This was the pretext for their conquering of the Balearic islands in 123 BC.
According to Florus, a roman historian writing a few centuries later, the
natives attacked using slings from rafts.
A Roman Corvus, or bridge, which attempted to play to the Romans strengths
by bringing land tactics to the sea.

10.  Piracy was a broad term used to malign any
enemy who attacked from the sea. Pirates
ranged from sophisticated navies armed with
superior craft, to primitive rafts.