Ancient Mediterranean, sea of pirates.

Abstract

The Mediterranean Sea has always been an ideal ground for the practice and development of piracy. This phenomenon, this way of navigating unique, has been attested and widespread since ancient times. Literary and historical sources have tackled it from antiquity. Homere and Thucydide were the first authors to evoke it. Several phases and forms of piracy can be observed during the first millennium before our era, an evolution that occurred in parallel with the evolution of the navigation and development of ancient Mediterranean powers .Who were these pirates? How was ancient piracy organized and practiced? This study attempts to present these different elements through the medieval literature and the impact of piracy on the geopolitical context in the ancient Mediterranean. Piracy was, in the first instance, portrayed in a quite noble manner, then evolved into a more military and political practice before it led to generalized conflicts between super powers such as Rome and pirates.

Key words: Antiquity, Mediterranean, Navigation, pirates.