Pirates, corsairs, filibusters...

The word "pirate", or in Latin "pirata", comes from the Greek "peirates". Translated this means "a man seeking his happiness at sea". Piracy is an attack for the purpose of robbery against ships owned by other people or companies. In the Russian “Military Encyclopedia” of the early 20th century, piracy is defined as “maritime robbery committed by private individuals, on private initiative and for selfish purposes against the property of others”. Recently, we are beginning to get used to the phrase “air piracy” - when terrorists hijack a plane with hostages and demand a ransom or the fulfillment of some other conditions.

It is believed that a pirate is the oldest “profession”, which appeared many millennia ago, almost simultaneously with the craft of a navigator. Ancient tribes who lived along the shores of the seas, without any remorse, attacked the boats of neighbors that did not belong to them. As trade developed, piracy also spread. Sea robbery was a very profitable business.

The ancient Greeks traveled around the Mediterranean Sea and engaged in maritime robbery under the leadership of brave and courageous people who considered themselves heroes. At that time, piracy was an honorable craft, they were proud of it. Only courageous people could challenge the sea and bravely fight in its vastness, winning untold riches for themselves and their country.

Piracy was often encouraged by the state or powerful individuals. For example, buccaneers , who were engaged in sea robbery, tried in any way to get a paper that allowed them to engage in sea robbery. Most often these papers were fake. Enjoyed government support corsairs, privateers, privateers. All these pirates were united by a common goal - robbery of merchant ships.
Buccaneers and filibusters attacked any merchant ships. It didn't matter to them who they belonged to. French corsairs, German privateers and English privateersAs a rule, they robbed merchant ships only of hostile countries. Corsair ships were owned by private individuals, who had special patents from the government allowing maritime robbery. When corsairs were captured, they were considered prisoners of war, not robbers. Most of the corsairs' profits went to the ship's owners, part to the corsairs themselves, and part to the government.

Piracy is a profitable business. The governments of many countries understood this and did not want to share profits with ship owners. This is how the raiders appeared . Raiders were hired and paid a salary. The government kept all the loot for itself. While pirates and corsairs rarely sank ships without first plundering them, the main thing for raiders was to inflict losses on the enemy. Their task is to destroy as many enemy ships as possible.

Pirates quite often attacked not only ships, but also coastal villages. The sea robbers did not see much of a difference who they robbed, and they dealt with women, old people and children just as cruelly as with soldiers and sailors.
In ancient times, piracy flourished in the Mediterranean Sea. In 67 BC. e. Pompey managed to cleanse Mediterranean and Black Seas from robbers. But it was not in his power to completely exterminate piracy.

And after Pompey, many states made repeated attempts to destroy piracy. However, it is still not possible to completely secure sea routes from robbers. The history of piracy continues to this day.

Pirates of antiquity

Robbers of the Black Sea

In the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea, humanity took its first steps in navigation. At first, people tried to move away from the shore on logs and makeshift rafts. As time passed, boats appeared, hollowed out of a tree trunk. The first ships were woven from reeds- Such ships sailed in Babylonia and Egypt.
Among the peoples of the Ancient World, the Phoenicians achieved the greatest success. The Greeks learned many of the secrets of shipbuilding and learned to build strong and reliable ships. The Greeks often encountered tribes of barbarians who lived on the outskirts of the world they explored. The first ships of the barbarians were boats made from animal skins. During the War with the Gauls, Julius Caesar's army encountered the Veneti, who sailed the sea in ships made of oak.

Poet of Ancient Rome Avienus, describing the life of the ancient Britons, says that “They do not build ships from pine, not from maple or spruce, but miraculously they make ships from sewn skins, and often on such ships made of strong leather they sail across wide seas.”

Having mastered the surroundings Mediterranean, The Greeks "discovered" the Black Sea. The sailors were amazed by the harshness of the new lands. They moved along the coast and did not dare to go into the open sea, where frequent storms sank their fragile ships. The Greeks were confused by winter storms and wild tribes, they called it sea ​​by Pont Aksinsky- inhospitable. Sailors spoke in their homeland about voyages along Pontus, which lies as far from their home as Pillars of Hercules, - at the very edge of the inhabited earth.
Ancient Greek historians Strabo and Xenophonthey write about a tribe of Thracians who were engaged in coastal robbery. They attacked ships that the storm washed ashore. In an effort to plunder the ship as quickly as possible, Thracians from different tribes often fought among themselves for the loot. Eventually the entire coast was divided into sections between the tribes.

But the Thracians were not very dangerous for Greek sailors. They did not have their own ships, and they sat on the shore waiting for the next storm... In the mountains Crimean peninsula lived tribes of Taurians, who were called one of the most desperate robbers of the Ancient World. Storms often drove Greek ships to their land, which they called Tauris. Winds and currents smashed ships into splinters on the coastal rocks. Like the Thracians, the Tauri went down to the water and picked up the remaining goods. But they were not content with the role of ordinary “gatherers”, so they built boats on which they went on pirate raids.

The Taurians had no leaders; they lived in communities. Men hunted or attacked Greek ships, women collected edible roots and berries and raised children. An observer sat on the top of the mountain, watching to see if a ship was approaching Taurida. The Greek trade route ran along the Crimean coast from Chersonesos to Panticapaeum. The Taurus attacked the Greeks, suddenly appearing from secluded coves. One of them, as Strabo reports, was “a bay with a narrow entrance, near which the Tauri, a Scythian tribe, who attacked those who hid in this bay, mainly set up their dens; it is called the Bay of Symbols". These days it's Balaklava Bay near Sevastopol.

During the battle, small Tauri boats surrounded the Greek ships in a semi-ring. The high sides of their boats protected the warriors from enemy arrows. Having come close, the Taurians jumped from the boats onto the deck of someone else's ship. Those who resisted were killed without any pity. Captives were sacrificed to the Virgin, the goddess whom the Taurians worshiped. The Greeks believed that Virgo - daughter of Agamemnon Iphigenia. The gods brought her to Taurida, and here she became high priestess.

The Taurians killed prisoners with a blow from a huge club. Then they cut off the heads of the corpses and put them on poles, which were stuck at the entrance to the huts. The more poles there were at the doors of the Tauri's house, the more he was revered and respected in the tribe. Clashes often occurred among the Taurians over booty. It happened that after an unsuccessful campaign the Tauri attacked their relatives.
Not far from the lands of the Tauri, the Greeks built a village, which soon grew and became known as the city of Chersonesos. The Taurus tried to take possession of it more than once, but each time they met armed resistance. In addition, there were always several warships in the harbor. The Greeks built strong walls around Chersonesus, and the small detachments of the Tauri suffered setbacks.

Greek settlers arrived in the Northern Black Sea region on trade, transport and military ships. Local residents most often did not see such ships and did not know how to use them, but in other places the maritime industry was quite developed, and the Greeks themselves considered these barbarian tribes to be experienced sailors. The Scythians sailed along the coast, and Shallow Bay of Sivash traveled on boats made from animal skins.

The Scythians, having become acquainted with the ships of the Greeks, themselves began to build light ships on which they robbed foreigners. Their ships had a curious feature: the upper parts of the sides were located close to each other, and the hull expanded downwards. During a storm, the side was built up with boards, forming a roof that protected the ship from the waves. The sharp and curved contours of the hull allowed the ship to stick to the shore both stern and bow. The Greeks called such ships kamares.

The Greek city-states fought not only with the sullen Scythians, but also with each other. Sailors from the island of Lesbos, led by tyrant of Miletus Histieus blocked Thracian Bosporus Strait and captured in the Byzantine region in 494-493 BC. e. merchant ships coming from Pontus. They allowed through only those ships that agreed to pay them tribute.
The Greeks could not imagine their life without the sea. The great philosopher Socrates wrote: “We live only on a small part of the earth from Fasis (Rion River) to the Pillars of Hercules, located around the sea, like ants or frogs around a swamp.”. The Greeks believed that death was very close to a person - no further than the sea behind the hull of the ship. One day Scythian sage Anacharsis, while traveling on a ship, asked the sailor how thick the boards from which the ship was made were. He replied that they were four fingers thick. “Here we are,” said the sage, sighing, “and we are just as far away from death.”

In the 5th-6th centuries BC. e. started Great Greek Colonization. The Greeks went on long campaigns, the purpose of which was not only trade relations, but also pirate robberies. Brave and enterprising Greek sailors, at their own peril and risk, equipped ships, recruited crews and sailed in search of booty and profit. When the opportunity presented itself, they attacked other ships, seizing cargo and enslaving the crew, and plundered poorly defended coastal villages. And if there was not enough strength for robbery, they began to trade.

Evidence of such trips begins with Homeric poems and ancient Greek myths. The campaign of Jason and the Argonauts to Colchis for the Golden Fleece- most shining example Happy pirate voyage. And how many robberies are described in the Odyssey!
In 467 BC. e. Athenian strategist Aristidesorganized a military expedition to Pontus.

Another Strategist - Pericles - at the head of a large squadron of triremes in 437 BC. e. went to the Black Sea to show the power of his fleet and establish Athenian influence. Plutarch writes: “Pericles, having entered Pontus with a large and well-equipped fleet, fulfilled everything they asked for the Hellenic cities, and generally reacted favorably, and showed the surrounding barbarian tribes the magnitude of the power of the Athenians, the fearlessness and courage with which they sailed wherever they wanted and subjugated all the seas."
During Peloponnesian War 431-404 BC. e.at the bottleneck of the Bosporus, near Christopolis, the Athenians charged every ship entering and leaving Pontus a ten percent duty on the cargo transported. It was a real robbery!

This is interesting!

It is not known for certain who first came up with the idea of ​​building a ship from planks. Although, for example, Pliny the Elder in his “Natural History” put everything in order. “For the first time, Danaus arrived in Greece by ship from Egypt; before that, people sailed on rafts invented in the Red Sea by King Erythra for sailing between the islands.” The ancient historian knows who invented various items, necessary for navigation - “The Phoenicians were the first to guide the path by the stars during navigation; the paddle was invented by the cops, and brought to the proper width of the platform; Icarus invented sails, Daedalus invented the mast and yard; the first ship to transport cavalry was built Samians and the Athenian Pericles; a ship with a solid deck is a Thasosian. Rostra (ram) was attached for the first time to the bow of a ship son of Tyrrhenus, Pisaeus; the anchor was invented by Eupalamus, and Anacharsis made it two-pronged; grappling hooks and “hands” were invented by the Athenian Pericles; the steering wheel was invented by Trifis. The first naval battle was fought by Minos.

Ring of Polycrates

The island of Samos lies off the coast of Ionia opposite the city of Miletus. It is washed by the waters of the warm Aegean Sea. Only experienced helmsmen can guide merchant ships into the harbor of Samos in the labyrinth of large and small islands.
Word of miracles spreads throughout Greece tyrant Polycrates, ruling on the island. Nowhere within the Ecumene is there such a majestic Temple of the Goddess Hera, like in Samos. Nowhere are ships so well protected from storms and winter storms - the harbor of Samos is protected by a strong breakwater three hundred cubits long. They also say that when Polycrates needed to bring a water supply to the city, he did not build bypass canals, but cut right through the mountain, building a tunnel a thousand steps long in it.

The wealth of all the lands around Samos flocked to Polycrates. The ruler did not hesitate to equip squadrons of high-speed ships that plundered coastal cities and attacked merchant ships. He was paid tribute by everyone who sailed past the island or stopped for the night in the wonderful harbor. Polycrates was the ruler of the Aegean Sea.

Many years ago, when Polycrates had not yet become the tyrant of Samos, he was a simple pirate. Polycrates was born in Athens. His father Eak was a sea thief and often went to sea in search of prey. When the boy grew up, Eak began to take him with him. The difficult life at sea hardened the young man, he became strong and dexterous. It was to him that Aeacus passed on his art of sailing.

When his father died, Polycrates was sixteen years old. For several years he pirated the sea, terrifying merchant fleets. But this trade did not always provide a piece of bread. Polycrates' ship wandered aimlessly around the sea for months, not meeting the desired prey.
Resting after another unsuccessful campaign, Polycrates decided to settle on the shore. He opened a bronze shop in Athens. But trade was only a screen for the enterprising robber. He chose the island of Samos as his main base. In a short time, Polycrates built a powerful fleet, with which he made a daring raid on Egypt. Ruler "countries of Hapi" Amasis considered it prudent to enter into an alliance with the Greek pirate. Thus, he saved his coastal villages from ruin.

Years passed. The state of Polycrates on the island of Samos grew rich, hundreds of ships made up the tyrant’s military fleet. Polycrates, realizing his power, decided to take a bold step - to attack Miletus, the richest and fortified city of the ancient world.
On the approach to Miletus, his triremes met with ships from the island of Lesbos, which was an ally of the Milesians. Without fear, Polycrates directed his ship towards the flagship ship of the Lesbians and grappled with it in a boarding battle. With a sword in one hand and a torch in the other, he burst onto the deck of the enemy trireme and set it on fire. Panic began among the lesbians. They didn't expect their best ship to be captured so easily. The pirates caught up with the enemy's triremes and mercilessly sank them. Smoke and glow from the burning ships of Lesbos were seen in besieged Miletus. The spirit of the city's defenders was broken. The Milesians did not have their own navy that could resist Polycrates. After a short siege, the city surrendered and for several days the pirates plundered the city, and when leaving, they set it on fire.

Even the rulers of such powerful states as Persia and Phenicia were afraid of Polycrates. He was nicknamed Happy - because any of his military campaigns were successful. Egyptian king Amasis envied the glory of Polycrates. But he remembered the raid of pirate hordes on his country and tried to maintain friendly relations with the tyrant. One day he advised Polycrates to sacrifice the most precious thing he had to the gods. Then fortune and glory will never escape the Samian tyrant. Polycrates ordered to be thrown into the sea ring with emerald. But a few days later, fishermen caught a fish, in whose stomach they found the royal ring. Polycrates realized that the gods did not accept his gift. Angry, he decided to get even with Amasis, who advised him to sacrifice the ring.

Polycrates' ships went to Egypt, and the tyrant himself indulged in amusements in order to quickly forget about the harsh choice of the gods. But the sailors rebelled. They refused to go to Egypt and turned the ships back.
Polycrates set out to sea on several triremes to meet the Samian fleet. But luck was not on his side. A few hours after the start of the battle, he no longer wanted the punishment of the rebels, but his own salvation.

With the remnants of the fleet, Polycrates returned to the island. An insidious plan matured in his head. His warriors brought all the women and children of Samos to the tyrant's largest ship. Polycrates ordered them to be locked in the hold, and he himself, grabbing a torch, went out onto the deck.
As the rebel ships entered the harbor, Polycrates waved his torch three times and declared that he would burn the hostages if anyone tried to kill him. Many of the rebels found themselves with wives and children on the tyrant's ship, and they retreated.
But this was only a respite for Polycrates. The rebels very opportunely remembered that just recently the tyrant had insulted the Spartans by intercepting a linen shell - a gift from Amasis. A little later, a beautiful bowl for mixing wine and water, which Sparta had sent as a gift, fell into his hands. Lydian king Croesus.
The rebel leaders went to Sparta and returned with help. A huge army besieged Astypalea Hill, on which the palace of Polycrates was built. But it was not for nothing that the tyrant took so long to build the castle - its walls withstood the fierce assaults of the Spartans. Embittered by their failure, the aliens plundered Samos and the surrounding islands and returned home.

Polycrates' star was setting. Only a fool could now call him Happy. Many of his friends turned their backs on him. Persia was gaining strength. Polycrates' fleet prevented her from dominating the entire Eastern Mediterranean. Persian ruler Cambyses sent his confidant to the tyrant Oret, governor of Sardakh. The Persian persuaded Polycrates to plot against Cambyses and come to Sardis to discuss the plan. But there Polycrates was captured right on the pier.
...On a hill near Sardakh, Oret's warriors built a huge wooden cross. Polycrates was crucified on it. For many days and nights, the former tyrant, suffering from heat during the day and cold at night, tormented by thirst and hunger, hung on that cross. To prolong the suffering of Happy Polycrates, Oret ordered his lips to be moistened with water.
Many residents of Sardakh and neighboring cities came to watch the execution of Polycrates. He evoked no one's compassion - the most famous pirate of the ancient world caused too much grief to people.

This is interesting!

Greek warships had a ram on the bow, covered with copper sheets, which was used to pierce the bottom of the enemy ship. The Greeks were the first to build ships with several rows of oars. The single-row vessel was called unireme, two-row - direme . The main ship of antiquity is called trireme - three-row vessel. It was invented in the 8th century BC. in Corinth.

Eumelus Bosporus

Pirates were so annoying to merchant ships that sometimes all the military forces of the state had to be thrown against them. Often the kings of the ancient world themselves stood at the head of the army to eradicate piracy.
One of these decisive rulers was Bosporan king Eumelus. His state was considered strong and powerful. In the west, the Bosporus lands extend to Feodosia, in the east - to Phanagoria. Noble Milesian Archeanact founded in 480 BC city ​​of Panticapaeum, which became the capital of the new kingdom. The name of the Greek city was given by its Scythian neighbors; in their language it meant “fish route”.

Eumelus of Bosporus tried to live in peace and harmony with his neighbors. This was largely explained by the fact that he seized power in the state illegally: in seeking the throne, he killed all his relatives. To appease the people, Eumelus reduced taxes, but this was clearly not enough to justify his atrocities in the eyes of ordinary people. Then he decided to start a war with the pirates, who were undermining the economy of the Bosporan kingdom.
Panticapaeum in those years was a major trading center; Bosporan merchants sent ships to Athens, to the southern shores of Pontus. But local barbarian tribes, who did not want to put up with foreigners, attacked ships passing along their shores and mercilessly plundered. The barbarians had entire fleets of boats and ships.

The rulers of the Greek cities on the Colchis coast and in the Crimea, which often suffered from pirate raids, asked Eumelus for help. The Bosporan king organized a large sea expedition.
In 306 BC. Eumelus's fleet cleared the Taurian coast from Feodosia to Chersonesus of pirates. Many pirates were killed, their boats were burned, and their villages were razed to the ground. The merchants whose ships sailed along the Crimean coast breathed a sigh of relief. Now there was no need to worry about the safety of your goods when sending the ship on a long voyage. But Eumelus did not stop there and decided to destroy the pirate settlements on the Colchis coast. There were robberies there tribes of the Achaeans and Heniochs, they went to sea on light and maneuverable boats - kamars. When the Achaeans and Heniochs returned to their native places, they carried the Kamaras on their shoulders. They lived in the forests, and when it was time to sail, they again carried the boats to the shore.

The pirate leaders, frightened by the decisive actions of Eumelus, considered it best to act together. The decisive battle between the Bosporans and the barbarians took place at city ​​of Gorgippia. The pirates were completely defeated.
Eumelus ruled for only six years, but left behind a good memory, having destroyed almost all the pirates in the Black Sea. The early death of Eumelus - he contracted malaria and died - prevented him from completing his endeavors.

This is interesting!

As a rule, a ship went to sea for about fifty years, although there were cases when a warship remained in service for up to eighty years. Amazing durability - if you remember that ships at that time were made of wood.

Caesar's Revenge

In the winter of 76 BC. e. A merchant ship left Nicomedia. His cargo was ordinary - wine, olive oil, grain. The captain of the ship hoped to earn good money in Rhodes, where the ship was heading. There was only one passenger on the ship, but he paid the captain generously, adding that if the ship reached Rhodes quickly, he would double the price.
The passenger, a young Roman patrician, was constantly reading books and reciting poetry. It seemed that what was happening on deck did not bother him at all. This was the future ruler of Rome, Gaius Julius Caesar.

In Illyrian waters, the ship was attacked by pirates. Four fast pirate triremes headed across the Nicomedia ship. When they appeared from behind the cape, there was no question of escape. Armed men poured onto the deck. Having gone down into the hold and finding wine there, they burst into enthusiastic shouts. The sailors were treated cruelly - they were tied in pairs, back to back, and thrown overboard. Several people tried to resist and were immediately killed.

When the robbers reached the stern, they were literally dumbfounded. The young Roman, as if nothing had happened, wrote something down on a tablet, and the servants were kneeling in front of him. The patrician's doctor explained to the pirates that it was Caesar.
The Roman's name meant nothing to the robbers. But they understood one thing - they could get a big ransom for this person. In those days, robbers preferred not to kill their victims immediately, but to demand gold for them, if, of course, they had it.

The pirates set a ransom of ten talents for the captive. But the arrogant Caesar announced to them that his head was worth at least fifty talents. In those days it was a fortune.
The robbers allowed Caesar to send several servants for money, and the patrician himself, along with a doctor, was sent to a secluded island, which was a base for pirate expeditions. So the future ruler of Rome was captured by Illyrian sea robbers. Caesar's pride was hurt. Since childhood, he was not accustomed to endure humiliation and planned to take cruel revenge on the pirates as soon as he received freedom.

Julius Caesar spent thirty-eight days in captivity. All this time he behaved like a master on the island - he went wherever he wanted and did whatever he wanted, and no one dared to contradict him. Caesar went to Rhodes in school of eloquence of Apollonius Molon, so the robbers had to listen to all the speeches prepared for the philosophers. Having seated the pirates in front of him, Caesar called with a thunderous voice to restore them to Rome power of the tribunes of the people, spoke about the greatness of his own family.
If the robbers did not express their admiration loudly enough, Caesar did not hesitate to call them ignoramuses and barbarians who deserved a rope. The pirates patiently endured everything, waiting for the ship with the promised money to arrive. When Caesar's servants finally returned with the ransom, the pirates breathed a sigh of relief.

Arriving in Miletus, Caesar did not postpone the matter, he immediately equipped the ships and returned to the pirate island to get even with the robbers. And in the pirate's lair there was a celebration in full swing. The Illyrians, still not believing that they had become the owners of such huge money, lit a fire on the shore and feasted. Many of the robbers had already drunk themselves into unconsciousness and were lying right on the sand.
When the armed Romans, led by Caesar, began to jump ashore from the ships, the robbers could not believe their eyes. The fight was short-lived. Caesar found on the island treasures looted by robbers over several years.

When the Roman flotilla returned to Miletus, the inhabitants of the city greeted Caesar with delight. The Illyrians had battered the merchant fleet of Miletus enough; the captains were afraid to go to sea without strong protection. And then Caesar came, who with one blow cleared the coastal waters of the Illyrians.
Caesar ordered the robbers to be crucified on crosses that were buried on the seashore. The patrician slowly walked around the long row of crosses and looked into the faces of each pirate. Then he stopped and said:
"Back on the island, you laughed at me. Now it's my turn to laugh. You haven't yet realized how powerful Rome is. I will do everything to make the Romans the greatest nation in the world."

A new era was dawning when pirates of the Mediterranean could no longer feel unpunished. They were no longer opposed by individual small states of Asia Minor, Greece and Italy, but by the great and powerful Rome. Caesar kept his word.

This is interesting!

The actions of the rowers on the ship were supervised by a ghortator, and the rhythm of the rowing was set by a flutist. To tune in to the desired rhythm, the rowers often began to sing a work song:

Hey, rowers, let our echo echo back to us: Hey-ya!

From uniform shocks, let the ship tremble and rush.

The blue of the sky is smiling - and the sea promises us

The wind will inflate our fraught sails...

Before the start of the battle on the triremes, the mast and sail were removed and tied to the deck.
Hoplite Warriors , ready to carry out the order of the navarch, were located on the catastroma - the upper deck. The catastroma protected the rowers of the top row from shelling. A platform protruded outwards - a trap. From it, hoplites moved to the enemy ship during boarding. It also protected the ship's hull during a ramming attack.

Pompey the Great's plan

Rome was in turmoil. Passed every day Senate meetings, where it was decided what to do. Flotillas of pirates blocked the approaches to the most important cities of the republic. After the end of the Punic Wars and the destruction of Carthage, the robbers felt like masters of the sea. No matter how hateful Carthage was to Rome, the senators nevertheless recognized that as long as the city of Hannibal existed, merchants could sail in the Mediterranean Sea calmly.
Stopping the robbers was not easy. Their fleet consisted of a thousand ships - it is unlikely that in those days there would have been a state in the Mediterranean Sea that could field more ships. Once pirates even kidnapped Roman praetors Sextinius and Bellinus.

In 67 BC. Roman senators decided to send the best ships against the pirates. By the proposal Senator Aulus Gabinius led the fleet with Gnaeus Pompeii, the son-in-law of Julius Caesar.. He was given dictatorial powers for three years. In any place of the Roman Republic, he could, in case of need, demand troops, money or ships. The entire coastal strip up to 40 kilometers in depth came under his complete control. All officials of Rome and rulers of subject states were obliged to unquestioningly comply with its demands,

The troops assembled under Pompey were the most elite units of Rome. Twenty legions prepared to carry out any order of their commander. Pompey built five hundred ships. He understood that the pirates, who could hide behind any cape, behind any island, could not be defeated by force alone. A plan had to be developed. Pompeii divided the Mediterranean and Black Seas into sections, to each of which a fleet was to be sent.

A month has passed since the start of Pompey’s plan, and the first reports began to arrive in Rome: Marcus Pomponius defeated the robbers off the Iberian coast; Plotius Var cleared Sicily of pirates; Poplius Atinius suppressed the resistance of the pirate bases of Sardinia.

Pompey's flying fleet unexpectedly appeared in various parts of the Mediterranean Sea, exactly where his help was needed. The fame of Pompey's exploits preceded the commander, and many pirates, hearing about the approach of the Roman fleet, burned their ships and went to the mountains. Others chose to fight to the end and died when faced with the might of Rome.

As it was later calculated, the Romans destroyed 1,300 Cilician ships in this battle. The reign of the pirates has come to an end. Pompey more than justified the trust of the Roman Senate - he completed the operation in three months instead of three years.

This is interesting!

Information about the giant ships of antiquity has been preserved to this day. Under Demetrius I (306-283 BC) a pentekaidekera was built - a ship with fifteen rows of oars, under Hiero of Syracuse (269-215 BC) - an icosera - with twenty rows of oars. Ptolemy IV (220-204 BC) launched probably the largest ship of the Ancient World. It was a tessaracontera, with forty rows of oars. The length of the hull of this monster reached 125 meters, the height of the side was 22 meters. The crew consisted of 4 thousand oarsmen, 400 sailors and 3 thousand soldiers.

Sextus Pompey

Twenty years after defeating the pirates, Pompey set out to conquer barbarian Spain. For the time being, luck favored the commander, but in one of the battles, a skillfully thrown enemy spear pierced Pompey’s chest. He fell on the grass, staining it with his blood. The barbarians roared with delight - one of the best commanders of Rome was defeated.
The Roman army was threatened with complete destruction. Then he took command Sextus - son of Pompey. With a dozen of the most experienced warriors, he appeared in the thick of the fighting and sowed fear and death around him. But even the heroism of Sextus was not enough to tip the scales on the side of the Romans. The remnants of the army retreated to the mountains.

Three months after the death of Gnaeus, Pompey came to Rome to Caesar. commander Carrina. He said that a new danger had appeared on the borders of the state. A gang of robbers operates in the mountains of Spain. They plunder the cities of the Roman provinces, they have a large fleet. The troublemakers are led by none other than Sextus Pompey. Thousands of those dissatisfied with discipline in the army, outcasts and political criminals flock to his banner. Sextus knows every island, every cape. He and his ships escape the most ingenious traps. Merchant ships are afraid to leave harbors.

To suppress the rebellion, a legion was sent to Spain, led by Carrina. But the commander never managed to meet the troops of Sextus in an open duel. Each time Sextus was notified of the approach of the Romans, and he hid in one of his shelters. In Rome, Sextus left his mother Mucius and wife Julia. But he was not afraid for their safety -

It was not in the rules of the ancient Romans to take revenge on their enemy by punishing members of his family.

Luck helped Sextus in his campaigns. All the new gangs of robbers recognized him as their commander. He kept the entire western Mediterranean in fear. The son of Pompey, the conqueror of pirates, himself became the most dangerous sea robber in the history of the Roman Republic.
As a result of a conspiracy in Rome, Caesar is killed. Power passed into the hands of the triumvirate - Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus. The triumvirs constantly squabbled among themselves for power, trying to win over as many like-minded people as possible to their side.

Mark Antony, speaking in the Senate, said that he could not allow such talented military leaders as Sextus Pompey to be enemies of Rome. He offered to promise to return to him all titles, personal integrity and his land plots.
Sextus accepted the terms of Rome. During his short military career, he learned to be wise and take advantage of everything. In 43 AD e. he became Navarch of the Roman fleet, and a little later was appointed along with Domitius Ahenobarbus, commander of the naval forces of the republic.

Sextus's fleet was off Sicily when a messenger arrived from Rome. He reported that army of Brutus and Cassius defeated, and the triumvirs declared that the republic no longer existed. Sextus decided to settle in Sicily and defend the republic. In a short time, he created a new state in Sicily, which lived according to the laws established in Republican Rome. Corsica and Sardinia joined the state of Sextus. Sextus's fleets controlled the western coast of Italy, preventing merchants from delivering their goods to the Eternal City.

A major success Domitia and Sexta began the capture of several fortresses in the Peloponnese. Rome found itself in a tight ring. Few people managed to penetrate the pirate barriers and bring food to Rome. All sea routes from Africa, Iberia, Rhodes and Miletus were cut by the navarchs of Sextus - Menecrates and Menodorus.
The Cilician tyrant Antipater created his state in the south of Asia Minor. He immediately found a common language with Sextus’s people, and sometimes they went out to sea to rob ships together.

Famine began in Rome. Prices for goods became so high that only the richest citizens could buy them. Octavian introduced new taxes to pay the merchants. The townspeople were unhappy and wanted the republic to return. Dozens of corpses of those who died of hunger floated in the Tiber; there was no time to bury them. A terrible stench hung over the city, they said that it would soon come plague - "black death".

The triumvirs began to look for ways to reconcile with the disgraced pirate commander. Sextus’s mother also advised them to do the same. In the end, a meeting was scheduled at Cape Missen near Naples.
The warriors of Octavian and Antony arrived at the coast early in the morning and pitched tents for their overlords. Towards noon, the ships of Sextus Pompey appeared at the cape. They anchored 40 meters from the shore. The sea was calm, so negotiations were conducted on neutral territory - the Romans launched rafts that stopped in the middle between the ships and the shore.

Negotiations lasted until the evening. The triumvirs recognized the sovereignty of Sextus's state, promising not to interfere with his people's movements throughout Italy. In return, Sextus committed to ending the naval blockade of Rome, allowing merchant ships and caravans to carry their goods.
The peace with Rome was short-lived. Two years later, Menodorus, the navarch of Sextus, betrayed his former master, allowing Octavian’s army to enter Sardinia. In vain Sextus appealed to the decency of the Romans, who promised to maintain peace forever. On Capitol Hill there was a struggle for power, and concepts such as honesty or pity were not used in it.

Yesterday's friends betrayed Sextus. He still tried to unite significant forces around himself in order to continue the fight against Rome, but... Rome survived the crisis and again became the greatest state in the Ancient World. Octavian led a wide offensive against the cities of Sextus. His friend and commander Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa gathered a large fleet and dreamed of a general battle with Sextus himself. Pompey, remembering the lessons of his youth, avoided open battle, and now he had very few ships to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by Agrippa.

And yet the Roman naval commander drove Sextus into a trap. His squadron locked the pirates in the bay between Milami and Navlokh. The Romans were superior to the pirates in everything - the number of ships, weapons and the number of soldiers on board. They threw huge stones and Molotov cocktails at the pirates. They connected their ships with a long chain, and not a single Sextus ship could break through to the exit from the bay. Pompey had 180 ships against 420 Roman ones, and only 17 remained afloat. Sextus himself took the helm and steered the ship - he found a loophole near the shore, and in the shallow water the remnants of his fleet escaped from the bay.

Agrippa returned to Rome in triumph. He was crowned with gold

"rostral" crown. This award was usually given to the head of the fleet for an outstanding victory, and to an ordinary sailor for the first jump on board an enemy ship. Sextus's days were numbered. Now he - an outcast - wandered through the cities of the Mediterranean in search of refuge. No one gave him shelter, fearing the wrath of Rome. Sextus died in Miletus. He was treacherously betrayed by the local ruler Titius, whom Sextus had once saved from death.

Political intrigues in Rome itself reached their climax. Octavian persistently paved the way to the Roman throne. He won the favor of Lepidus' soldiers and announced the dissolution of the triumvirate. Lepidus was sent into exile, and Octavian took care of his son-in-law Antony.
Mark Antony at this time settled in Alexandria, married Cleopatra, and was of little interest to the affairs of Rome itself. Octavian declared war on Antony and sent a navy against him under the command of Agrippa.

The most significant naval battle of the Ancient World took place on September 2, 31 BC. off Cape Aktii. Anthony, despite his superiority in strength, yielded, and the flight of the Egyptian ships accelerated the defeat of his fleet.

The following year Egypt became a Roman province, and

Octavian proclaimed himself Emperor Augustus- the ruler of the largest and most powerful state in the world. Now Rome, until its burning by the barbarians five centuries later, no longer allowed pirates to interfere with the normal life of its rulers and nobility.
Of course, sea robbers still plied the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and attacked single ships and even small flotillas, but they were not destined to become rulers of the sea again.

INTRODUCTION

THE ORIGIN AND BEGINNING OF SEA BATTLEMENT IN ANCIENT TIMES AND AT THE END OF THE MIDDLE AGES

In the eras of the greatness of nations, as well as in the eras of their fall, there were people of a special kind, whom mysterious fate chose from the crowd to the fear and surprise of the world.

These phenomena, guided by an unknown power, discovered their future solely through courage and audacity. The first success illuminated their path; their brave comrades pester their emerging happiness and, throwing the sword on the scales of human vicissitudes, hoist their banners over the graves and destruction.

Some, strengthened between the ruins of the invasion, stopped at the top of the first decisive victory - the instrument of Providence, they sometimes rewarded with their wisdom for the evil caused: they were called “conquerors.” New civilizations came from their hands, and the memory left about them in history excites the wonder of later posterity from century to century.

Others, foreseeing other kinds of glory and despising the image of conquest, which must be contested step by step, spread fear on the waters. The vast panorama of the sea promised them magnificent prey on each shore. Attacking unexpected rivals of the most terrible storms, joking with shipwrecks and not putting life into anything, they were intensified by the horror they aroused, deserved the nickname of the scourges of God and alternately died either from the excess of evil they caused, or from the vengeance of the light. Their origin is unknown, their memory is disgraced.

At the dawn of historical times, the one who was the first, entrusting his life to a fragile shuttle made of tree bark, decided to fight the waves, did not leave behind even a trace of his name. Lyrical stanza of the Augustan century:

“Illi robur et aes triplex Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci Commisit pelago ratem Primus...” (Q. Horatius Flaccus. Carmina)

serves as the only monument to this fleeting existence. Thus, most of the inventions worthy of memory condemned their creator to oblivion, as if, by some incomprehensible destiny, a man of genius, who had produced something great or useful, was condemned to obscurity.

In any case, despite the darkness that shrouds the original inventions, the precious art of navigation undoubtedly belongs to the most distant centuries, and the warlike hordes of the East very early made it a means of conquest and acquisition. The love of bold undertakings, especially strong during the infancy of nations, attracted many people to this field who thirsted for glory in an era when glory was the lot of the bravest, when might replaced right and all dominion was asserted by the sword.

As soon as the Greeks of the barbarian period began to travel around the Mediterranean Sea, they indulged in sea robbery under the command of brave leaders, and this craft, historians say, was not only not considered shameful, but, on the contrary, honorable. “What is your craft?” - the wise Nestor asked the young Telemachus, who was looking for his father after the fall of Troy. “Are you traveling on business for your land, or are you one of those pirates who spread terror on the most distant shores?” These words, quoted by Homer, serve as a reflection of the character of that time - a character familiar to all warlike societies, not yet subject to the law and considering such manifestations of force, which are applauded by the crowd, to be heroism. The faithful painter of the iron nature, the folk singer of Greece, consecrated in his poems the terrible type of these new conquerors, and this legend, which became popular and preserved in the depths of ancient enlightenment, defended the glory of the adventurers, who were glorified by imitating the example of the Argonauts. Fairy tales and legends that have survived numerous generations, disappeared from the face of the earth, in turn deified other heroes who defended their homeland from attacks by pirates or, far from their homeland, became defenders of the oppressed.

People's gratitude built monuments for them, the traces of which have not yet been erased. Bacchus, the god of wine, did not always have one thyrsus attribute (a rod entwined with grape leaves); his sword more than once struck the tyrants of the sea. Statues found in ancient Athens testify to his courage, and later the strict legislator of Crete, Minos, whom the gratitude of his contemporaries placed among the judges of souls, marked his reign with similar feats.

Twenty centuries before, Ossian, the bard of the north and rival of Homer, sang of countless heroes who descended from the brown hills and whom the dark sea rolled on its waves to the shores of ancient Ireland. “Foam,” he said, “jumped under their decked ships, masts with white sails bent under the pressure of the wind, like those spruce forests whose high peaks are whitened by the harsh winter. We often crossed the seas to attack foreigners; the rust was washed off our swords in blood, and the kings of the earth mourned their losses.”

Ancient times ended as they began; exhausted education is again followed by abuses of force, and ten centuries of the Middle Ages is not too much time to throw the last representatives of barbarism to the borders of Europe.

If in the pagan era we return to the apogee of the splendor of Rome, we will see this republic, driven away by the enmity of Marius and Sulla, ready to perish under the power that developed on the borders of its possessions.

A terrible gathering of pirates had already been growing and strengthening for several years in Cilicia, a coastal country of the Asian continent, lying between Syria, from which it was separated by Mount Taurus and lower Armenia. These bold robbers cruised the archipelago, boarding lightly armed ships brought there by trade. Their first brilliant feat was the capture of Julius Caesar, who, while still young, fleeing the proscription of Sulla, took refuge at the court of Nicomedes, king of Bithynia. On his way back, he was ambushed by Cilician pirates near the island of Pharmacusa. These inhuman people, in order to get rid of unnecessary consumers of food, tied the unfortunate ones they came across, back to back in pairs, and threw them into the sea, but assuming that Caesar, dressed in a purple toga and surrounded by many slaves, must be a noble person, they allowed him to send someone to Italy to negotiate a ransom.

During his two weeks with the pirates, Caesar showed so little fear that the surprised robbers instinctively bowed to his proud speeches; one can say that the future dictator seemed to have a presentiment of his fate and already saw the shining star of his greatness in the sky. Sometimes he took part in the pirates’ fun with a mocking smile, but suddenly, remembering his position, he left, threatening to hang them all if anyone dared to disturb him. And these barbarians, instead of being offended, reluctantly obeyed this iron will. Having sent a ransom, which he himself set at 5,000 gold coins, Caesar went to Miletus and ordered to equip several ships to chase the predators, soon found them in a group of islands where they dropped anchor, cut off their retreat, took possession of their booty, which repaid their expenses to equip the ships, and took a long row of captives to Pergamum, whom he ordered to hang on the coastal trees.

But this severe punishment brought only fleeting security to the Mediterranean. Taking advantage of the civil strife that had long prevented the Roman Republic from pursuing its external interests, the Cilician pirates in a short time achieved such power that, according to Plutarch, they established arsenals filled with military shells and machines, placed garrisons and lighthouses along the entire Asian coast and assembled a fleet of more than a thousand galleys. Their ships, shining with royal luxury, had gilded, purple sails and oars covered with silver. Never

Russian sailors-robbers

Sea and river robbery has long existed in the south of Rus', although the approaches to the Black and Caspian Seas were firmly blocked by the steppe peoples.

The 10th-century Arab historian Masudi spoke about the predatory campaigns of the united Slavic and Varangian squads (Rus) to the western shores of the Caspian Sea.

When the ships of the Rus reached the fortress at the entrance to the Sea of ​​Azov, they sent envoys to the king (khagan) of the Khazars in order to ask for his permission to travel through his possessions, promising him half of the booty that they hoped to capture from the tribes living on the shores of this sea.

Having received permission, they entered the Estuary, went up the Don River and then went down the Volga (Khazar River); passed the city of Itil (in the Astrakhan region) and, having passed the mouth, went out into the Caspian Sea (Khazar Sea)..

Their raids devastated many cities on the Caspian coast, reaching Azerbaijan, sometimes going tens of kilometers inland. “The inhabitants of the coast were gripped by indescribable fear, because they had never had to meet the enemy in these places. Only peaceful trading or fishing ships sailed on the sea here.”

The Russes landed on the shore near the oil-bearing lands of Babikakh (Baku), in the possessions of Shirvan Shah. On the way back they stopped on islands near the oil-bearing coast. Local merchants sailed to these islands in their boats and ships to conduct trade. The Rus attacked them and killed many, seizing goods.

The aliens remained on the shores of this sea for several months, continuing to rob and kill. The inhabitants of the coastal lands had neither the strength nor the means to expel them, although they tried to organize a defense.

Having collected booty and prisoners, the Rus set off on the return journey - they entered the mouth of the Khazar River and sent messengers with money and booty to the king, fulfilling their obligations.

In the Middle Ages, coastal Black Sea cities were most often attacked by Russian sailor-robbers. One of the names of the Black Sea (Pontus Euxine) is the Russian Sea. It's clear who was in charge here. The freemen of the Don and Zaporozhye Cossacks constantly used large river arteries for raids, going down the Volga to the Caspian Sea, and along the Dnieper and Don to the Black Sea.

How such raids were carried out is set out in the order of the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus to his son.

It mentions a lot of small details collected by the agents of the empire (for example, the features of each Dnieper rapids), which shows how seriously Constantine took this threat.

By Ross, the Byzantines did not mean a specific Slavic tribe, but squads of Viking-Varangians, organized, as usual, in accordance with the common goal - to conduct a trade and pirate campaign “from the Varangians to the Greeks.” This is exactly how the emperor interprets the tasks of these expeditions (for the sake of war or for the sake of trade). He also mentions the completely piratical demands of the northern newcomers to pay them tribute, a ransom in order to ensure their safety.

Prince Oleg in 907 led a huge flotilla under the walls of Constantinople (Constantinople). The Byzantine emperor paid Oleg a “farm pay.” However, in such cases it is difficult to draw a line between piracy, naval operations and power politics.

The uniqueness of Russia was also expressed in the forms of piracy. They used river boats (boats, canoes). And when going around the Dnieper rapids, it was necessary to carry or drag ships overland. There were no large sea vessels in the south of Russia. This determined the strategy and tactics of the attacks.

The work of the French engineer Boplan (17th century) describes in detail how this dangerous trade was organized among the Zaporozhye Cossacks.

Sailing along the Dnieper, the canoes walked in a tight formation with the chieftain's boat in front. Having learned about the campaign through their spies, the Turks usually blocked the Dnieper mouth with galleys. The Cossacks guessed about this and deftly bypassed the barrier.

The news of their appearance quickly spread throughout the country and reached Constantinople. But it was difficult to organize a reliable defense in a short time. The Cossacks reached the intended area (usually in the Crimea or in the southwestern part of the Black Sea), plundered two or three settlements, often located 1–2 km from the coast. Having loaded the loot into the boats, they immediately set off to a new place or went home. Their reliable assistant is the surprise of a raid.

They also attacked Turkish ships, also using the factor of surprise. Having noticed a ship in the distance, the Cossacks did not move closer. They lowered their masts and followed him at the limit of visibility (their low boats were difficult to spot from the ship).

By evening, the Cossacks taxied so that they were on the sunflower, western side of the ship. As dusk fell, they came closer and closer to him. And at night they went to board: clinging to the Turkish ship with hooks and crampons, they deftly climbed the ropes onto the deck from all sides at once.

Merchants, even those with guards, rarely dared to resist the numerically superior Cossacks. And they loaded valuable goods and gold, weapons and ammunition into their vessels.

On the way back, the weary Turkish flotilla was again eager to meet them with their heavy boats. In some cases, the Cossacks took the fight. But more often they made a roundabout maneuver: they dragged boats and cargo across the Kinburg Spit and sailed through the estuary, and then again dragged the boats overland straight to the Dnieper. Another bypass route is through the Kerch Strait to the Sea of ​​Azov.

But the Turks were also not made with bast (by the way, the Cossacks sheathed their shitik boats with bast), and often, moving towards their enemies, they found them crossing during the day. Then the ships opened cannon fire. “From a cannon shot,” wrote Boplan, “their canoes scatter like a flock of starlings and perish in the depths of the sea; the daredevils lose courage and seek salvation in a quick flight.”

It is only necessary to clarify that prudence does not at all prove a loss of courage. Fighting on the high seas on fragile boats loaded with stolen goods against large warships is a hopeless matter. It would testify not to courage, but to stupidity. Why go to certain death?

The same Boplan noted: if the Cossacks had to take battle, they fought the Turkish ships fiercely and calmly, despite their losses. The best shooters sat on benches and fired from arquebuses, and assistants loaded guns and handed them over to them.