Julius Caesar taken captive by Cilician pirates (Henri De Montaut, 1865)
Piracy in the ancient Mediterranean dates back at least as far as the Bronze Age. The roots of the word "piracy" come from the ancient Greek πειράομαι, or peiráomai, meaning "attempt" (i.e., of something illegal for personal gain). This morphed into πειρατής, or peiratēs, meaning "brigand," and from that to the Latin pirata, where the modern English word pirate originated.[1] According to the classical historian Janice Gabbert, "The eastern Mediterranean has been plagued by piracy since the first dawn of history."[2] The Bronze Age marked the earliest documented wave of piracy, as it is difficult to differentiate piracy from trade during earlier periods.
^DeSouza, Philip. Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
^Gabbert, Janice J. "Piracy in the Early Hellenistic Period: A Career Open to Talents", Greece & Rome 33 (2) (October 1986): 156-63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S001738350003031X.
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