Bandidaje y piratería en la Anatolia meridional. Definición y circunstancias en el marco de las guerras mitridáticas

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to think about the piracy in the Graeco-Roman world. Vocabulary and mentality of the Ancients do extremely complicated to know the beginning of the historical processes that have generated the piratical activities. On the other hand, it is almost impossible to differentiate pirates from corsairs, mercenaries or even armed merchants, considering the link between piracy and trade. Only the analysis of the historical context would allow us an approximation to the reality in each case. The archaeological evidence can’t help us, because the traces left by a band of pirates are not different from those left by a contingent of soldiers or mercenaries. With the aim to go deeply into the problem, we analyze the causes of the development of the piracy in the territories of the southern Anatolia in the first half of I century B.C.