‘The Romans saw harsh public discipline, at least for the lower orders, as
an appropriate form of retribution and an effective deterrent to wrongdoing.
The arena was only one place of public punishment; criminals were also
crucified along roads and at crossroads. Both the widespread belief in the
inferiority of those lower down the social scale, and also the longstanding idea
that criminals deserved to feel pain, facilitated the crowd’s ability to distance
itself from those in the ring and watch their deaths with excitement and
pleasure. The art depicting combats and executions takes for granted an
emotional distance between viewer and viewed.’^10
Piracy in the Roman period
Evidence for crimes in the Roman period includes examples of murder, arson,
forgery and theft, and there are accounts of many others including the famous
incident when Julius Caesar was captured by pirates. This occurred in 75BC
and is described by Plutarch. Aged about twentyfive, Julius Caesar was
aboard a ship off the coast of Turkey on his way to Rhodes to study the art of
oratory when he was captured by Cilician pirates. The pirates demanded a
ransom, but Caesar said the amount was too low–he was worth much more.
He apparently acted as if the pirates were ignorant savages and began to order
them about. Caesar was clearly never a shrinking violet, even as a young man!
The (higher) ransom arrived after about five or six weeks, and the pirates
released their captive at Miletus, a port along the coast. Caesar immediately
set about his revenge, putting together a fleet which he directed to the pirate
stronghold. Most of the pirates were captured and their loot was seized. Then
all the captives were crucified–although in a spirit of mercy, Caesar had their
throats cut first!
Piracy along the eastern Mediterranean coasts was a continuing problem for
the Romans, necessitating a naval base and a programme of building of fast
galleys. Pompey the Great was given vast resources to combat piracy in 67BC,
after the pirates, with increasing boldness, started to raid Italy itself. There was
also a political aim–to reduce the power of Mithridates, king of Pontus, who
controlled much of Anatolia, sometimes financing his state from the rewards
of piracy. Pompey is credited with removing the pirate menace in fortynine
days, but this seems to have been mere propaganda, as later accounts include
details of further actions against them.
Outside the Mediterranean, piracy became a problem in the English
Channel and North Sea in later centuries. TheClassis Britannica, or British
fleet, was charged with maintaining safe links with the Roman provinces of
Gaul and the Low Countries. By the third century, Saxon and Frankish pirates
CLASSICAL CRIMES