Abstract:
There have been numerous studies concerning piracy as an occupation by such renown scholars as Henry Ormerod and Erich Ziebarth, who consider piracy to be an unambiguous trend that occurred throughout history up through the 19th century.2 More recently, however, studies on piracy have taken a different approach. Scholars such as Philip de Souza have begun to question the label of “pirates” placed on raiders by examining the context of the sources.3 This project follows a similar line of thought to reassess the material, focusing on the aspect of so-called “pirates” at war from the fourth century through the first century BCE in Greek and Roman sources. In some cases, the antagonism of the writer is clearly the only purpose of the label “pirate”, while other scenarios are as ambiguous as Homer’s opinion on pirates. My goal is to reveal two scenarios in which the label of “pirates” is a purposeful misnomer. The first chapter aims to show that many mercenaries employed by an enemy were called “pirates.” The second chapter explores the label of “piracy” used against enemies in an attempt to avoid disparaging future potential allies in the uncertain times of the Diadochoi, as well as a means to justify military aggression against insurgents who are slandered by hostile authors.
