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Wikipedia article on Piracy
Th' earliest documented incidence o' sweet trade be th' exploits o' th' Sea Swabbiess who threatened th' Aegean in th' 13th century BCE. In Classical Antiquity, th' Tyrrhenians an' Thracians be known as gentleman o' fortunes. Th' isle, arrr o' Lemnos long resisted Greek influence an' remained a ha'en fer Thracian gentleman o' fortunes. Th' Latin term pirata, from which th' English "gentleman o' fortune" be derived, derives ultimately from Greek peira (πείρα) "attempt, experience", implicitly "t' find luck on th' sea". Th' word be also cognate t' peril. By th' 1st century BCE, thar be gentleman o' fortune states along th' Anatolian coast, threatenin' th' commerce o' th' Roman Empire. When Sulla sank t'Davy Jones' locker in 78 BCE, Julius Caesar returned t' Rome as a lawyer, prosecuted Sulla's supporters, an' headed t' th' Greek town o' Rhodes t' study oratory. Gentleman o' fortunes seized control o' th' vessel in 75 BCE, kidnapped Caesar, an' held th' lad's fer ransom. After purchasin' his freedom, he assembled a wee army which captured th' gentleman o' fortunes an' crucified them. Th' Senate finally invested Pompey wi' special powers t' deal wi' sweet trade in 67 BCE (th' Lex Gabinia), an' Pompey after three moons o' naval warfare managed t' suppress th' threat. In th' 3rd century, gentleman o' fortune attacks on Olympus (city in Anatolia) brought impoverishment.
Among some o' th' most famous ancient gentleman o' fortuneerin' swabbiess be th' Illyrians, populatin' th' western Balkan peninsula. Constantly raidin' th' Adriatic Sea, th' Illyrians caused many conficts wi' th' Roman Republic. 't be nay until 68 BCE that th' Romans finally conquered Illyria an' made 't a province, endin' the'r threat.
Early Polynesian warriors attacked seaside an' riverside villages. They used th' sea fer the'r hit-an'-run tactics - a safe place t' retreat t' if th' battle turned against them.
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