ABSTRACT
‘Pirata’ is one of the earliest identifiable words of the language spoken by the Romans while, arguably, the earliest literature in verse of the ancient Greeks, the epic poem Iliad is mainly a highly elaborate story of an episode in a predatory attack on Troy. Any view of piracy, pillage and plunder in antiquity as morally acceptable should not obscure the fact that at times privateers whether state sanctioned or not, unemployed mercenaries, Anatolian robbers or just the plain enemy were able to cause a huge destabilization of everyday life in the ancient world. Paradoxically the popularity of films and more their availability on the internet has been accompanied by the continued presence of the piratical theme, with notable examples including Errol Flynn in Captain Blood, Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean and others too numerous to list here.
