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Did Pirates already exist in Ancient Greece?
Piracy was a very normal for the greks and socially accepted activity. Many practiced it and you could become a famous hero. There were slaves and it was a way to get them.
Piracy was already practiced
Greek Pirates: Piracy in Antiquity, As Old as the World. Murals from the time have appeared depicting Greek ships. Socially it was an accepted activity and even great heroes practiced it.
Greek pirates. even famous heroes
Piracy in Antiquity
Also in Greece
Piracy was also practiced in European civilization since ancient times.
As the ships got bigger and safer, the Greeks like other peoples moved to greater distances. The idea of attacking other ships or small towns to seize their wealth was very attractive. Socially it was considered an activity like any other, it was even rewarded by the nobles if they took part of the loot.
The famous Greek heroes
Common practice
Even in the literature of the time, a work as important as The Odyssey was considered a normal activity, they did it without any scruples, and even Ulysses practiced it like almost all the great Heroes of the time.
There were pirates like Polychrates from the island of Samos who came to control 100 boats. In 515 BC he controlled all the Greek coasts. His control was so great that he came to charge a tax on ships to cross his seas.
Slave markets
They sold all kinds of stolen goods
Markets were created to sell the fruits of Piracy. One of the most famous was that of the Island of Delos. All kinds of stolen goods were sold, but especially slaves.
When pirates captured a ship or a small village, they took everything they found, including people. They collected ransoms for important figures and the poor were sold in the slave markets as one more commodity.
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