Henry A. Ormerod (1886-1964) was professor of Greek at the
* Chapter I
- Depredations Committed on the Seas
* Chapter
II – Piracy, Privateering and Reprisals
* Chapter
III – The Eastern Mediterranean to the Persian
Wars
* Chapter
IV – The Eastern Mediterranean from 480 to 200
BC
* Chapter V
– The Western Seas Adriatic
and Rome
* Chapter
VI – The Pirates of Cilicia
* Chapter
VII – The Empire
References
and additional comments are given in notes placed at the foot of the page,
which is very user-friendly. At the end of the book there is an index, but there
is no bibliography, which is not user-friendly at all. I miss a list of the
most important ancient sources used as well as a list of the most important
modern works used.
What about
illustrations? Two maps are placed at the beginning of the book. The first
shows the western part of the Mediterranean Sea ,
while the second shows the north eastern corner of the same sea (with Greece Asia Minor ).
In
addition, there is a drawing by E. Tankard, made from a vase in Athens National
Museum 56. In the original version
from 1924 this drawing appeared on the frontispiece. In the reprint from 1997
it is placed on the front cover.
Many
inscriptions are mentioned in the text, but not one of them is shown in the
book. Chapter VI opens with a detailed description of Cilicia .
The author wants the reader to understand the geographical features of the
coastline, but there is not a single picture of Cilicia
in the book.
In chapter I, several pages are devoted to towers built by local
residents in order to protect themselves from pirates, but there are no
pictures, no drawings of these towers. A picture could show the reader what one
of these towers look like today. A reconstruction drawing could show the reader
what it might have looked like in ancient times. I guess, back in 1924, authors
and editors did not understand the importance of good illustrations.
This is an
academic book. It is not recommended for the beginner, for three reasons:
Reason # 1:
the author assumes the reader has a solid knowledge about the history of the
ancient world.
Reason # 2:
many quotations are given in their original language, and they are not
translated into English. There are several quotations from modern works in
French and German and numerous quotations from ancient sources in Greek and Latin.
Reason # 3:
questions of philology are often raised in the footnotes, for instance the specific
meaning of an ancient Greek word.
For many
years, Piracy in the Ancient World was the only book in English about this
topic. It was considered an important work. That is why it was reprinted
several times.
On the back
cover of the reprint from 1997 the book is recommended by Lionel Casson, who
describes it with the following words:
“Still the standard work on ancient
piracy.”
Casson
(1914-2009) was professor of classics at New York University
Piracy in
the Ancient World was (in many ways) an important work (and it still is). If
you read it, you will learn a lot. The author knows his topic, ancient sources
as well as modern scholarship (until 1924). No doubt about it. But there are
some serious flaws.
First of
all, I am not happy about his approach: in chapter I, he tells us what pirates
do and where they operate. Some examples are from the ancient world, but others
are from modern times, the 17th and the 18th century, and
these examples all mixed up. If he wants to add modern examples, I think he should
separate them from the ancient examples. This is, after all, a book about the
history of the ancient world.
In chapter
III and IV, about the eastern part of the Mediterranean
Sea , he mentions a large number of cases, but for each case he
gives only the location and an approximate date. There are no details.
I do not
want a list with 100 cases or more without any details. I prefer to have fewer
cases and to have more information about each of them. I guess the author felt
he had to give us every single case he had discovered in the ancient sources,
even if the details about some of them were quite limited.
My second
point: the author may know his topic, but perhaps his judgement is not always sound.
Consider these cases:
(a) Did King
Minos of Knossos island of Crete
“I do not
subscribe to this view of an historical Minoan Thalassocracy… In short the
Minoan Thalassocracy is a myth, and it has no sound historical basis.”
This
statement is from his book Piracy in the Graeco-Roman World (1999, 2002), page 16.
Philip de Souza refers to an article by C. G. Starr, published in 1955.
(b) Did
Pompey the Great clear the Mediterranean Sea
of pirates in three months? According to Ormerod, the answer is yes (pp.
233-241, see in particular page 235). Some modern scholars are sceptical. They
think this claim is exaggerated. Philip de Souza covers Pompey and the pirates
in chapter 5 of his book (see in particular pp. 167-172). German scholar Thomas
Grűnewald is another sceptic. See his comment on pirates in Bandits in the Roman Empire (2004, 2008) pp. 22-24.
My third
point: the index covers 16 pages. Many people and many places are listed here,
but it is still incomplete, because ancient authors are not included, not even
when they are mentioned in the main text. Five examples: Cicero
My fourth
point: On page 35 Ormerod mentions “The well-known inscription of Teos” which “contains
imprecations against magistrates who harbour pirates.” No source is given here,
but a footnote refers the reader to page 107 where the inscription is mentioned
again. This time a source is given: “Dittenberger, Syll³, 37, 38.” What does this mean? The
answer: Wilhelm Dittenberger (1840-1906) was a German scholar who specialised
in epigraphic material.
He is the
editor of Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum (sometimes abbreviated as SIG). A
third edition of this work was published in 1915. The inscription from Teos is
# 37 and 38 in
this volume. It is # 63 in
Archaic Times to the End of the Peloponnesian War edited by Charles Fornara
(1983). The evidence from Teos is discussed by de Souza in Piracy in the
Graeco-Roman World pp. 29-30 and 68-71.
My fifth
point: in his preface, the author expresses his gratitude to several persons, who
helped him during his work on the book. One of them is M. N. Tod: “If the
collection of epigraphical material is any way complete, it is entirely due to
the notes which he has sent me.” Who is this person? The answer: Marcus Niebuhr
Tod (1878-1974) was an ancient scholar, who specialised in epigraphic material.
He is the editor of A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions (Oxford
University Press, second edition 1946). His work has been continued by two
recent publications:
** PART ONE: A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions edited by R. Meiggs and D.
Lewis (1989)
** PART TWO: Greek Historical Inscriptions 404-323 BC edited by P. J. Rhodes and R.
Osborne (2004, 2007)
Piracy in
the Ancient World was (in many ways) an important work (and it still is). But
as you can see from the above, there are some serious flaws, and therefore I
cannot give it more than three stars.
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