Posted by ZeD on February 13, 2004 at 19:12:38:
In Reply to: Ah'ya, happy Friday 13 ! *LOL* Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life For Me). posted by kid tiger Arrr.. on February 13, 2004 at 12:50:20:
The history of piracy dates back more than 3000 years, but its
accurate account depends on the actual meaning of the word
‘pirate’. In English, the word piracy has many different
meanings and its usage is still relatively new. Today, some
uses of the word have no particular meaning at all. A meaning
was first ascribed to the word piracy sometime before the
XVII century. It appears that the word pirate (peirato) was
first used in about 140 BC by the Roman historian Polybius.
The Greek historian Plutarch, writing in about 100 A.D., gave
the oldest clear definition of piracy. He described pirates as
those who attack without legal authority not only ships, but
also maritime cities. Piracy was described for the first time,
among others, in Homer's The Iliad and The Odyssey. For a
great many years there remained no unambiguous definition of
piracy. Norse riders of the 9th and 11th century AD were not
considered pirates but rather, were called "Danes" or
"Vikings". Another popular meaning of the word in medieval
England was "sea thieves". The meaning of the word pirate
most closely tied to the contemporary was established in the
XVIII century AD. This definition dubbed pirates "outlaws"
whom even persons who were not soldiers could kill. The
first application of international law actually involved
anti-pirate legislation. This is due to the fact that most pirate
acts were committed outside the borders of any country.
Sometimes governments gave rights to the pirates to represent
them in their wars. The most popular form was to give a
license to a private sailor to attack enemy shipping on behalf
of a specific king – Privateer. Very often a privateer when
caught by the enemy was tried as an outlaw notwithstanding
the license. Below we tried to outline a selective history of
piracy, selective and arbitrary because there is so much that
can be said about piracy and it is impossible to tell all. We
hope that even this brief introduction will show the spirit and
truth about the piracy the way we see it.