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October 15, 2019

Caesar’s Abduction by Pirates

Julius Caesar is a name that is sure to come to mind when one thinks about some of the most influential and famous rulers in ancient history. Indeed, Caesar’s character and the unique way he ruled his subjects make him stand out from others that came both before and after him. His actions were legendary: he conquered all of modern-day France, personally started one of the most significant civil wars of all time, and took over the entire Roman Republic by brute force, just to name a few. If it were up to him, he would have conquered all of Europe. The ability and willpower to take down one of the strongest Republics in ancient history on your own in order to become a sovereign dictator is something no ordinary man possesses. Julius Caesar was nothing near ordinary; he had gone through a life of struggle before he eventually rose to become one of the most famous rulers of all time. To state that Caesar’s life before his conquest of the Roman Republic was not easy is an understatement, especially when one considers the fact that, at the age of only 25, young Julius Caesar was captured by Cilician pirates.

A Bust of Julius Caesar, the great Roman dictator | Courtesy of Flickr

In 75 B.C.E., Julius Caesar was traveling through the Aegean Sea headed for Rhodes when a band of Cilician pirates captured and held him for ransom.1 This sort of event was common in the early 1st century B.C.E., when the Mediterranean Sea was filled with crime, primarily due to pirates and smugglers. These pirates made a habit of targeting Roman vessels to kidnap and steal anything that they could. The constant threat from these pirates terrified Romans for years.2 The seas surrounding Greece were controlled by the pirates, as many crimes continued to be documented up to the end of the 1st century. The most famous offense was one conducted around 99 BCE, when the daughter of the orator Marcus Antonius was kidnapped, and held at a large ransom for her freedom.3

Julius Caesar was held prisoner in the Dodecanese islet of Pharmacusa. As the pirates held Julius Caesar captive, they put a ransom on him of 20 talents of silver. When Caesar found out about this, he knew that the pirates had no idea who they had just captured. Accordingly, he told the pirates to raise the ransom to 50 talents of silver.4 Of course, the pirates were quick to raise the ransom, but they were nevertheless shocked that their own hostage chose to have his own ransom raised. They began to realize that Caesar’s character set him apart from any of their previous captives. After the pirates raised his ransom, Caesar sent out some of his followers to collect the ransom and demanded they not return unless they had all of the money with them. While being held captive, Caesar did not act like an ordinary prisoner would. Caesar got very comfortable among the pirates by taking part in their games and helping out around the ship. After a while, Caesar even began bossing and ordering around the pirates. He would have the pirates listen to his speeches and if one of them didn’t like his speech or thought it was bad, Caesar would insult him.5 If Caesar wanted to sleep and the pirates were making too much noise, he would order them to be quiet. The pirates began to enjoy being around their young prisoner who clearly thought so much of himself, and they quickly started to respect him. They had no idea that Caesar was only being friendly with them as a result of his current predicament.

Caesar began to grow impatient and extremely insulted that he was being held captive by the pirates, and he ultimately informed them that, as soon as his ransom was paid and he was released, he would come back to kill and crucify all of them.6 Whenever the pirates heard this they would find it incredibly amusing, and they did not take it as a threat in the slightest. Caesar, however, was not joking, and nearly 38 days after he was initially kidnapped, his ransom was paid and he was still peacefully released. At this time, Caesar did not have any official power within the Roman Republic. Yet due to his incredible persuasion and personality, he was able to get a small fleet together to go searching for the pirates.7 Caesar knew that the pirates didn’t take his threat seriously, so he returned to the island of Pharmacusa where he had been held captive and found the pirates still camping there. Caesar and his fleet quickly captured nearly all of the pirates and took their belongings, including the money that they received from his ransom. Caesar took the captured pirates to the city of Pergamon and had them imprisoned. Caesar wanted the pirates executed, so he went and spoke to the governor of Asia, Junius. After a long discussion, Junius rejected the proposal, which infuriated Caesar. Instead, Junius wanted to sell the pirates and keep the money for himself.8 Caesar was determined to make the pirates pay for their actions, and returned to the prison in Pergamon where the pirates were being held to take matters into his own hands. He personally had every pirate crucified, just as he had promised when he was being held captive.9 However, Caesar decided to show them some mercy and slit the throats of every pirate so that they would not suffer as much.10

Fydor Bronnikov’s depiction of Caesar hanging and slitting the throats of his past captors | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

What sets Julius Caesar apart from many other historical rulers is his extreme determination and his crazed desire to get what he wants. He was determined to get back at those pirates, whom he had believed had disrespected him, and he defied the legal authorities in order to handle their punishment himself. Caesar was able to become a very successful ruler as a result of his ability to interact with others, to speak with conviction and meaning, and to persuade people to follow him. While most students of history think of Caesar defeating his opponents with pure force, this story depicts a different side to his personality. In this instance, Caesar used his charm to form a type of friendship or companionship with the pirates, so that he was able to act how he wanted while on the ship, enjoying more freedom than any other hostage had.11 When Caesar was released, he returned and punished the pirates with lethal force. Caesar viewed the pirates as weak and as people he could manipulate in order to get back at them for capturing and humiliating him.

A painting of Caesar taking his revenge against the pirates by Peter Rubens and Erasmus Quellinus II | Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

All of the qualities that Julius Caesar possessed became great tools that helped him become one of the greatest and most memorable rulers in history. The same qualities, such as his pride and determination, that propelled him to greatness, however, were also the very instruments of his downfall. Before his assassination on that memorable day on March 44 BCE, Caesar did not want to be near the soothsayer who attempted to warn him to beware the Ides of March. Caesar ignored him because his arrogance was at an all-time high and he did not believe anything could happen to him. Julius Caesar’s character, desire, and determination are the things that have made him stand out in history and they will continue to do so. Further, all of these qualities were on display when he was faced with the “obstacle” of being kidnapped by pirates. For Caesar, his kidnapping was merely a slight inconvenience. For the pirates, however, it was their worst mistake.

  1. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, 2010, s.v. “Julius Caesar,” by Michael Gagarin.
  2. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010, s.v. “The Time Julius Caesar Was Captured by Pirates,” by The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica.
  3. Josiah Osgood. “Caesar and the Pirates: or How to Make (and Break) an Ancient Life.” Greece & Rome, 57, no. 2 (2010): 327-328.
  4. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010, s.v. “The Time Julius Caesar Was Captured by Pirates,” by The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica.
  5. Philip Barlag, The Leadership Genius of Julius Caesar: Modern Lessons From the Man Who Built an Empire (Oakland: Berrett-Koehler, 2016), 12.
  6. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome, 2010, s.v. “Julius Caesar,” by Michael Gagarin.
  7. Encyclopedia Britannica, 2010, s.v. “The Time Julius Caesar Was Captured by Pirates,” by The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica.
  8. Josiah Osgood. “Caesar and the Pirates: or How to Make (and Break) an Ancient Life.” Greece & Rome, 57, no. 2 (2010): 319.
  9. Allen M Ward. “Caesar and the Pirates.” Classical Philology 70, no. 4 (1975): 268.
  10. Philip Barlag, The Leadership Genius of Julius Caesar: Modern Lessons From the Man Who Built an Empire (Oakland: Berrett-Koehler, 2016), 13.
  11. Philip Barlag, The Leadership Genius of Julius Caesar: Modern Lessons From the Man Who Built an Empire (Oakland: Berrett-Koehler, 2016), 13.

Tags from the story

Julius Caesar

Pirates

Roman Empire

Recent Comments

Sebastian Azcui

This was a very well written article! Reading about Julius Caesar is very interesting. I never read or learned about this event that happened in Julius Caesar’s reign. It was interesting reading how Julius Caesar reacted, and how is his personality. He was a very smart leader and I had no idea he was captured by pirates. He played the pirates good as if he was cleaning and gaining trust to raise his ransom.

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24/10/2019

12:14 pm

Leopoldo Martinez-Milland

With this being his first article, Marco Montes de Oca did an amazing job correlating the fascinating story of Julius Caesar’s revenge on his captors with his eventual rise as dictator in Rome. If he plans to take the writing route, I see a bright future as he shows promise with this entertaining yet intriguing story. As I already stated, this story was basically the beginning of what came to be of the great and powerful Julius Caesar. With a man so full of himself such as being insulted more of the fact of his “cheap” ransom rather than being captured, and so revenge-infused and methodical to the point of gathering his own army to attack his unaware and turned-naive captors, this early origin story of Caesar shows the reader who exactly he is and see the blueprint that led to him become one of the most powerful and influential dictators of the Roman Republic.

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24/10/2019

12:14 pm

Julia Edwin-Jeyakumar

This article was funny, and we talked about this in class. It is hilarious to me that they found it dunny when the great Julius caesar threatened them and they didn’t even flinch. Poor guys though, the pirates probably had a sad life to be turned by the charms of Julius caesar. At first, when I read the story, I thought that Julius would make them his friends but that definitely took the wrong turn! Well written article!

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24/10/2019

12:14 pm

Mauro Bustamante

Reading this article I did not know that around 75 B.C.E., Julius Caesar was traveling through the Aegean Sea headed for Rhodes when a band of Cilician pirates captured and held him for ransom. I definitely knew that he Mediterranean Sea was filled with criminals or Pirates around this period in time but I never Knew that Caesar was once caught up with these people. Pirates would scavenge for riches and in that time Julius Caesar was very rich and that encouraged them to raise Caesars ransom and Julius had sent his follower to obtain it. This was an interesting event that happened in history and the article was well written and informative.

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26/10/2019

12:14 pm

Mia Correa

Honestly, I hear a lot about a lot of rulers in history throughout the world, but I hardly ever remember their significance. Julius caesar will always be a name that I can remember- and that’s because of Dairy Queen! Or is it Dairy Queen? I’m not quite sure. But that orange drink is really good. Julius Caesar is an impressive man with high ambitions and the fact that he accomplished everything that he did, and still managed to be kidnapped by pirates is quite ironic. To me, it symbolizes the fact that no one is untouchable.

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27/10/2019

12:14 pm

Jose Chaman

This story is very interesting. It is the first time I read about this odyssey that Julio Cesar had to go through. The article has been very well written and fluid. Cesar’s intelligence was demonstrated when he was friendly to pirates, a perfect strategy to go unnoticed or avoid any major damage. Undoubtedly, this story shows why Cesar was an excellent leader.

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27/10/2019

12:14 pm

Hector Membreno

This story Julius Caesar is a story that I had very basic background knowledge of before reading this article. But the article is very informing and now I feel like i studied the material expressed in this story. This was very informing about the character Julius Caesar really was and how he was smart enough to make friends with the pirates then come back revenge and get the money he lost back.

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28/10/2019

12:14 pm

Azucena Cuevas

This article was really interesting and funny. I had never heard about this and at first I thought it was just a joke that lead to something else. It is insane how Caesar acted normal during captivity and even built friendships with the pirates. He seemed crazy but also very clever for executing his plan and telling them about it all to catch them off guard.

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30/10/2019

12:14 pm

Amelia Hew

Of all the stories I’ve heard about Caesar, I ‘ve never read about him being held captive by pirates. From this article, Caesar not only was a cunning person that was able to get along with the pirates without being suspected by the pirates, he was also a vengeful and prideful person who will stop at nothing till his captors have been crucified and executed. However, these are the characteristics he possessed that made him into a successful ruler. Although I wonder what would happen if the pirates knew from the beginning that the person they captured was Julius Caesar. Would they release him immediately? Or will they torture him and demand a higher amount of ransom?

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31/10/2019

12:14 pm

Margaret Maguire

This was a really interesting article on Julius Caesar. I had never heard of the story of him getting captured by pirates and then seeking his revenge. Caesar was crazy to make friends out of the pirates and earn their trust and respect. Before reading this article, I only knew Julius Caesar as the Emperor of Rome and how he was tabbed to death, it was really interesting to see a different part of his story. I really enjoyed learning more about him and his history.

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06/11/2019

12:14 pm

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