Ancient piracy
Piracy in its primitive form that was the maritime attack appeared together with the appearance of seafaring and even before the maritime trade appeared. Almost all people of the cost regions that knew the bases of navigation were dedicating themselves to piracy.
With the appearance of civilization the limits between pirates and traders were still conditional. Sailors were trading in the regions where they were strong enough to rob and to kidnap.
Maybe the inventor of piracy was the Egyptian queen Hatshepsut when she organized military and maritime Punt attacks. Five Egyptian ships put out into the Red Sea and moved to the South. When Egyptians reached this country they proclaimed that the ruler of this country was the slave of Egypt.
Phoenicians had the fame of the most artistic traders of the ancient world. In "Odysseus" the author remembers the Phoenicians pirates that kidnapped people from the island Syra and sold them into bondage.
Ancient pirates unlike the modern ones attacked not the ships but the coast villages and separate travellers with the aim of capturing them and selling them into bondage (later they started to kidnap them holding them to ransom). Piracy is reflected in the ancient poetry and mythology. With the development of trade and law connections between the countries and people piracy turned into one of the greatest crimes and the certain attempts were taken to fight this phenomenon.
