La piraterie dans l'antiquité

An analytical history traces maritime banditry from its roots in primitive societies through its evolution into both state-sanctioned privateering and independent brigandage, examining how economic need, mythology, and naval power shaped practices across Mediterranean civilizations. The study follows shifts in organization, legal responses, naval policies, major state campaigns to suppress piracy, and connections with slave trading, maritime law, literature, and later barbarian incursions, concluding with measures that curtailed piracy under imperial administration and noting periodic revivals associated with political disorder.