In the Mediterranean, piracy was as old as civilization itself. However, the most
famous age of piracy began with the Muslim conquest of North Africa in 709 A.D. The Mediterranean became a frontier between Christians and Muslims, and shipping from either side became a fair target. Christian privateers operated out of Marseilles, Malta, and Sicily. Their Muslim counterparts, known as corsairs, were based along what we call the Barbary Coast the seaboard of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. Unlike Caribbean pirates, the corsairs used galleys, and the most prized loot was not gold, but people.
THE BAGNIO
The bagnio was the prison complex where the corsairs held their captives. It was like an enclosed town, with its own shops and taverns. Prisoners faced a lifetime of hard labor unless they bribed a guard to let them work in the prison shops. Captives were held for ransom, sold as slaves, or put to work as oarsmen.
CAESAR AND THE PIRATES
Even the great Roman leader Julius Caesar was once captured by pirates. Traveling slowly by boat to Rhodes in 78 B.C., he was seized and taken prisoner. Although well treated, he promised that once ransomed he would return and take his revenge.
In due course his ransom was paid and he was released. A few weeks later he was back with four ships and 500 men. The pirates who were not killed in his attack were crucified.
