For thirty years, Rome’s greatest enemy ruled the Mediterranean—not an empire, not an army, but pirates. Thousands of them. Operating from hidden Cilician strongholds, they strangled Rome’s grain supply, enslaved her citizens, and mocked her power. The Senate was paralyzed. Commanders failed. The Republic faced starvation.
Then came Pompey the Great.
In 67 BCE, the Senate granted one man unprecedented authority: supreme command of the entire Mediterranean, unlimited resources, and a mandate to destroy piracy forever. What followed was a military campaign unlike anything the ancient world had witnessed—a three-month lightning offensive that systematically trapped and annihilated an enemy that had seemed invincible.
But victory came at a price. By giving Pompey the power to save Rome, the Senate had created something far more dangerous than any pirate fleet. They had created a man who could never be controlled.
Pirates and Power is the epic story of how Rome defeated its greatest maritime threat—and how that victory planted the seeds of the Republic’s destruction.
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