Peirates, Leistai, Boukoloi, and Hostes Gentium of the Classical World : The Portrayal of Pirates in Literature and the Reality of Contemporary Piratical Actions.

My honors thesis addresses three things. I address first the history of Classical piracy, specifically, piratical and pseudo-piratical actions lurking beneath the description of events; second, the usage of language, the connotations of words used for pirates and other linguistic portrayals of pirates and piracy; and finally, through literary analysis, how literary pirates compared to real pirates, what the authors thought about pirates, how pirates could be used to portray others, and what role pirates played in society. Through these three points, I intend to prove that the pirate’s role in the Classical Mediterranean was much greater than usually supposed