ROM0239 – Gnaeus Pompeius defeats the Cilician pirates

Gnaeus Pompeius Defeats the Cilician Pirates: When Rome Cleared the Seas

67 BC. The Mediterranean is in crisis. Cilician pirates — based in the rugged coastal mountains of southern Anatolia — have grown from a regional nuisance into an existential threat to Roman commerce and power. They raid the Italian coast. They kidnap Roman citizens (including, famously, a young Julius Caesar). They attack grain shipments and drive up food prices in Rome to dangerous levels. They have even raided Ostia, Rome’s own port, and burned a consular fleet at anchor. The Senate, desperate, gives Gnaeus Pompeius (Pompey the Great) an unprecedented command to solve the problem.

The Most Efficient Military Campaign in Roman History

The Lex Gabinia of 67 BC gave Pompey imperium over the entire Mediterranean and its coastlines up to 50 miles inland — a command without precedent in Roman constitutional history, which his political enemies correctly identified as the kind of extraordinary power that could destabilize the Republic. Pompey didn’t care. He divided the Mediterranean into thirteen zones, assigned a subordinate commander to each with a squadron of ships, and launched simultaneous operations across the entire sea.

The campaign lasted three months. In one of the most remarkable displays of Roman military organization in history, Pompey swept the western Mediterranean clean of pirates, drove the survivors east, cornered the main pirate base at Coracesium in Cilicia, and accepted the surrender of over 20,000 pirates. He settled many of them as farmers rather than executing them — a decision that reduced the probability of the survivors returning to piracy. The grain prices in Rome fell immediately. The Senate was astonished. Pompey had done in three months what Rome had been failing to do for decades.

The Original Artwork by Giuseppe Rava

This original Roman military art print by Giuseppe Rava — historical illustrator for Osprey Publishing since 2007 — captures Pompey’s campaign against the Cilician pirates with the meticulous accuracy that defines every work by the Maestro. Roman warships, Cilician pirate vessels, the drama of ancient naval warfare rendered in oil on canvas.

The print is produced as a limited edition, individually numbered and hand-signed by Giuseppe Rava, SRA3 format (45×32 cm / 17.7×12.6 in), on premium fine art paper. Available worldwide with international shipping.