Ancient Greek pirates

early 5th century BC Phocaean Greek admiral

thumb|Map of the Tilevoides In Homeric Greece, the islands of Taphos (Τάφος) lay in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Acarnania in northwestern Greece, home of seagoing and piratical inhabitants, the Taphians (Τάφιοι). Penelope mentions the Taphian sea-robbers when she rebukes the chief of her suitors. Athena is disguised as Mentes, "lord of the Taphian men who love their oars", who accepts the hospitality of Telemachus and speeds him on his journey from Ithaca to Pylos. Although the Taphians dealt in slaves, their piratical activities weren't always seen as inmoral. In the heroic age, piracy (l

In Greek mythology, the Teleboans (, Tēlebóai) were an Acarnanian tribe. They were said to descend from one Teleboas, a son of Pterelaus and brother of Taphius, the eponym of the Taphians. After dwelling for a time on the mainland, the Teleboans settled on the island of Taphos which was populated by their kinsmen. From the island the two tribes led piratical raids across Greece, and the names "Teleboan" and "Taphian" were later taken to refer to any inhabitant of Taphos. The Taphians and Teleboans murdered the brothers of Alcmene (to whom both tribes were related), a crime punished by her husb

ancient Greek pirate

Glaucetas (), sometimes transliterated Glauketas (fl. 315 – 300 BC), was a Greek privateer chiefly active in the Aegean Sea during the 4th century BC. Although little is known about his life, he is recorded in ancient Greek inscriptions describing how the Athenian navy under Thymochares of Sphettos raided his base on Kythnos and captured him and his men, thus "making the sea safe for those that sailed thereon." (I.G., II, 331.)